“Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”
There are moments – in happening or not, whose implications or consequences are strewn in the foundation upon which we build our life – that makeup how we perceive ourselves or how we feel or think others perceive us. These moments from the canvas against which our past, present, and future (change or hope) are painted. This is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
To start, some facts: the book is a first-person bildungsroman narrated in past tense with extensive flashbacks by Amir, the protagonist. It is cast four days preceding the final events of the story and told n a tone that is penitential, expressing significant remorse throughout the decades-long tale across settings of Afghanistan (Kabul), Pakistan, California and San Francisco.
The major conflict is the young Amir’s failure to intervene in/stop the assault of his childhood friend. This failing subjects him to guilt which he wrestles with for most of his life in a perpetual search for the means to make atonement. His story is told against the backdrop of political turmoil in Afghanistan starting with the decline of the Afghan monarchy and rise of the republic and on to the ethnic sectarianism and the refugee exodus to Pakistan and other neighbouring countries.
While various themes are explored in the book, the prevailing one is that of Guilt & Redemption. Amir’s quest to redeem himself makes up the heart of the novel. Early on, Amir strives to redeem himself in Baba’s eyes, primarily because his mother died giving birth to him, and he feels Baba holds that against him.
To atone for this, Amir thinks he must win the kite-tournament and bring Baba the losing kite, both of which are inciting incidents that set the rest of the novel in motion. The more substantial part of Amir’s search for redemption, however, stems from his guilt regarding his friend. That guilt drives the climactic events of the story. The moral standard Amir must meet to earn his redemption is set early in the book, when Baba says that a boy who doesn’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything. As a boy, Amir fails to stand up for himself. As an adult, he can only redeem himself by proving he has the courage to stand up for what is right.
As the central character of the story as well as its narrator, the author casts Amir as having a privileged upbringing accustomed to having what he wants. The only thing he feels deprived of is a deep emotional connection with his father. Contrary to his father’s best efforts, he is not aggressive or “manly” in the traditional way. He is more sensitive, like his late mother. The change in Amir’s character we see in the novel centers on his growth from a selfish child to a selfless adult.
The author uses Kites as his main symbol throughout the book. The Kite serves as a symbol of Amir’s happiness as well as his guilt. Flying kites is what he enjoys most as a child, not least because it is the only way that he connects fully with his father. Amir does not fly a kite again until he feels he has been redeemed. At this point, the kite is no longer a symbol of his guilt. Instead, it acts as a reminder of his childhood, and it also becomes the way that he is finally able to connect with his new role.
In closing, Khaled Hosseini, with deft employment of the various literary tools stated or alluded to above, manages to weave characters and plot easy for the reader to attach themselves too and invest emotional energy. This bond with the characters more than makes up for his simplistic layout of sentences and various instances of telling as opposed to showing.
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