Throughout the novel of The Kite Runner, Hosseini uses identical father-son hardships and the liberation of pain to express irony. Hassan and Sohrab have both gone through many hardships in their lives and these moments they they were tormented are identical. Hosseini uses this father son relationship to show how a corrupted person, Assef, can change another person's life just like that without any repercussions. This father-son duo has endured many moments of suffering from Assef, whether it be through the use of a slingshot by Hassan or Sohrab or by Assef raping both Hassan and Sohrab. Assef put Hassan through a lot when they were younger mainly because of Hassan saving Amir with his slingshot. Hassan put the thought of fear into the eyes of Assef when he pointed the slingshot and told him “...because I have this rock pointed at your left eye.” (Hosseini 42) and with that …show more content…
Both characters found themselves in a dreadful situation when they were both brutally abused by Assef. As Hassan was fetching the blue kite for Amir, and was met by Assef and was raped, described by Hoseini as “Hassan didn't struggle” (75) or make any attempt to free himself. This connects to the character Sohrab because later in the novel when Amir goes to adopt him from the taliban he see”s Assefs “...lips against Sohrab’s ear” (281) as Sohrab is standing there with bells on his ankles chained up being forced to dance by another guard. It is evident that what Assef was doing or had already done to Sohrab at the facility was malicious. The connection that these three characters share can be described by no other word than irony. Both Hassan and Sohrab have had identical encounters with Assef throughout the novel that can be described no other than the fact that a father and son were put into calamities and made victims by Assef that would alter their lives
Page 2 - “I sat on a park bench near a willow tree. I thought about something Rahim Khan said just before he hung up, almost as an afterthought. I looked up at those twin kites.”
He made a sweeping, grandiose gesture with his hands. " Afghanistan for Pashtuns, I say. That's my vision." (40) Assef rapes Hassan went they are children and later Hassan’s son Sohrab. He also stones people to death for fun and people see him as a hero for it.
While Amir is a Sunni, his childhood friend Hassan is Shi’a, an inferior division of Islam. Simultaneously, Amir and Hassan belong to different ethnic groups-Amir is Pashtun while Hassan is Hazara. During his childhood, Amir would constantly mock Hassan’s illiteracy and poke fun at him. But, the pivotal demonstration of pressure from his surroundings that makes Amir commit his own act of cruelty is when he watches Assef rape Hassan for refusing to give him the kite that Hassan caught for Amir. To this, Amir describes the look of Hassan’s face to “a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb” (76). Throughout his upbringing, Amir constantly believed that his father blamed him for killing his mother in childbirth. To Amir, Hassan’s rape is a sacrifice that Hassan has to pay the price, the lamb to kill, in order to win his father over. To justify his refusal to intervene, Amir reminds himself that “[Hassan] was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” (77). Amir’s surroundings cause him to have a negative outlook on people that his society deem lower. Amir knows he is morally wrong for not helping Hassan, but his need for his father’s love overpowers his friendship. Adding to his pressures, Amir believes that Baba prefers Hassan over him, a belief that further drives him to be cruel to Hassan. As a result, Amir’s motivation for validation and love from his father
Actions made in a moment of pain, anger or simple immaturity can take anyone to make mistakes that can change their lives completely. Everyone has something in the past that is shameful, embarrassing and regrettable that is kept present daily. Whether this event happened during childhood, adolescence or early adulthood, this event could haunt and have shaped that person’s life into what he or she is today. In a similar way, in the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is shaped by a tragic and eventful past that has shaped Amir’s, Baba’s, and Hassan’s life. The four literary elements that will be used in this essay that Hosseini strategically uses in this book are: irony, simile, Metaphor, and personification.
Hassan and Amir were close, but were not “friends”. There was once a kite fighting tournament that Amir won and Hassan was the kite runner. Hassan went after the last kite and while returning to Amir from capturing the kite, Hassan ran into a known bully, Assef. Amir was looking for Hassan. When Amir finds Hassan, he sees Assef with him.
One day when Hassan and Amir are walking through Afghanistan, they come across Assef, a sociopathic bully known for his brass knuckles and his rancor towards Hazaras. He prepares to fight Amir and Hassan, but Hassan threatens to shoot out Assef's left eye with his slingshot, saying they'll call him "one-eyed Assef." Before the daunted bully backs off he warns them that he will have his revenge.
Hassan defends Amir from being beaten by Assef, who has a reputation in Kabul of being a psychopath. When Assef threatens them, Hassan does not hesitate to respond saying, “You are right, Agha. But perhaps you didn’t notice that I’m the one holding the slingshot. If you make a move, they’ll have to change your nickname from ‘the Ear Eater’ to ‘One-Eyed Assef,’ because I have this rock pointed at your left eye” (45-46). Later on, Amir stands up for Sohrab, Hassan’s son, as Hassan stood up for Amir countless times before.
Assef is the character responsible for Amir’s guilt. He is the one who raped Hassan and if he did not, the story would be changed drastically. He is the source of evil in the novel. The sociopathic qualities he demonstrates are very evident. Assef if very different from the other characters in the sense that he never feels guilt and has no conscious. Baba and Amir both are able to redeem themselves but Assef has no remorse after his actions. Assef believes that “Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns … we are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-nose here. His people pollute our homeland.”(40) Assef bullies Hazara’s such as Hassan as he believes people like him should not be in Afghanistan. His actions are very rude and he never apologizes
The only reason that Hassan got raped was that he was trying to get a kite for Amir. Now the kite acts a reminder to Hassan of his wrong-doing and it will now begin to haunt him for a long time. Although when in America, Amir does not get reminded about Hassan, deep inside he still feels guilty. Amir immediately begins to feel the most guilt when he goes to Iran when Rahim Khan, Amir’s childhood friend, asks him to come. He feels that Rahim Khan has reminded him of his “past of unatoned sins”(Hosseini 2).
The types of irony I choose were situational irony and dramatic irony.The reason I choose these 2 was because ,I think these are the easiest to do.Irony is the gaiety of reflection and the joy of wisdom.
But, Amir disappointed Hassan on multiple occasions. Amir was very hesitant when it came to protecting or standing up for his servant and best friend, often trying to make excuses and justify why did not stand up for his friend. This is seen when Hassan is confronted in the alley way and is raped by Assef after running the last kite for Amir. While Amir was peeking into the alley instead of helping his dear friend from being raped, he heard Assef say things like – “And there’s nothing sinful about teaching a lesson to a disrespectful donkey” and “It’s just a Hazara”. After running away in fear, Amir tried to convince himself that Assef was right, but he could not shake the overwhelming feeling of guilt that would continue to haunt him. Assef even questions Amir’s loyalty to Hassan by saying, “But before you sacrifice yourself for [Amir], think about this: Would he do the same for you? Have you ever wondered why he never includes you in games when he has guests? Why he only plays with you when no one else is around? I’ll tell you why, Hazara. Because to him, you’re nothing but an ugly pet. Don’t ever fool yourself and think you’re something more” (Hosseini, Page 77). In a way Assef was right, they were only friends when it was them two, Amir was too much of a coward to do the things Hassan did for him. But the guilt of betraying Hassan became something much different when
Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor relays countless idea on how to understand literary texts. In Chapter 26, titled “Is He Serious? And Other Ironies”, Foster bluntly tells the reader that “Irony Trumps Everything”. Irony disregards the reader’s expectations and reveals deeper meanings behind an action or event, reveals the true nature of a character in a novel, changes our view of the entire story completely, and even evokes emotional responses from a reader.
“ ‘I’ve changed my mind,’ Assef said. ‘I’m letting you keep the kite Hazara. I’ll let you keep it so it will always remind you of what I’m about to do’ ” (Hosseini 73). Since Assef was of high status and Hassan was just a “simple Hazara” it did not matter what happened to him. Assef knew this and he knew that no one would believe Hassan if he did speak out about what happened. Assef had a mentality similar to Hitler’s, so he thought that simply beating Hassan up and taking the kite would not be enough. Dr. Benjamin G. Voyer states that “… individuals with power have been shown to be less capable of understanding the perspective of others, and their emotions and feelings.” Assef could not understand why Hassan and Amir were friends and why Hassan was adamant on keeping the kite instead of handing it over to him. He did not care about how his actions would make Hassan feel because all he wanted was revenge for when he threatened to make him “one eyed Assef” (Hosseini 42). All he knew was that Hassan had no right to be defying him and that made him extremely angry. This resulted in him choosing to do something that he knew would scar Hassan – preventing him from ever defying him
Throughout his childhood, Amir conforms to society and treats his Hazara servants poorly, but he questions the morality of such treatment. When Amir’s childhood bully, Assef, confronts him, Amir thinks to himself that Hassan works only as a servant for him, and that they have no friendship. Afterward, he thinks, “Why did I only play with Hassan when no one else was around?” (41). Hosseini uses a series of rhetorical questions to accentuate how Amir questions his beliefs about his relationship with Hassan....
In conclusion irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing contribute to the omnipresent theme of redemption throughout The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini ties together seemingly unimportant details of the story to create irony, and juxtaposes segments of his book to show redemption.