Kite+Runner

The Kite Runner **Publication ** May 2003 **Khaled Hosseini ** Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled in Santa Clara University where he earned his bachelors in Biology. The following year, he entered the University of California-San Diego's School of Medicine, where he earned a Medical Degree in 1993. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. While in medical practice, Hosseini began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner, in March of 2001. In 2003, The Kite Runner, was published and has since become an international bestseller, published in 70 countries. **Setting and time period: ** The Kite Runner takes place around 1975 in Afghanistan.

**Genre ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">The Kite Runner has been known to have many genres from historical fiction, fiction novel, and Bildungsroman.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Theme statements ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">The main theme throughout the novel is "The Search for Redemption". Others could also be "The Persistence of the Past" and "Loyalty vs Trust". <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">__**<span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Primary characters **__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Amir- The narrator and the protagonist of the story. Amir is the sensitive and intelligent son of a well-to-do businessman in Kabul, and he grows up with a sense of entitlement. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Hassan- Loyal, forgiving, and good-natured. Amir’s best friend and half-brother as well as a servant of Baba’s. Hassan proves himself a loyal friend to Amir repeatedly, defending Amir when he is attacked and always being ready to listen. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Baba- Father of Amir and Hassan and a wealthy, well-respected businessman. Baba believes first and foremost in doing what is right and thinking for oneself, and he tries to impart these qualities to Amir. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Ali- Acting father to Hassan and a servant of Baba’s. Ali is defined by his modesty more than anything, and he works diligently as Baba’s servant. He loves Hassan deeply, though he rarely expresses his emotions outwardly.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">__**<span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Secondary characters **__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Sohrab- Son of Hassan and Farzana. In many ways, Sohrab acts as a substitute for Hassan in the novel, and he is a central focus of the plot in the later sections of the book. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Assef- Hassan’s and Sohrab’s rapist and the novel’s antagonist. Assef represents all things wrong in Afghanistan. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Rahim Khan- Friend of Baba and Amir. Rahim Khan is Baba’s closest confidant, and the one man who knows all of Baba’s secrets. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Soraya- Amir’s wife. Soraya is steady, intelligent, and always there for Amir when he needs her. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Kamal- A boy from Amir’s and Hassan’s neighborhood. Cowardly and conformist, Kamal helps Assef rape Hassan. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX206585041" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Farzana- Hassan’s wife and Sohrab’s mother. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Farid- Amir’s driver and friend. A former mujahedin fighter, Farid is at first gruff and unfriendly. But he becomes a valuable and loyal friend to Amir in Amir’s search to find and rescue Sohrab.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: underline;">Notable structural, literary and stylistic techniques:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Symbols: ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">The Cleft Lip- Hassan’s cleft lip is one of his most representative features as a child, and it is one of the features Amir refers to most in describing him. 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, simply because a cleft lip indicates that he and his family do not have the money to fix the deformity. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Kites- 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 Baba, who was once a champion kite fighter. But the kite takes on a different significance when Amir allows Hassan to be raped because he wants to bring the blue kite back to Baba. His recollections after that portray the kite as a sign of his betrayal of Hassan. Amir does not fly a kite again until he does so with Sohrab at the end of the novel. Because Amir has already redeemed himself by that 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 Sohrab, mirroring the kite’s role in Amir’s relationship with Baba.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">**Tone**: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Throughout the novel the tone changes from tragedy, filled with despair, and sad to being uplifting and hopeful.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Major conflicts ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Loyalty was a major conflict in the story. This is especially evident in the relationship between Amir and Hassan.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Key scenes ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Rape recurs throughout the novel. The most significant instances of rape are Assef’s rape of Hassan and his later rape of Sohrab. Hassan’s rape is the source of Amir’s guilt, which motivates his search for redemption, while stopping Sohrab’s rape becomes Amir’s way of redeeming himself. In each case, rape is a critical element in the novel’s plot. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Hassan’s cleft lip is one of his most representative features as a child, and it is one of the features Amir refers to most in describing him. 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, simply because a cleft lip indicates that he and his family do not have the money to fix the deformity. <span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;"> <span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;"> <span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">**Key quotations** <span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life. Silence is pushing the off button. Shutting it down. All of it. (361) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">But coming close wasn't the same as winning, was it? ... He had won because winners won and everyone else just went home. (56) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">For you, a thousand times over. (2) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">War doesn't negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace.(115) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">I ran. A grown man running with a swarm of screaming children. But I didn't care. I ran with the wind blowing in my face, and a smile as wide as the valley of Panjsher on my lips. I ran.(391)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">**<span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Your reactions/ reader responses ** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">As a student who has read this book, I would believe that someone would gain a respect for the Islamic culture and faith. You realize they are not all a bunch of stereotypical terrorists as portrayed by the media, but instead they are human beings that share the same problems as an every day person in America.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Tahoma,Verdana,'Sans-Serif'; font-size: 11px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="TextRun SCX71801893" style="font-family: Calibri,Sans-Serif; font-size: 15px;">Notable literary devices present in work and how they contribute to meaning: