Katrina S.

Amoto
BSED ENGLISH 2nd Year

THE KITE RUNNER ANALYSIS

The Kite Runner setting is in the country of Afghanistan and United States that occurred between
1960s and early 2000s. Afghanistan plays an important role in the flow of the novel, since brutality and
betrayal are exposed in the country and are reflected in the events that happen to the main characters.
Back then, Afghanistan used to be a peaceful place during Amir’s youth, not until the military coup
depose the King. During that time, Amir and Hassan happily bond together and doing some great
memories like climbing the poplar trees, skip stones on the water, and climbing up the bowl-shaped hill to
read underneath the pomegranate tree. Amir’s childhood is full of memories with Hassan that occurred
when Afghanistan was still in peaceful condition. Amir is a teenager when the soviet military forces
invade Afghanistan and he and his father Baba decided to escape to America. The place represents not
just a break from persecution, but the potential expulsion from the guilt Amir felt to what happened to
Hassan for long time ago. California is the place where some Afghans reside.

The protagonist of the novel is Amir. He might not be completely a sympathetic character in the
novel. I could say that Amir has a conflict relationship with his father, Baba, and his playmate, Hassan.
He is jealous the way his father treated Hassan even he knows in the first place that Hassan has a lower
place in society. Amir has a changing character due to the struggles between the emotional and logical
sides of his being. The development of Amir’s character I noticed in the novel, centers on his growth from
a selfish kid turned into a selfless adult. He blamed himself with the guilt for allowing Hassan to be raped
which caused his unhappiness. Amir’s father is Baba who is a leader in Kabul and is considered as a hero.
He has a cold treatment toward his son Amir. He usually put others first yet have a high expectations to
his son. Baba’s character is an example of a man with a strong moral code but deep inside, he is keeping a
secret that may demoralize his image. Hassan is Amir's playmate and servant, the son of Ali. Hassan
considers Amir as a friend, although Amir never consciously feel the same. Hassan exemplifies the
faithful servant who is loyal to his master, even after the master deceives him. I think, Hassan's character
is a very good role throughout the whole story.

Rahim Khan who is the business partner and Baba’s best friend treat Amir as a true son. He
inspires Amir to write, take care of Baba’s house and return Hassan to Kabul. He is also the one who
share to Amir the biggest secret of Baba. Assef is a Kabul bully who is the member of the Taliban. He is
considered as a villain because of the wrong doings and he symbolizes all villainy when he joined the
Taliban group who idolizes Adolf Hitler. He was described in the novel as abusive that uses his position
and power just to demonstrate the superiority of the men in charge. Amir's wife is Soraya who is unable
to bear children of her own. She willingly agrees to the adoption of Sohrab. Meanwhile, her role, like the
role of other Afghan women under the Taliban, is insignificant from a plot perspective, the importance
that she has on Amir's character development is huge.

Everything begins in 2001, with the narrator Amir when he received a phone call from his
father’s friend Rahim Khan. The novel’s plot moves back and forth since the story begun from recalling
something that happened in 1975 through a phone call. The reminiscence of what happened when Amir
and his father still lived in Afghanistan together with their servant named Ali and his son Hassan. Baba is
a successful business man and Amir feels like he cannot meet the expectation of his father to him. To
make his father Baba proud, he sees an opportunity to amaze him and to prove that he is also athletic like
Hassan by joining upcoming kite tournament. In my personal observation throughout the plot of the
novel, the main turmoil Amir struggles with after betraying Hassan, drives the whole plot of The Kite
Runner. The plot focuses on Amir’s shame and conscience to the idea of not doing anything when Hassan
raped by Assef. The worse thing is that he never corrected his failure for the rest of Hassan’s life. This
was a very emotional story that I have ever read especially when I learned that twist and the climax of the
story. When Amir returned to Afghanistan and discovered that Hassan had a son that is an orphaned after
Hassan and his wife were killed, he found out that Hassan were also his half-brother. Moreover, the
climax showed when Sohrab was took by the sociopath antagonist Assef to abuse him sexually. Amir
confronted and fought Assef to save Sohrab. Assef beats him hardly but fortunately, Sohrab was able to
save him by shooting Assef in the eye with his slingshot.

This novel was written in the first-person point of view. Amir served as both the protagonist and
the narrator of the novel, implying that the reader relates the story from his perspective. The story’s first
line begins the exact moment that Amir’s narration will revolve around: “I became what I am today at the
age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.” Amir narrates his story in the past tense,
unfolding the events that led to his personal transformation. The first-person point of view works to
manifest differences between the way Amir thought as a child and the way he thinks as adult.
Remarkably, the point of view of the novel changes briefly from Amir to Rahim Khan in Chapter Sixteen.
Rahim Khan not only provides Amir with details about Hassan’s life as an adult, but he also supplies a
first-person perspective on the destruction of Afghanistan by political parties. The conflict in the novel
begins when the narrator describes Hassan as the best kite runner in Kabul, Afghanistan. It turns out that
Amir was secretly jealous with him because of his athletic ability that admired by Baba, his father. Amir
was very good at reading and writing but his father doesn’t appreciate such things. When Amir joins the
kite tournament and win, Hassan goes to run for the final kite. At that moment, Hassan was raped by
Assef witnessed by Amir but he couldn’t do anything to save him.

The theme of the Kite runner is all about betrayal. The central betrayal comes when Amir
watches and does nothing during the incident of Hassan. Father and children relationship were also theme
as the most important relationships in The Kite Runner involve fathers and their children, usually sons.
Other themes that I observed includes: violence, rape, friendship, racialism, sex, love, literature, political
and social scenario of Afghanistan, and lastly the internal conflicts in Afghanistan. The author’s style of
writing uses different tones, symbolism and figurative languages like simile and metaphor. The tone of
the author can be described as fearless and undaunted, hopeful, and ironic. It also uses several metaphors
like this statement, “He looked like someone coming out of a good dream’ that can be seen in chapter 5.
Other literary devices are hyperbole, repetition, and onomatopoeia. Example is “the earth shook a little
and we heard the rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire.” The symbols that was depicted throughout the novel are: Kite
running, the monster lake, the pomegranate tree, lamb, and the black bear.

In general, I really admire the character of Hassan because of his loyalty to his master. I felt a bit
sad when he had to die in the end of the novel. However, I can also relate to Amir’s character and
empathy on why he acted that way. Personally, I experienced how it feels to be jealous with your siblings
when they are highly recognized and validated by my parents while I remained unappreciated despite of
the greater achievements I’ve done. On the other hand, Assef’s character was really immoral and that is
why I hate antagonists in every story but I’ve came also to think that they add color in every stories.
Moreover, I really love the plot and the theme of the novel because it showcases the different perspective
and reality that was actually happening in some countries such Muslim country. Lastly, I could say that
this novel is worth reading due to its lesson and messages that can be seen through the emotional and
dramatic scenes that it could impacts towards the reader.