Overall Questions and Notes for ‘The Kite Runner’ (Essay Sample)

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Overall Questions and Notes for ‘The Kite Runner’
The Kite Runner is a story bearing high octane emotions centering on improbable friendship between a rich kid and his friend, a son to his father’s servant. The story explores and array of thematic concerns such as but not limited to betrayal, power, education, love, sacrifice, and insurgency. The well-crafted plot that marvels at the concept of family, friendship, and love narrated against the Afghanistan history backdrop evokes emotional disproportionalities to its readers positioning itself as a one-of-a-kind literary text. The vividness in description of the of the setting in the book, especially for Kabul in Afghanistan, paints an image so unblemished and precise that by extent a reader would imagine to have had firsthand experience in the country (O’Brein, 2018, 1 a5). The lead character, Amir, is the son of a prominent Afghan father, who is raised alongside a servant’s son and become best of friends. Through this expose, the author accounts for how long serving servants would live with or nearby to their masters and even have their children grow alongside the master’s children. The story turns grotesque immediately after the liberation of Afghanistan by the Taliban and the aftermath ethnic cleansing, leading to the annihilation of the Hazara. Therefore, this papers seeks to conduct a review of the book responding to essential questions therein as well as highlighting key elements of the literary text, The Kite Runner.
Stylistic Devices

Quote

Explanation

Flashback

“Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”

The quote is derived from Amir, who is the lead character. It is a reflection by the Amir depicting the loneliness he is experiencing and the relation between his past and present owing to the deeps and betrayal he concocted against his childhood best friend. The sentiments are a confession purposed with healing age old wounds (Kai-fu, 2019, 192).

Imagery

“I am a baby in that photogragh and Baba is holding me, looking tired and grim. I’m in his arms, but its Rahim Khan’s pinky my fingers are curled around.”

This quote made by Amir, the lead character reveals that since childhood, Amir and Baba have been having a ragged relationship.

Irony

“Then his lips twisted, and, that time, I knew just what he was doing. He was smiling. Just as he had, emerging from his mother’s womb. The swelling subsided, and the wound healed with time. Soon, it was just a pink jagged line running up from his lip. By the following winter, it was only a faint scar. Which was ironic. Because that was the winter that Hassan stopped smiling.”

The irony in the quote is that Hassan had been seen to be always smiling regardless of the circumstances, however he undergoes a surgery to fix his harelip and ironically stops smiling the same time after winter.

Rhetorical Question

“But coming close wasn’t the same as winning, was it?”

Through the quote, Amir reflects on the thought that perhaps winning the next kite tournament would find him favor in his father’s heart. Nevertheless, he equally expresses concerns that when he came close to winning the last time, it was not not ever good enough for his father to be delighted in him nor cherish him in anyway (Kai-fu, 2019, 192). As such, the matter makes Amir question whether or not he has any of his father’s endorsement.

Repetition

“For you, a thousand times over.”

The quote has been uttered only but times in The Kite Runner, nonetheless asserts more purposeful impression. At first, Hassan mentions the phrase to Amir as he was headed to recover blue kite delinked during the competition. The repetition of the phrase expresses Hassan’s resolute loyalty to Amir. Further, Amir echoes the same utterances to Hassan’s son, Sohrab, during a tournament in which it was evident that Amir had finally overcome his cowardice tendencies and hence became a man of honor.

Foreshadow

“Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood.”

The sentiments were from Assef to Hassan and Amir insinuating a probable future of Afghanistan that is to come. He foretells that the Pashtuns will at some point in the future want to rid Harazas from Afghanistan.

Epiphany

“I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan- the way he stood up for me all those times in the past- and accept whatever happened to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran.”

When Amir watched as Hassan was being raped, and later ran to save himself leaving Hassan behind, little did he know that later he would fall victim of the same. At this point it is when it dawned on him of what had happened beforehand.

Question

Quote(s)

Explanation

Is the ‘Scar’ Imagery in The Kite Runner physical, mental, emotional or spiritual?

"'For you, a thousand times over,"
"I think you know who [...] Why? What can you possibly say to me? I'm thirty-eight years old and I've just found out my whole life is one big fucking lie!"
“My body was broken—just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later—but I felt healed. Healed at last."

All through The Kite Runner, the author Khaled Hosseini employs the symbolism of scar to insinuate the accomplishments of characters, their realizations, and individual struggles in their entire lives. As such, there is more exhibition of emotional growth by the characters in the novel, paving way for healing and equally aiding as a stern recap of past errors (Kai-fu, 2019, 192).

Effects of Power on Individuals and others.

“A boy who won't stand up for himself becomes a man who can't stand up to anything.”

The contemporary society is atrophied by far detrimental effects of extreme violence, sexism, and racism. Through The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini, vividly depicts the menace caused by such vices upon the people of Afghanistan. The Pashtuns are hungry for power and the need to catapult their social status and as such, they conduct cleansing upon the people of Hazara (Kurniawan, 2019). Primarily, the Hazara, as depicted by Khaled in his book, work as servants in the homes of the Pashtuns.

How are r