The Kite Runner

Topics in The Kite Runner

Role of women- The role of the women is basically the woman takes care of home while the man makes the money. Amir's wife,Soraya, played a different role in the book. Her role was not limited to taking care of the affairs of the home.She had a job and did what was necessary in the house.

Betrayal- betrayal had its rounds in this book from beginning to end. From Amir's betrayal of Hassan in not helping him when he was being abused to the betrayal of Amir's father and everyone that knew the truth about The true relationship between Hassan and Amir.

Brothers- In a sense, the whole book portrays Hassan and Amir being like brothers and ultimately, Amir finding out the truth after Hassan's death and the pain that he felt after discovering this.

Guilt- there was a lot of hidden guilt roaming inside Amir for so many years from witnessing his friend getting abused. The open guilt came about when everything from Amir's past came to light and when this happens, He was trying to find a dsense of redemption.

Redemption- Amir felt that everything that had happened to him through the years,he finally found some redeemption when he went out of his way to save a boy that reminded him so much of himself.

Exodus/Journey-the many journeys, that were made, were a reflection of days past in Afghanistan and present life when Amir revisits places that were no longer familiar.

Fathers & sons-patriarchal society- father and sons share the same sense of pride and respect when it comes to keeping their word and helping other people.

Class distinction- The Pashtuns were the respectable people in Afghanistan while the Hazeras were lower class who wer the servants to Pashtuns.

Style

Parallelism- One paralelism that stood out was when Hassan had his surgery on his lip with a scar afterwards and when Amir was in the hospital and he had almost a similar scar on his lip after his surgery. another parallelism was the likeness and good nature of Hassan and Soraib.

Character foils- Hassan and Amir were the two people who were total opposites. Hassan was always the good guy who did not get angry no matter how hard Amir tried to provoke him. Amir was the one who used his own guilt against everyone and made himself look like the bad guy even though he was a good person. Baba and Rahim were both father figures to Amir. Baba was the dad that did not approve of Amir's ambition to write. Rahim always had words of encouragement no matter the circumstance.

Foreshadowing- the first one was when Amir decided to carry the guilt of Hassan's torture through most of his life and also the moment when Khan called Amir and told him there is a time to be good again.

Flashback- the whole novel is based on flashbacks of Amir's child hood as he tells it as an adult and

Positives and negatives aspects of the writing- There was more negative aspects than positive. Although, with every aspect, everything came into prospective as you are actually living the novel through your own eyes.

Settings- time and place and culture
Hazara vs. Pashtun; Kabul vs. Islamabad; America vs.Afghanistan; Russians vs.Afghans; Afghanistan in the seventies vs. Afghanistan of the present.

Identify five minor characters and their role in the novel.
1. Farid- The man Amir befriends when he goes back to Afghanistan. He was really cold to Amir in the beginning but later they were like life long friends. He was with Amir through thick and thin from the streets of Kabul all the way to Islamabad in Pakistan.
2. Karim - the man that transported Amir and Baba out of Kabul. he would later be instrumental in getting Amir and Baba to safety in order for them to get to America.
3.Sannubar- Hassan's mother.
4.General Taheri- Soraya's dad
5.Farzana- Hassan's wife and Soraib's mom.

Identify at least five symbols and the significance of each.
1. Assef's brass knuckles- use to strike fear into whoever defied him or his crew. he used them on Hassan when they were young and during his confrontation with Amir concerning Soraib.
2. The pomengrate tree- The tree was where Amir and Hassan went to for solitude and peace. It was one of the safest places that they knew. When their friendship went down hill, so did the tree.
3. Kites- they gave a sense of freedom and excitemnet. The Kites were always a constant of happy times whether in the skies of kabul or the skies in Freemont.
4.money under the mattress- the tradition started to pay hommage to the people that he really liked such as Farid's family. that tradition was reciprocated when Rahim left some money in a safety deposit box when he departed.
5.slingshot- the favorite weapon of Hassan and Soraib. the slingshot was used when Hassan was defending Amir's honor against Assef when they were young and again when Soraib used it toprotect Amir from further harm from Assef.