...Actively and willingly striving towards decisions to benefit the majority, rather than strictly ones own self interests, is a troublesome feat. Undeniably, Khaled Hoseini’s The Kite Runner captures this moral struggle within various living circumstances and familial origins. Nonetheless, while an abundance of characters’ experiences are captured, only a minute handful truly grasp the conceptual understanding of self-sacrifice. Specifically, Soraya, Rahim Kahn, and Baba comprehend the authentic tribulation of emotion, physical effort, and endless support that must accompany a holistic offer of aid. Through their charitable hearts and compassionate friendship, these individuals all achieve a state of true bliss because first-hand experiences...
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...Kite Runner: Redemption Amir’s Atonement When you do wrong, you are plagued with guilt. Guilt can be sinful; it stains your conscience and ruins your morals. Although these actions are wrongful, they can be atoned to through sacrifice or purification. People find piece of mind in doing something that makes up for the cause of guilt and this is especially eminent in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner. Although there are many ways to advocate to wrongful doing, through the main character Amir’s actions sacrifice was proven to be the most liberating act. Throughout the book, the main character, Amir, seeks redemption for his “…past of unatoned sins” (Hosseini, p. 1). These feelings of guilt arise at the beginning of his life, when his mother, Baba’s love, dies giving birth to him. From that point on, Amir strives to redeem himself because he feels he is responsible for her death: “Because truth of it was, I always felt like Baba hated me a little. And why not? After all, I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn’t I?” (p.20). It is this guilt that Amir carries throughout most of his childhood and for which he tries to atone to with Baba’s love and affection: “Maybe he’d call me Amir Jan like Rahim Khan did. And maybe, just maybe, I would finally be pardoned for killing my mother” (p. 60). Amir competes against Hassan for the approval...
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...Hector Farinas ENC1102 The Kite Runner. |Sacrifice is a major theme in this novel, which is demonstrated through the various relationships | |existing between Amir and his family. Amir feels guilt throughout the story towards those who have made sacrifices for him, such as those | |sacrifices of Hassan and Baba. Also, his character development throughout the novel allows him to be able to make sacrifices for those | |around him after realizing the nature of selflessness. With this intense moral realization, he is finally able to put his lifelong guilt to| |rest. | | | |In the beginning of the story, Amir is a egoistic twelve-year old living in Afghanistan, whose goal in life is nothing more than to gain | |the approval and affection of his father (Baba). His wealthy yet detached father has shown him mainly distance and indifference for Amir's | |entire life. Amir spends the entirety of his free time with his lifelong companion, Hassan, who cares for him with seemingly entire | |selflessness and affection. Amir is unable to return this affection, at least on the surface, frequently teasing Hassan and treating him | |rather badly. At this...
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...Loyalty defines a person’s great devotion to another. These two works of literature integrated this theme of loyalty in both The Kite Runner and Beowulf. Beowulf from the epic poem Beowulf emphasizes the importance of loyalty. Beowulf is extremely loyal, as perceived in his commitment to his king Hygelac, to his entertainer Hrothgar, to his own loyal men, such as Wiglaf, and to his people. In contrast, Hassan from the “Kite Runner” shows loyalty for his friend Amir. It is in Hassan’s letter, years after their separation, that puts Amir on the way to redemption. And so, Hassan saves Amir twice, previously as a boy and later in the future, even after his own death. In both The Kite Runner and Beowulf, the authors express loyalty from friendship and from commitment....
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...understand that?” while Baba describes sin, this reveals a larger issue in the novel like when Baba and Amir ran into the Russian soldier in chapter 10. The kites in the story are a symbol for Amir’s happiness. It is also a symbol for Amir’s quilt. Flying kites is what he enjoys most as a child and it is the only way he connects with Baba, who was once at champion kite fighter. The kite has a different significance when Amir allows Hassan to be raped by Assef because Amir wanted to bring the blue kite back to Baba to gain his respect. The kite is a symbol of his betrayal to Hassan as well....
