Preview

The Kite Runner Theme Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
542 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Kite Runner Theme Analysis
The opening paragraph of Khaled Hosseini’s novel "The Kite Runner" immediately expresses one of the central themes, guilt. Amir, the main character, is continuously antagonized by guilt. While on the surface, Amir seems to be a lighthearted child of a rich and popular father, he harbors the guiltiness of his sins deep within his heart. These guilts come back to haunt him throughout his whole life, resurfacing as vivid recollections in which he re-experiences his sins. While he tries to suppress his past and overlook these tragic moments, he feels remorse is persuaded him to take action. His father, who he fondly calls Baba, likewise harbors the guilt of his sins. To Amir, as well as to the rest of the world, Baba is seen as a strong and authoritative man, strong willed in both actions and heart. Yet under these fallacies lies a guilt that is so strong that all of his actions are based upon it. Both Amir and Baba are driven by these feelings of guilt, and every action they take and every decision they make is an attempt to reach redemption. Baba expresses his explanation behind that all sins are a variation of theft. “If you kill someone, you steal a man’s right to life and his family’s right to a father …show more content…
While Amir and Hassan were young and lighthearted and as close as a servant and master can be, they inscribe their names in the tree, and it bears fruit. Thus, the tree symbolizes their relationship. Years later, however, after Hassan is dead and Amir is exhausted with remorse, the tree, just like Amir's memories, still exists but no longer bears fruit. The tree not only symbolizes a uniting strength between Amir and Hassan but also serves as a source of detachment. Amir wants Hassan to hit him with the pomegranate fruit in order to inflict a physical punishment to lessen his guilt as a partial equalizer; instead, Hassan breaks the fruit over his own head causing Amir more

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The hero’s journey is an aspect that’s found in many books and even movies. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a very famous book read by many English classes based on a hero’s journey. The characters in this book struggle to find out what their journey is, especially the main character Amir. Refusal of the call means the hero attempts to refuse the adventure because he is afraid. Amir holds back from doing a lot in the book because he is afraid of the outcome that comes along with it. Even though Amir refuses the call he later accepts and winds up doing good deeds; however, I still don’t believe he’s the hero because he doesn’t protect Hassan; he frames Hassan because he feels guilty about not protecting him when…

    • 1432 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, “The Kite Runner”, by Khaled Hosseini, the author uses a specific character whose power, revenge, and sadism creates one or more of the many in themes in the novel. He also finds pleasure in having and abusing his power over everyone else. This character is named Assef, and in my opinion, he is a is one of the most ruthless characters in this story. This character displays his sadistic personality, and finds pleasure in hurting others.…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    2. The pomegranate tree is a symbol of the different stages of Hassan and Amir's friendship. "One summer day, I used one of Ali's kitchen knives to carve our names on it: "Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul.' Those words made it formal: the tree was ours" (26). This quote represents Amir and Hassan's relationship between them during their early childhood. They are extremely close and carving their names on the tree shows that they will be a part of each other's lives as long as they live. This is true because even though their friendship ends up deteriorating eventually and Amir moves to America, they still carry their memories of each other to their adulthood and think about one another constantly. "Then Hassan did pick up a pomegranate. He walked toward me. He opened it and crushed it against his own forehead. "There," he croaked, red dripping down his face like blood. "Are you satisfied? Do you feel better"(93)? When this happens, it marks Amir and Hassan starting to become distant, which also happens to be at the pomegranate tree. When Hassan crushes the pomegranate on his own forehead, it symbolizes their friendship starting to become crushed and them splitting apart. The juice from the pomegranate "dripping down Hassan's face like blood" relates to later on in the story when Amir discovers Hassan's death and thinks that Hassan's blood was on his hands. "A pair of crows sat on the low wall that enclosed the cemetery. Hassan had said in his letter that the pomegranate tree hadn't borne food in years. Looking at the wilted, leafless tree, I doubted it ever would again" (264). The pomegranate tree being dead represents Amir and Hassan's friendship being dead completely. Their friendship can't be restored anymore because Hassan is now dead and Amir will never be able to show him that he is sorry for what he did in the past and how he tried to make up for it, which is expressed when Amir says that he doubts the tree would ever…

    • 1497 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    An amplifying motif throughout the novel was the acknowledgment of a loved one. Whether it is Hassan’s ambition, after being raped, for Amir to discern him or Amir himself to aspire for Baba’s gratitude. The two would strive in redemption for a problem they believe they caused. “A boy who won't stand up for himself becomes a man who can't stand up to anything.” (p. 18). Amir would make his father's words his goal to stand up to what he believes is right. Hosseini uses Amir’s endeavor to fulfill his father’s wishes of becoming a man to propel the book forward. As the book continues Amir now wishes acknowledgment from Hassan whom he betrayed. Nevertheless, Hosseini enlarges the burden when Hassan is killed off. This leaves Amir at the ultimatum…

