ANALYSIS OF THE KITE RUNNER by Khalid Hosseini

ANALYSIS OF THE KITE RUNNER by Khalid Hosseini

ANALYSIS OF THE KITE RUNNER by Khalid Hosseini

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a story told by the narrator and protagonist, named Amir. The novel starts when Amir is reflecting on an incident that occurred many years back in the winters of Afghanistan. All of a sudden he talks about a phone call which he received recently from a person named Rahim who has given him hope by saying ‘There is a way to be good again’. This provides the basis of the novel. The rest of the whole story is told through the technique of flashback. Amir is a 12 years old rich boy living with his father named Baba and two servants Ali and his son Hassan in Kabul Afghanistan. Amir is always seeking his father’s love although he had a father figure named Rahim who always appreciate him in his stories. Amir feels that his father loves Hassan more than him and because of that Amir feels jealous of Hassan who is always loyal to him. Once Amir and Hassan were taking part in a kite running tournament and Hassan ran to catch the winning kite for Amir, after some time Amir went to chase Hassan, and there he saw Hassan raped by Assef. Assef is an aged fellow of Amir and Hassan but a spoiled one.ANALYSIS OF THE KITE RUNNER by Khalid Hosseini

Amir does not come in front to help Hassan and starts pretending that he does not know anything and enjoys the praise that his father started giving him for winning the game. As guilt is overcoming Amir day by day he tries to make Ali and Hassan leave the house, they leave but Hassan is just out of sight of Amir but not out of mind, he is present in his mind in a form of severe guilt. Time passes by, circumstances have changed and Baba and Amir have to leave for America they are not as wealthy as they were in Afghanistan. Amir got his graduate degree and become a successful writer and marries before the death of Baba. And then one day Amir received a phone call from Rahim asking him to come back to Pakistan and Afghanistan for the main purpose which is to save Sohrab son of Hassan. Amir agrees and puts his first step in the way of redemption so he can heal his wounds to some extent and overcome his guilt. 

This heartbreaking story of The Kite Runner is set in winter, which shows coldness and as it revolves around sin and redemption it is depicted that sin leads all of the characters towards coldness and barrenness. Amir the narrator as well as the protagonist opens the story by letting the readers know not about how he sinned but about the presence of sin. “It's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out” (Hosseini 1). Hosseini uses structure to underline the topics of sin and redemption. Since Amir recounts the story, by and large, every memory, even the delighted ones of his adolescence before the assault, is polluted with it. The Story starts when Rahim khan, the friend of Amir’s Baba had a phone call with Amir and calls him back to Afghanistan. He reveals that his friend Hassan who is always ready to do anything for him at any time has died. “For you, a thousand times over” (Hosseini 1). And now it’s time to pay back by finding his son Sohrab.“There is a way to be good again”(Hosseini 2). This gives the reader an impression that there happened something wrong before and now it is time to compensate Amir agrees and informs his wife that he has to go to Afghanistan to meet Baba’s friend who is seriously ill and leaves. The narrator has taken his readers into a flashback. When, Amir and Hassan were in their childhood. They had a good friendship but both were having different personalities Hassan was a brave Hazara boy, on the other hand, Amir was a cowardly bookish boy. Amir’s father wanted him to be like him. “A boy who can’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up for anything” (Hosseini 20). Once Amir tells his Baba about drinking which he was taught by his teacher Mullah Faitullah khan.“those who drank would answer for the sin on the day of Qiyamat, Judgement Day (Hosseini 14). His Baba replies by insulting Mullah that all sins proceed from a single sin, which is theft “When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat .you steal the right to fairness”(Hosseini 16). Amir felt like Baba hated him a little, he thinks “I had killed his beloved wife” (Hosseini 17). He steals his father’s wife(his mother) because his mother died when he was born. There is a boy named Aseef who is known for his meanness and always bullying the Hazara community. He tries a few times to bully Hassan too. Once he catches Hassan and Amir with his crew Hassan, with his slingshot shot him and runs away with Amir. Amir wins The Kite Fighting tournament.

The individuals gather and run for the vanquished kites, and that who catches vanquished kites is viewed as the best prize. Hassan chases to get the blue kite. Assef and his team who are loaded with revenge take after Hassan while he is chasing the kite they get him in Alley. Amir takes after Hassan as he is so late. The three young men toss Hassan to the ground Amir is viewing this however no one notices him and the sin happens which becomes a whole life redemption for Amir Agha, Assef rapes Hassan and Amir does nothing. Amir wants to hide from Hassan he wants to conceal himself from his sin so he makes up an arrangement and takes some cash and his extravagant watch and puts them under Hassan's sleeping cushion. In Inspection Baba asks about this and not surprisingly Hassan states what he has done but Baba instantly forgives Hassan which amazes Amir. Amir thinks that if theft is the worst of all sins then why Hassan is not punished Regardless Ali and Hassan choose to leave the house “Life here is impossible for us now”. Agha Sahib (Hosseini 92). Amir considers heading out to the auto to admit his mistake, yet he stays at the window. Later, Baba along with Amir leaves Kabul because of the circumstances around them. At one place a Russian soldier stops the truck and asks that only then he will let the truck pass if he will have some time alone with one of the women in the truck. Amir knows Baba will react to this and as his cowardness is not allowing him to stand against it so he grabbed Baba’s leg but to no avail. The soldier takes out his gun suddenly a senior officer shows up and gives the soldier a very mild scolding and they make it through the checkpoint. Baba said, “Tell him I’ll take thousands of his bullets before I let this indecency take place”(Hosseini 101). Baba and Amir get settled in California in the 1980s after escaping from Kabul safely. There Baba starts to work in the gas station, Amir gets his graduate degree from high school at age of twenty in 1983. Afghan families are working on an entire section of the San Jose Flea market. Baba and Amir also start working there. Baba introduces Amir to General Iqbal Taher. Amir falls in love with General Taheri’s daughter, Soraya Taheri, and sends baba for her hand. However, Soraya needs to converse with Amir. Soraya wants Amir to know about her past before they continue any further. Soraya tells him about her story when she flees with a man. But later General takes Soraya home, by telling her about the pathetic sick condition of her mother Khanum Taheri. Amir wants to marry Soraya. He remembers that he also has his particular past. If Amir cancels the wedding, it would be like the pot calling the pot dark. The part closes with Amir's disappointments. He wishes he could be as open as her and let her know about Hassan and Ali. He opens his mouth however he doesn't say anything. Her secret was out. Spoken Dealt with. I opened my mouth and almost told her how I’d betrayed Hassan, lied, driven him out, and destroyed forty- the year-old relationship between Baba and Ali. But I didn’t. I suspected there were many ways in which Soraya Taheri was a better person than me. Courage was just one of them (Hosseini144). When Amir decides to go to Afghanistan to see Rahim khan, there Rahim Khan tells him a story. He tells that he brought Hassan and his wife Farzana back. The couple had a baby girl first and then a boy named Sohrab. Hassan's mother who discarded him and Ali years back abruptly appeared away. She was a wreck– frail, secured in bruises, and cut by a blade. Hassan and the co-medical attendant her once again brought back to health. At the start, Amir does not agree with Rahim Khan's plan. Rahim Khan gives him three reasons. First and foremost, Khan is near death and he needs Amir to do this for him. Second, Baba once thought that Amir couldn't remain for himself and now, Amir can demonstrate to him to be wrong. Third, Hassan was Amir's half-brother. The last reason changes things. Ali was sterile and Baba fathered Hassan with Sanaubar. Amir thinks about Baba’s principles: “There is only one sin. And that sin is theft. Baba steals Ali’s honor and Hassan’s identity and Amir’s brother's. Yet Amir perceives how similar he and Baba are: both betray the people who would have to give their lives for us Ali and Hassan. Amir starts to see that, by rescuing Sohrab, he may make up for both Baba's and his sins. Then Rahim Khan's expression stroke in his mind "There is a way to be good again" and this gives Amir a new chance. Rahim khan tells Amir that Shorab is in an orphanage, A person named Farid helps Amir to reach there. They have a meeting with the director of the orphanage.