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...The Kite Runner focuses on the relationship between two Afghan boys Amir and Hassan. Amir is a Pashtun and Sunni Muslim, while Hassan is a Hazara and a Shi’a. Despite their ethnic and religious differences, Amir and Hassan grow to be friends, although Amir is troubled by Hassan, and his relationship with his companion, one year his junior, is complex. Amir and Hassan seem to have a "best friend" type relationship. The two boys, Hassan and Amir, are main characters in the book titled, The Kite Runner. The two boys have a relationship that is significantly different compared to most. There are many different facets that distinguish the relationship the boys possess. The boys do write their names in a pomegranate tree as the "sultans of Kabul" (Kite Runner 27) but, their friendship is not strong and it is one sided. Hassan has love for Amir. He loves him like a brother. Hassan is exceedingly loyal to Amir. The relationship between the two boys is emotionally wearing and rather gloomy for the most part. The main reason for their complicated relationship is the fact that Amir is Pashtun, and Hassan is Hazara. The Afghan society places Hassan lower than Amir. Hassan is Amir's servant. The placement of Hassan in the Afghan society disenables Amir from becoming Hassan's true friend. Amir sees Hassan as lower than human. Amir ruins the chance for friendship between himself and Hassan because he is jealous of Hassan, he thinks of Hassan as a lower human, and because Amir possesses such...
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...What are the essential values and ideas presented in The Kite Runner? Analyse and assess how effective their representation is Hosseini has expressed copious essential values and ideas in his novel The Kite Runner (TKR) including Loyalty, Culture, Gender and Ethnicity and Atonement. Hosseini has expressed these through the combination of style, structure, characterisation, themes and setting. Due to the context of The Kite Runner, culture is an important idea presented because it has major significance in Afghanistan life and the characters are shaped by it. The majority of the novel is set in Afghanistan which is a country with a very strong culture. The culture of this novel is caused by the setting and is shown through language features, such as the use of Afghani words, and characterisation. “Tashakor.” Thank you This quote shows how Hosseini uses language features to demonstrate the culture and create a novel in which the characters seem real which gives it textual integrity. He uses these words to enrich the language but also explains what it means in English so that the reader can follow. Culture is also expressed in this novel through characterisation. Even when Amir and Baba go to America they still keep their Afghani culture and still partake in Afghani customs. This is shown in the novel through the relationship between Amir and Soraya. Even though they are living in America they follow the Afghani culture in their courtship and their engagement/wedding. Baba...
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...Inspired by the plights of Afghan refugees, Khaled Hosseini writes The Kite Runner in an attempt to give hope to his readers. Throughout history, authors have passed down the torch of inspiration from writer to writer in order to embolden and empower the reader. One such bearer is Nobel laureate William Faulkner....
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...Being a hero is not something everyone can be. One has to make sacrifices for the better of others. If one is not willing to make sacrifices, they are not strong enough to be a hero. Specific heroes are hard to find. Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner”, revolves around characters portraying heroism. Although the story revolves around many characters showcasing the theme of heroism, the character that has been the hero throughout the story is Hassan. This is proved by the sacrifices Hassan made for Amir, Hassan accepting his mother back into his life and Hassan protecting Baba’s house after he left to America. Firstly, Hassan is the true hero of the story because he was constantly there for Amir. Hassan was loyal and was willing to do anything for Amir: “For you a thousand times over!” (Hosseini, 71). This quote specifically portrays that Hassan was willing to do anything for Amir, as he said he will do anything a thousand times over for him. This is a powerful quote because this exemplifies Hassan being heroic through his loyalty for Amir. Hassan also was willing to do anything for Amir without expecting anything back from. Hassan also proved his heroism when he stood up for Amir against Assef: “If you make a move, they’ll have to change your nickname from ‘Assef the Ear Eater’ to ‘One Eyed Assef’, because I have this rock pointed at your left eye” (Hosseini, 45). This quote portrays Hassan’s heroism because Hassan stood up against Assef. Amir was being threatened...
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...Redemption Takes Over Mistakes are made by everyone, some are more extreme than others but they all have their benefits and consequences. In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, redemption is a major theme. Redemption occurs in the characters lives through personal sacrifice and this also benefits others. Hassan, Baba and Amir are all characters in the book that go through self-sacrifice and benefit others to try and redeem themselves. Although they all go through this, they happen in different ways. First of all Hassan is a character in the novel who achieves redemption through personal sacrifice such as his rape event, going back to Baba’s house with Rahim Khan and spiritually when Sohrab hits Assef in the eye, while ultimately benefitting others. Hassan redeems himself spiritually because when Hassan and Amir were younger he tries to do the same thing as Sohrab, but didn’t actually hit Assef. Sohrab technically finishes the job for Hassan by hitting Assef with his slingshot. Another event that helps show this is that they both aim for the left eye. Secondly, Hassan goes through personal sacrifice when he decides to leave his home and lifestyle to go back to Baba’s house with his family and Rahim Khan. “Then he ask[s] me about your father. When I told him, Hassan burie[s] his face in his hands and br[eaks] into tears. He wept like a child for the rest of that night.”(207). “Agha sahib was like my second father… God give him peace.”(208). In these two...
