The Kite Runner Blog Post

The Kite Runner

By Khaled Hosseini

          The book, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is about Amir's life divided into three sections; one in Pakistan with his servant, Hassan, another in California with his dad, and the last back in Kabul with his wife and Hassan's son. In the first section, Amir and Hassan are children and enjoy their childhood but there was an older boy named Assef who often got in their way. Amir abandoned Hassan in one of their encounters with Assef which motivated Amir to avenge him. In the second section Amir attempts to forget about the incident with Hassan and lives in America with his "baba." After saving Hassan's son, Sohrab, in a similar incident, Amir could no longer take the guilt of abandoning Hassan and adopted Sohrab with his wife, Soraya. Though Sohrab remained very depressed after the death of his father, Sohrab was able share love with Amir. In this book I noticed many themes including symbols and patterns. Hosseini's essential themes in this story are friendship, innocence and admiration.

 

          To begin, one theme Hosseini insinuated into the story was friendship. This theme was one of the more obvious ones in the first section of the book. For example, in the beginning of the book Hosseini uses, "[Ali] would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break. Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name (34-37)." This example shows the importance of bonds between two or more people. Later in the book it is revealed that Hassan and Amir both came from the same father which brings their bond even closer, even after Hassan dies. Another example of friendship was when Hassan stands up for Amir with his slingshot when Assef threatens to beat them up (41-43). Although Hassan stands up Amir, Amir does not stand up for Hassan when he was being raped by Assef. However, Amir does note that Hassan resembles the look of the "lamb." This must be symbol because this expression is used again when Sohrab (Hassan's son) was found with Assef, who Amir saved for his friend Hassan.

 

          Furthermore, innocence plays a huge part in this story. Again, when Hosseini mentions the expression of the "lamb," he refers to the look of innocence which is implied later in the story. Soon after Hassan gets raped, Amir takes out his guiltiness on Hassan himself by smashing pomegranates on him (92, 93). Hassan is completely innocent for getting raped by Assef and then getting abandoned by Amir. In addition to the "lamb" symbol, rape occurs again and again throughout the story. For example, after Hassan gets raped, Amir and his father sneak past the border of Pakistan to get to Freemont, California. On the truck ride past the border, Baba stops the rape of an innocent woman (121-124). This pattern continues when Amir rescues Sohrab from being raped by Assef (281-292). Afterwards, when Amir adopts Sohrab, Sohrab could not help but feel extremely depressed; he lost almost all of his loved ones lived with people he did not even know. If anyone were to be in his shoes they would feel the same so Sohrab was innocent for feeling like that.

 

          Lastly, admiration plays its role in all three sections of the book. For example, when Amir read his story to Hassan when they were kids, Hassan envied Amir's ability to read and write, even though he barely showed it. In the book Hassan says, "Mashallah," which means "bravo" (52-57). This would be used when someone does something unique or something that was never done, so Hassan clearly admired Amir's abilities. In the second section, however, the admiration is completely different from the admiration in the previous section. Mid-way into the book, Amir and his father were in Kabul and they ran into Baba's old friends. General Taheri and his family. Amir admired the General's daughter, Soraya and her beauty; "[Soraya], a slim hipped beauty with velvety coal black hair, an open thermos..." In addition to this there are series of people admiring one another continuing in the book that Hosseini included.

 

          In conclusion, Hosseini's main themes are friendship, innocence, and admiration. These are not only essential in the book but also essential in real life. Admiration leads to friendship and can also prove innocence in some ways. Khaled Hosseini implies many other themes in The Kite Runner, such as, betrayal, warfare, principles, race, gender, literature, etc. which the reader can always relate to in reality.