What objects do you associate innocence with? Marriage, virginity, a childhood toy? When we think of dominance we think of war; we think of negativity. When the phrase ‘parental influence’ comes to mind, we go to our mothers tucking us into bed and watching the game with our fathers—at least that is what us lucky ones think of. Not everyone is lucky enough to have that innocence stored forever, violent free lives, and a mother and father by our side. The Kite Runner and Lord of the Flies have many similarities, particularly when comparing themes such as loss of innocence, power and dominance, and paternal influences and the ways in which they are depicted through symbolism and irony.
From the beginning of The Kite Runner Hoseinni showed innocence through Amir’s passion and longing for kites, but not any kite; Amir longed for the winning kite in the annual kite flying tournament. Kites were constantly present during Amir’s childhood. They were his goodness and his purity; the goodness and purity of Afghanistan at that time. Amir’s innocence was stolen by him when he was twelve-years-old by the neighborhood bully, Assef. Amir longed for the winning kite, but at the expense of his friend, Hassan: “But there were two things amid the garbage that I couldn’t stop looking at: One was the blue kite resting against the wall,” (75). Amir witnessed the rape of Hassan, and after he took his trophy kite home and hung it up on the wall it mocked him, reminding him of his cowardice, and the purity and the innocence that were taken from him. When Amir returned to Kabul as an adult there were no kites. Afghanistan had been run over by the Taliban and everything had been destroyed, just like the innocence that was taken by Amir and the goodness and that was stolen from him. In The Kite Runner, Amir wanted the winning kite. After witnessing the rape of Hassan—witnessing his beloved friend sacrifice himself for the first place