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...The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, explores the personal struggles and relationships of Amir, a wealthy young Pashtun boy in Afghanistan in the 1970’s. The story narrates the hardship of living in a socially divided, culture based environment with various sides of humanity. As the novel progresses, the relationship between Amir and his father, Baba, goes through multiple pivotal phases. These phases are the direct cause of the switch between the two main settings of Kabul, Afghanistan and Fremont, California. The change in setting helps portray the rollercoaster of Amir and Baba’s relationship over many years. It illustrates the story of Amir’s longing to be noticed and loved by Baba, Baba’s dissatisfaction with Amir, and their inability to relate to one another....
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...Elements of a good ending; A Complicated Kindness and Kite Runner While writing a novel the writer must emphasize on the basic elements of ending the storyline. Efficient ending of a story answers the reader’s expectation of the story’s question. A good ending seals the reader’s impression of all they have read in the story. Therefore a good ending is necessary in writers doing literature writing as they motivate a reader to enjoy reading. There are four main elements which guide a writer in creating a good story ending in a novel. Comparisons between two novels; a complicated Kindness and Kite runner ending will help establish a good example of each of the four elements discussed below. First a good ending should seek to address the main problem or the antagonist. The protagonist does not necessarily have to win every time in a story but the main issue and problem be addressed in a way with the major win or defeat on the protagonist part. A complicated Kindness Miriam Toew’s keeps on addressing Nomi who is the antagonist in the story towards the end of the novel Nomi is seen as an courageous girl gathering means to help re unite her family together. She does so by seeking to trace her mother and a sister who left their community. She oppressively resists the rebellious rules and cultures in her society. Another significant element is the tying of loose ends and provision of a closure .this element applies on enhancing the reader to get anticipated on the next series of the novel...
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...Book:- Our book is A Thousan Splendid Suns, a 2007 novel written by an Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini, after his bestselling 2003 debut, The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini has mentioned that the novel was a “mother-daughter story rather than to The Kite Runner, which was a “father-son story”. It uses some of the theme used in The Kite Runner but has its focus primarily on all the female characters and how they live in the Afghan soceity. On 22nd May 2007, the book was released and received favorable prepublication reviews which led it to become the number one on New York Times bestseller for around fifteen weeks. It sold over one million copies just during its first week. Characters:- Mariam, born in Heart, 1959. She was boren an ethnic...
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...Research Paper on “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini Introduction: The international best-selling novel, The Kite Runner was first published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, written by the Afghan-born American novelist and physician, Khaled Hosseini. He was born into a Shia family in Kabul, and later on in his life when the family moved to Paris because of his father’s occupation, Hosseini’s family was unable to return to Kabul due to the bloody Saur Revolution; hence they had to seek political asylum in the United States. Being as young as he was, roughly 11 years of age, the actions of his home country must have left an impression on him. It is such a great read because among many other themes such as betrayal, redemption, bullying, inhumanities of revolution, discrimination, loyalty, hypocrisy, horrors of rapes etc. the main focus of this story is of a man who is haunted by his past demons. We see in some of the opening lines of the novel, “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975… That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.” These opening lines gets the ball rolling on what is to come and to be expected from the story, of possibly an aged man who is looking back at the past and justifying how it has made him the way that he is to date. The setting vividly takes place in the disorderly country of Kabul, Afghanistan...
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...Hugo Varlamos Greve Period 2 January 16th, 2016 The Kite Runner Lit Analysis Outline Amir is a Pashtun and Hassan is a Hazara. Two common people with different places in society. Mainly both of them go through struggles in Afghanistan facing their families, neighbors and the outside world, but certainly Hassan and his son Sohrab undergo a variety of beatings and annihilation to his physical and mental being. The constant torture that occurs in the novel eventually ends up with a sign of giving up for many of the characters. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses the eyes of the lamb to demonstrate vulnerability, sacrifice and resignation of the characters in dire situations. To start things off, when Hassan is marooned in an alleyway by Assef and his goons and is about to get raped, he stops struggling and fighting for himself. Amir looks into Hassan’s eyes and sees a similar look of the eyes of a lamb about to be slaughtered, “I saw the resignation in it. It was a look i had seen before. It was the look of the lamb,” (Hosseini 76). Adding onto this context, Hosseini is indicating that Assef is the dominant male in this situation. He is simply forcing Hassan as the inferior one by showing his dominance and raping him. This sign of dominance simply shows that there is no hope for...
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