The director tells Amir and Farid that a Talib authority stops at halfway houses often to purchase youngsters. Since the chief does not have any cash to run the mistake, he takes the cash. Farid gets insane and begins gagging the executive. Amir needs to persuade Farid not to slaughter the executive. The director gives both some exceptionally valuable data. The Talib official who purchases the children will be at Ghazi Stadium the following day. There is a small contract between Amir and Farid about compensating for his past. Farid says that this amount is less compared to Amir’s work which he wants him to do for him. The minister gives a terrifying sermon about sin and rebuffing the sinner “Every sinner must be punished in a manner befitting his sin (Hosseini 236)!” The two adulters have been set in two openings in the football ground. The minister begins to stone them. Occasionally, a Talib man with a stethoscope checks the pulse of the philanderers. Once the miscreants have been executed, the Talib watchmen load them up in a truck and fill the openings. After that soccer match resumes and everything becomes normal. Finally, Amir succeeds to find Sohrab, when he first sees him in a room with one of the Talib he has bells on his ankles and one of the guards is carrying a tape recorder which is weird. Suddenly the Talib minister asks Amir what happened to "old Babalu" (neighborhood epithet for Ali). He says something in regards to always remembering a face. It's Assef. Amir offers to pay Assef for Sohrab. Assef is now rich. Amir inquires whether Assef's motivation in life is to assault kids. There is a short agreement in the middle of Assef and Amir about ethnic purging. This fellow Assef is a genuine rascal. It's difficult to depict how malevolent he is. Unexpectedly, Assef tells Amir he can have Sohrab and Amir asks how. All things considered, Amir needs to battle Assef. Assef still holds resentment against Amir from the time Hassan pulled a slingshot on him. Assef tells that he has got both Hassan and Amir now he needs to battle Amir. The watchmen leave the room at Assef's appeal. Assef turns on the music before starting to give a good old-fashioned thumping to Amir. There is a considerable measure of dying, shattering, breaking, tearing, and hammering. All is done to Amir. On the other hand, Amir begins giggling sooner or later. He feels satisfied surprisingly and he thinks it should have happened before in 1975 when the incident of Hassan’s rape took place Baba gives a birthday party in honor of his son who has won the kite fighting tournament, this memory of the tournament cannot be separated from Amir’s guilt. He tries to speak up for the first time when everyone has gone to sleep. Amir blabs about nobody specific: “I watched Hassan get raped” (Hosseini 75) No one wakes up or hears him. Amir’s insomnia starts that night. His blame is for not giving him a chance to rest. He is hoping that somebody can listen to him. But when nobody awakens he comprehends that he will have to live with his guilt and transgression. Amir’s pain is expanding step by step. At another time, Amir loses control of himself. They go on a hill and there Amir picks an overripe pomegranate to pelt Hassan. Amir needs Hassan to battle back yet Hassan is not fighting. In the end, Hassan grabs a pomegranate and walks over to Amir, and hits it against his forehead.“Hit me back!” I spat. Hit me back, goddamn you! I wished he would. I wished he’d give me the punishment I craved, so maybe I’d finally sleep at night.” (Hosseini 81) Amir has another dream about Hassan since Amir has trouble sleeping. His guilt doesn’t let him sleep. In the dream, Amir sees the army around Hassan at Baba's home and they execute him. Amir gets a sight of the face of one of the officers this is Amir. He has a dream in which he watches Hassan and himself in the lake. Both were swimming and suddenly Amir shouts. A monster but Hassan replied there is no monster he said just water and Amir thinks that he was not right, there is a monster He grabbed Hassan by his ankles and dragged him to the murky bottom and Amir thought. I was that monster (Hosseini 75). Amir’s guilt is not freeing him. He thinks of Hassan. “I remember wondering if Hassan too had married”(Hosseini149). Amir and Soraya start a family but cannot succeeds Amir gets his tests done, however, Soraya doesn't. She has something many refer to as "Unexplained Infertility," which is not common. “Perhaps something, someone, somewhere had decided to deny me fatherhood for the things I had done. Maybe this was my punishment”(Hosseini 164). Suddenly, Sohrab makes everybody stop. Sohrab has put a metal ball from the table in his slingshot. After a few pointless orders to Sohrab, Assef gets his due. Sohrab lets fly and the metal ball crushes into Assef's left eye. He darkens his eye just like his father does. Amir dreams a lot. He just recalls the odds and ends of the fantasies, which appear to be all the more, really, in the same way as memories.

Baba marinating sheep, a trek to the strawberry fields in Jalalabad with Baba and Hassan; the blood dribbling from Hassan's jeans after the rape and making affection with Soraya. The two talk about their misfortunes and the loss of their guardians. Sohrab is starting to overlook his guardians' countenances. Amir gives Sohrab the Polaroid photograph of Hassan and Sohrab. Sohrab asks Amir “if God will put him in hell “ for what I did to that man [Assef ]” “Nay Of course not.” Amir replies (Hosseini 277). Amir, and gives Sohrab an obscure history of his and Hassan's dealings with Assef. Sohrab sobs. He feels "dirty” because Assef sexually misuses him. Sohrab doesn't even need his father and mother to see him, because he feels so sinful. Amir solaces him. Amir asks forgiveness from Allah and takes Sohrab to America. General Taheri makes objections and raises questions about Sohrab. Finally, Amir stands up for himself he tells the General obtusely that Sohrab is his nephew. He makes it clear to the General regarding Baba, Sanaubar, and Hassan. Furthermore gives the General a little recommendation: “You will never again refer to him as ‘Hazara boy in my presence . He has a name and its Sohrab” (Hosseini 315).

#ANALYSIS

#THEKITERUNNER

# KhalidHosseini