    • 150 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Afghanistan’s troubled times resulted in the Taliban’s takeover and the suffering of the Afghan people which would challenge the people to face great adversity in the time to come. The characters would have to seek redemption despite the circumstances in Afghanistan and its society’s standards. In the books A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini betrayal allows the theme of redemption and self-sacrifice as well as the perseverance in the face of adversity to develop, these themes are shown through the characters Amir and Miriam.…

    • 89 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    When making choices that causes one to feel guilt, one tries to purge their guilt through the act of redemption. Hosseini exhibits this through the characters of Sanaubar, Baba and Amir.…

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Life Of Pi Theme Analysis

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages

    While reading the book The Life of Pi you come across a ton of themes. There is not just one theme to pick from and the entire book is not just black and white. The Life of Pi is an amazing story about how a young man went against all the odds and survived something that most would see as certain death. The theme that I picked out for this book is the boundaries between humans and animals.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    When you read two great stories you always notice that they have things in common and some things different. From what I read “The Bean Trees” and “The Kite Runner”, their meaning had the most in common.…

    • 836 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Irony In The Kite Runner

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “The great thing about irony is that it splits things apart, gets up above them so we can see the flaws and hypocrisies and duplicates.” – David Foster Wallace. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, included lessons that gave readers a glimpse of what life is like as one grows older. As we progress through the book, we see how the relationship between servant and masters looks like. The relationship between Baba and Ali, and, Amir and Hassan, really captures the essence of how hypocritical and ironic Baba and Amir are. Khaled Hosseini portrayed how hypocritical and ironic Baba and Amir were through their relationship with their slaves. The two claim that their relationship between their slaves were two friends. However, it seems more of a master to slave relationship more than a friend to friend one.…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The same themes often come up in many works, not due to plagiarization, but because these themes are reflective of human nature. The novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, depicts the regression of innocent, little boys into primitive savages when tossed onto an island with no sense of civilization. As each boy slowly transforms into a savage, civilization tears away its facade, revealing the evil that was always there. Eventually, after a couple of deaths, a ship of soldiers find the stranded children in the middle of their hysteria. Themes of the story involves fear, civilization, power, innocence, and more. Lord of the Flies shares many themes with Breaking Bad, The Revenant, and No Country for Old Men.…

    • 1556 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are crucial parts throughout the novel that Hosseini wanted us at readers to visualize as we read. Three ironic moments illustrated in the novel that I picked was when Baba told Amir “Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, theres is only one sin, only one. And that is theft” (16). The second irony is Baba tells Amir that there is one better than a Pashtun by your side. “We may be hardheaded and I know we’re far too proud, but, in the hour of need, believe me that there’s no one you’d rather have at your side than a Pashtun” (140). The last irony I found unique is the lip scar Amir gets later on in his life that is the same as Hassan’s lip when he was little.Hosseini utilizes irony as a part of his book to give another push to the story. His ironic moments in the novel helps shape our understanding of the story giving us a perspective on both sides of a problem. .…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Everyone in their lifetime will acquire some form of guilt no matter how big or small. From not cleaning your room after your parents have told you for the thousandth time, or just telling a little white lie. The way we deal with this guilt is through redemption. Either telling the truth about not cleaning your room and then cleaning your room plus the bathroom or just doing something that makes up for the cause of guilt. Throughout The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, there is a theme of betrayal and redemption. This is mostly shown through the main characters Amir and his father, Baba. Amir is living with the guilt of what he did to Hassan in the winter of 1975 while Baba is living with the guilt of not being able to acknowledge Hassan as…

    • 215 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As I read pages 158-160, I was able to relate to Amir’s life. In these pages, readers were hit by Baba’s gradual decline in health. In the text, Baba physically gets weaker, loses weight and isn’t able to work as much as he used to due to the cancer. I too, am familiar with seeing someone physically deteriorating due to cancer. A relative of mine that had been battling cancer for years, underwent weight loss and physical functioning in her last months, and in seeing that, I could vividly picture Baba. I also mirrored Amir and close one's grieving. I related to the sadness and grief in seeing sick family members go from health to sickness. In conclusion, these pages were mirrors because I was able…

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    * Amir saw a woman dressed in Burqa sat in the cab of one truck, a blindfold man in the other.…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sex, it can be an act of love or even a way to demonstrate passion, but can it also be used as a way to show dominance? In the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” Sex represents power. Stanley rapes Blanche in order to demonstrate his superiority over her.…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays