From the opening of the novel it is shown to the reader that there is a gradual character development of Amir. He says, “Standing in the kitchen with the receiver to my ear, I knew it wasn’t just Rahim Khan on the line. It was my past of unatoned sins.” This is referring to Amir’s betrayal to Hassan, this use of dialogue shows the reader that Amir’s guilt has finally caught up with him. Amir and Hassan spent their childhood together as best friends and when Amir won his kite race, Hassan offered to fetch the winning kite. At this time, Assef the local bully approached Hassan to get the kite.
When Hassan said the tree hadn’t borne fruit in years, he is using the tree as a direct meaning of their friendship ending. “ I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba. Was it a fair price? The answer floated to my conscious mind before I could thwart: He was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” Kites in the novel have multiple layers of symbolism.
(Chapter 21) The Catcher in the Rye presents a clear distinction between children and adults. Children are caring, genuine, and extremely kindhearted, whereas adults are phony, bastards, and very self-centered. Since this novel is told from a seventeen year old with physiological issues point of view Holden explores the grey area between these two very different worlds. This is the least phony expression of thought we've seen so far in the novel. Holden finds this notebook very appealing because of it’s lack of falsity.
Chapter 7 helps us(the readers) shape Amir’s character in more detail, “I kept/with the kite.” This shows us that Amir is paranoid about what Baba thinks of him as a person due to him listening to Rahim Khan’s and Baba’s conversation in the previous chapter. “but this was my one chance to become someone who was looked at.” This is said by Amir while he is flying the kite which shows that he is very eager to fit in with society and into the hierarchy set by the society because Amir being a ‘Pashtun’ is referred to be superior as Pashtun’s were the most powerful ethnic groups in Afghanistan. This also shows that Amir is seeking for Baba to notice him trying to achieve victory to seek the sense of attention which he lacked in his childhood because Amir thinks that Baba blames him for his mother passing away in childbirth. “the streets glistened with fresh snow and the sky was a blameless blue” is used to describe the setting of the beginning of this chapter when the kite festival is about to start. Hosseini uses juxtaposition of the delightful day with the horrifying incident to suggest that the appearance does not represent the reality within the book for example the beautiful setting of the chapter does not represent the rape incident which happens later on in the chapter.
Amir starts off as a loving and caring person—when Hassen is insulted by the soldiers, “I reached across [Hassen’s] seat, slung my arm around [Hassen], pulled [Hassen] close. [Hassen] rested his head on my shoulder” and Amir says “He took you for someone else,” I whispered”(8). Then, he becomes dishonest and untrustworthy: Hassen “knew I betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time”(111). These examples in the book show how the
I don’t agree with the statement as I don’t believe that Assef’s only purpose in the novel is to offer Amir a source of redemption. Although, Amir can’t gain redemption without confronting Assef I do also think that Assef as a child portrays a group of children during those times that were influenced by the war in Afghanistan and had awareness of what was going on. Assef (child) has immediate innocence as he is a child, who implies a sense of naivety towards the reader; Assef believes that what is going on is good as he has no awareness of what is good, such as the teachings given to Amir by Baba. In conclusion of this point the character of Assef is a symbol of the children growing in evil, who grow to be evil. Also, to know good you need to know bad so I think that Assef stands as a continuous comparison to any ‘thought to be bad’ in the novel as what he does is really bad and isn’t excused by the reader at all: the rape of Hassan.
Fairy Tales: Good Outweighs Evil Every Time Once upon a time, everyone was a child with hope in a fairy tale, happy-ever-after, life. A child’s innocence is inevitable; he reads fairy tales looking to see the good overcome the evil, relating it to his own life and the obstacles he faces. Fairy tales always have a happy ending providing hope for the reader; however, some believe this concept distorts real life. If an adult explains the concept of fairy tales, teaches a child the hidden moral, and differentiates between real life and fantasy, fairy tales can impact, encourage, and strengthen a child. Fairy tales have a positive affect, providing entertainment, while teaching morals through obscured concepts.
He sat on the bench and thought the words Rahim had said “ There is a way to be good again” before he hung up . The twin kites had made Amir think of Hassan, Baba, Ali and Kabul. Summary: Chapter 2 During childhood, Amir and Hassan would climb trees and annoy neighbor by using mirrors to reflect sunlight into a neighbor’s window, or they would shoot walnuts at the neighbor’s dog with Hassan’s slingshot. These were Amir’s ideas, but Hassan never blamed Amir when they get caught by Hassan’s father, Ali. In the chapter, Amir had described Hassan facial features .Hassan has the Hazara Mongoloid features that make him look like a Chinese.
Amir seeks redemption for his disloyalty to his best friend when he was a child, Hassan. Because of his fearfulness during Hassan’s rape, his betrayal of Hassan after the rape, and his committing of the worst sin in Afghani culture, Amir has to take himself on a long and weakening journey for his ultimate goal of total redemption that will eventually take him back to his violent and war-torn home country. When they were young, Amir and Hassan were really best friends; the two of them were inseparable. They used to climb the poplar trees in the driveway of Amir’s father’s house and annoy their neighbors by reflecting sunlight into their homes with a shard of mirror”. Even though the two young boys were of different social classes and ethnicities, they were able to remain best friends no matter what problems would face them.
The Kite Runner Essay “With reference to your study of ‘The Kite Runner’ discuss how conflict is portrayed throughout the novel” ‘The Kite Runner’ novel is written by author Khaled Hosseini and published in 2003. Excellently written, the book describes a very different type of story about the lives of two boys, who grew up together like brothers but eventually were separated through some very upturning events throughout the novel. It contrasts between moments of hope and moments which seem like all hope could be lost. Using the topic of conflict and atonement, Hosseini displayed how the life of a young Afghan boy, also known as the protagonist Amir, had faced through an event which changed his life forever, including the relationships with him and Hassan, his guilt of not upstanding for Hassan when he was rape, how Baba’s thoughts about him evolved over time etc, all has revolved him into one result, atonement. Of course, this atonement came through many types of conflicts that Amir faced.