The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner
Commentary
 on
 the
 extract:
  “Then
 the
 moment
 came……………in
 a
 faded
 Polaroid
 photograph”
 

The main characters in the following extract are Amir, Hassan and Baba. In the winter of that year, 1975, the tournament is held in Amir’s neighborhood. An overwhelming desire to win seizes Amir as Amir thinks this will finally earn him Baba’s approval. The day of the competition finally arrives. On the morning of the tournament, Hassan shares a dream with Amir. The dream is about an alleged monster and how together they demonstrate bravery, friendship, and leadership and prove to people that it is safe to swim in the lake. When Amir hesitates when they should be starting for the tournament, Hassan encourages him, saying, "There's no monster, just a beautiful day." In this manner, the chapter opens with an example of foreshadowing. Hassan tells Amir about his dream about a monster lying under the surface of a very still and beautiful lake. As this is the chapter where Hassan gets raped, this is like an underlying monster of human creation that threatens to drag Hassan’s life down into the depths of human depravity. After hours of flying and fighting, he is one of the two finalists. Finally, with a bit of luck and skill, and Hassan's help and guidance, Amir wins. Throughout the tournament, Amir keeps looking up at the terrace to look at Baba’s face for signs for approval and acceptance. When an ever-loyal Hassan states, "You won," Amir, corrects him with "We won." Baba starts to signal that Amir needed to chase the last Kite that he cut out of the tournament. It is custom to chase the last kite and bring it back as a trophy– hence Kite running. Hassan then takes off to run the blue kite for Amir, and after Amir yells for him to come back with it, Hassan replies, "for you a thousand times over!" Smiling, Hassan takes off after the kite. This links up towards the end of the book when Amir tells Sohrab “for you a... [continues]

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