The Kite Runner

The Kite runner (Symbol of Kite) One kite, ties with one unique and detached friendship. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel “The Kite Runner”, the blue kite represents the friendship between Amir and Hassan and also the relationship between Amir and Baba, his father. From the beginning of the story, this unique friendship between Amir and Hassan has been foreshadowed, “Then he 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.” (p. 11) This is because Amir and Hassan are best friends since the beginning of the story. The blue kite is flying high and never seems to be taken down. However, at the end of the story, it seems as though someone cut the string to their kite. In other words, their friendship has been severed. The kite also represents the relationship between Amir and Baba. Throughout the story, Amir tries to gain the respect and acceptance of Baba. Unfortunately, Baba seems to spite Amir because his wife died while giving birth to him, “I asked Baba if I could sit with them, but Baba would always stand in the doorway” (pg. 5) and the best example for that is when Baba says, “If I hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe he’s my son.” (pg.23) Furthermore, the attitude of Baba has changed a little bit when Amir brought the kite to Baba “a smile played on my father’s lips. I put the kite down and walked into his thick hair arms. I buried my face in the warmth of his chest and wept. Baba held me close to him, rocking me back and forth. In his arms, I forgot what I’d done. And that was good.” (p. 79) Their relationship was now “good” just because Amir had done something that in Baba’s eyes, was manly. The kite has multiple layers of symbolism in the story. One of these layers involves the class difference between Amir and Hassan, which largely dictates and limits their relationship. From the previous points, the kite has a strong relation towards the theme. It shows an image of a blue kite flying very high over Kabul that can be seen to represent Amir and Hassan's shared sense of freedom, one that takes them away from life's realities until the kite is grounded again.