Kite Runner Themes Essay

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is a novel mainly set in Kabul, Afghanistan during the 1970’s then later in the present day. Amir, a twelve year old Pashtun boy, witnesses the rape of his loyal friend and servant, Hassan, a lower class Hazara, but does nothing to stop it. Amir is haunted by this memory of his betrayal for years until he is given the chance to atone for his sins and redeem himself. Throughout the novel Hosseini, using a number of different symbols, is able to emphasise themes like friendship, guilt and redemption. Hassan’s cleft lip, the kites, pomegranate tree are key symbols in the text.

Hassan’s cleft lip is one of his most symbolic features as a child. The split in Hassan’s lip acts as a mark of Hassan’s status in society. It signifies his poverty, which is one of the things that separates him from Amir, as Ali and Hassan are not wealthy like Baba and Amir, but Amir doesn’t let this affect their relationship; “In the end I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara. I was Sunni and he was Shi’a and nothing was ever going to change that”. Baba, who is Hassan’s biological father, chooses to pay a surgeon to repair Hassan’s lip as a birthday gift, signifying his secret fatherly love for Hassan. Later in the novel, Assef splits Amir’s lip as he beats him, leaving Amir with a permanent scar much like Hassan’s. This is significant as Amir’s identity becomes merged with Hassan’s. He learns to stand up for people he cares about, just like Hassan did for him.

Kites are another important symbol within ‘The Kite Runner’. One of the themes kites symbolise is the class difference between Amir and Hassan, which largely limits their relationship. In kite fighting, one boy controls the kite while the other assists by feeding the string. Even though Hassan shares the excitement of kite fighting, he does not actually have control over the kite and Amir is the one who claims a victory. Hassan may catch a rival kite and hold it, but always to bring it back to Amir, who it then belongs to. His joy is second-hand, just like his experience of wealth and privilege while living in Baba's household. At the end of the novel, Amir runs a kite for Sohrab. In response to doing this Amir says to Sohrab “For you a thousand times over”. The roles previously played by Amir and Hassan have been switched. This gives Amir his freedom back as he no longer lives with the guilt of Hassan.

The pomegranate tree is used in the novel to symbolize friendship and loyalty between Amir and Hassan. “One summer day, I used one of Ali's kitchen knives to carve our names on it: 'Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul”. By this, Hosseini is trying to portray the idea the carving in the tree formalizes Amir and Hassan's friendship. Also it shows that their friendship will last forever like the carving does. After the rape they return to the tree and in a desperate attempt for redemption of his guilt, Amir throws pomegranates at Hassan hoping that he will throw them back.