Kite_Runner_Explores_Growing_Up

The Kite Runner explores growing up Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner shows that as we grow up the need for atonement becomes more important. Hosseini displays these thoughts by using sub themes such as the nature of guilt, father-son relationship, the need for atonement and the friendships shared to explore the concepts of growing up. At the beginning of the story the protagonist, Amir, betrays his friend and half brother by allowing him to get rapped. An immense guilt is then thrust upon him and as he grows up, the need to atone this guilt become a necessity. The nature of guilt is evident in Amir as he grows due to the use of the first person narration. This first person narration allows the reader to get an understanding of the thought process displayed by the main character. After witnessing the rape of his friend Hassan and deciding to not help but just run instead leads to a guilt that grows bigger every time he tries to ignore it.“...I carved on a tree trunk, Amir and Hassan the sultans of Kabul...I couldn’t stand looking at them now. (pg 76)” Guilt plagues Amir until he must take the advice from an old friend Rahim Khan “there is a way to be good again” (pg 2). Hosseini shows that with growing up the nature of guilt becomes stronger and the need for redemption is more important. The need of a father-son relationship also haunts the protagonist as he continually struggles to maintain a relationship with his father Baba, this is explored through irony. It is ironic because whilst growing up he is always trying to impress his father and gain his attention. However when Amir is fully grown Baba then need the attention of his son so he can be looked after by both Amir and Amir’s wife Soraya. “Soraya dedicated herself to taking care of my father. She made his toast and tea in the morning, and helped him out of bed (pg 150)”. With constant competition from Hassan for Baba’s love Amor begins to believe his father hates him. “After all I had killed his beloved wife. (pg 17)” this is once again ironic because at first Hassan is thought to be nothing but Amir’s servant However later in the novel we find out they are half bothers meaning Baba was also Hassan’s father. Therefore through the use of irony Hosseini shows that a father – son relationship is important whilst growing up, especially during the time Afghanistan was falling apart. The need for atonement is shown through the use of the bildungsroman genre. The bildunsroman genre tells the story of the protagonist’s life but only mentioning the significant or life changing events. Through these events it is evident to see that our protagonist, Amir, is in constant need for atonement. The ‘sins’ Amir does as a child still upset him as an adult and the need for atonement becomes greater with age. “I remembered wondering if Hassan had ever gotten married (pg 149).” Further evidence is the extremities he goes to redeem himself. After finding out there is a way to be good again Amir flies back to Afghanistan in search for Hassan. Later finding out that Hassan has been killed by the Taliban. Instead he finds out that Hassan’s son is now an orphan. To atone himself he takes in his new nephew back to America. The bildungsroman genre helps Hosseini show the need for atonement in his novel The Kite Runner. The friendship shared between Amir and Hassan is shown through symbolism and motif’s to explore growing up. Symbolism is the employment of something tangible to represent something abstract, typically a concept or idea. It is a literary device which Khaled Hosseini makes much use of throughout The Kite Runner. Kites and Pomegranates both symbolise the friendship between the two characters. The pomegranate was a sign of their friendship “There was a pomegranate tree near the entrance to the cemetery...After school Hassan and I would climb its branches and snatched its bloodred pomegranates” (pg 24). As it is where the two children spent most of their time together, playing. It then turns into a sign of their dying friendship due to Amir’s betrayal of Hassan. “What would you do if I hit you with this' ... I wished he gave me the punishment I craved” (pg 80-81) Amir wanted Hassan to also throw a pomegranate at him because at the time he thought it might atone him from his sin. The pomegranate tree is referred to again when Amir revisits Kabul in search for redemption “Hassan had said in his letter that the pomegranate tree hadn't borne fruit in years. Looking at the wilted, leafless tree, I doubted it ever would again.” (pg 230). This symbolises the dead friendship Amir and Hassan used to share. At the beginning of the novel the Kite is a symbol of the friendship between not only Amir and Hassan as they always fly them together but it is the only thing Amir and Baba had I common. But the kite takes on a different significants when Amir lets Hassan get rapped only so he could show Baba the blue kite he had won. The kite then becomes a sign of betrayal. This isn’t revisited until the concluding scene when Amir is teaching Sohrab how to fly a kite. As shown Hosseini has used symbolism in the form of motif’s to display the friendship shared between Amir and Hassan whilst they are growing up. In conclusion it is clear to see that in the novel The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini uses the sub – themes of nature of guilt, father-son relationship, the need for atonement and the friendships shared to explore the concepts of growing up. To do so he uses literary techniques such as the bildungroman genre, first person narration irony and the use of symbolism and motifs.