The Kite Runner Analytical Essay

Khaled Hosseini in The Kite Runner implies Amir’s tough time dealing with his internal conflict. During the winter of 1975 in Kabul Afghanistan, Amir watched his own friend, the person who would do absolutely anything for him, the person whose loyalty toward Amir was sincere and pure, the person who he later finds out was his half brother, Hassan, get rapped. As time progresses and Amir gets older we watch him struggle to forget his past, battle to leave “the city of ghost”(Hosseini 119) , Kabul, behind. We watched him live with pure remorse, guilt, and shame he forcefully felt. Amir struggled to find redemption, struggled to find “a way to be good again.”(Hosseini 168) It wasn't until he got the “punishment” (Hosseini 81) that he so badly

“There is no monster just water” (Hosseini 52) Hassan;s dream in this page specifically symbolized comfort for Amir. In page 75, the situational irony is completely unexpected. Hosseini’s solemn serious tone sets a dark tense rigid mood: :I watched hassan get raped.”(Hosseini 75) The way he metaphorically compares Amir to the monster in Hassan’s dream “I was that monster”(Hosseini 75) portrays the internal conflict Amir is painfully being haunted by. The conflict of him having to forcefully “understand the nature of his new curse.”(Hosseini 75) The fact that he betrayed the beauty of a friendship, betrayed a person “who would have given [his] life for [him]”(Hosseini 197). The way Hosseini metaphorically compares Kabul, the city of his tormenting past, to a “city of ghost”Hosseini pg. 119 urges the reader to sense his pure struggle of him wanting to desperately forget the “winter of 1975” (Hosseini 1). The winter nights he “became an insomniac”(Hosseini 75). The reason Hosseini chooses to metaphorically compare Kabul to the “a city of ghost” was to represent Amir’s internal conflict. Ghost are things that appear in our nightmares, Things that aren’t physically there but are felt through a sense of

The kite, throughout the story, is a constant reminder of Hassan’s sacrifice for Amir in the “deserted alley’(Hosseini 1) the winter of 1975. A sacrifice Hassan did for Amir willingly with the purest of intentions. Hassan constantly gave up everything for Amir in order to express his loyalty towards Amir was genuine. Amir was a friend who did not return the favor for his selfish reasons. It is a constant reminder of the day Amir betrayed Hassan; a friend, someone so close to him, someone who loved him dearly. “The grand kite tournament of 1975 in the plot sets a circle of betrayal and redemption into motion, around which the whole story revolves”(Asnes) According to Ginger O'Donnell the reason Hosseini gave the kite the symbolism of redemption was to portrays Amir's dynamic change. Amir went from a “privileged, status-conscious child into a compassionate adult.”(O'Donnell) This is clearly demonstrated in the closing chapter of the novel in which Amir flys the kite with Sohrab , Hassan’s son, representing Amir can finally return to his past without the intense feeling of guilt. It represented Amir’s ability to move forward; away from the torturing life he once had and into a life in which he has saved and redeemed himself from his tormenting past. Throughout the novel, we watched Amir run away from his past; a past that “had come calling” for “one