Literary Analysis #4

Period 3

A.P English

Literature Analysis:

Title: The Kite Runner

Author: Khaled Hosseini

1. Summary: 

This piece of literature is honestly one of best books I’ve ever read. The book begins with Amir’s childhood in Kabul where he lived with his father and their servants. The servants names were Ali and Hassan, who were father and son. Amir and Hassan are best friends, so the boys are extremely close. Both boys don’t have a mother since Amir’s mom died due to childbirth while Hassan’s mom just ran off. Despite their difference in social status due to their ethnicity, Ali and Hassan are still able to be close. Now, Amir is constantly trying to gain the approval of his father since he feels like he is a disgrace or disappointment to him due to the fact that Amir is unlike most boys in their town. Most of the boys are interested in sports and fighting while Amir adores literature and is sensitive. In addition to feeling neglected, Amir becomes envious of Hassan since Baba (Amir’s father) sometimes pays more attention to Hassan than him. In hopes to win the love and approval of his father, Amir feels like he must win the annual kite-flighting tournament, which is a huge deal in Afghanistan. The two boys enter the contest and end up winning, but their kite is flown somewhere random, so Hassan (the kite runner) runs to retrieve the kite. Hassan finds it, but is faced by Assef and a few other bullies in town. In order to show Hassan a lesson, Assef rapes him while Amir doesn’t stand up for his friend and runs. That particular scene was absolutely terrible to read because you felt the Hassan’s pain, which made me want to jump into the pages of the book to save him from that victimization. After, Hassan pretends as if it never happened, but the guilt begins to eat Amir alive. To escape his guilt, Amir gets Ali and Hassan to leave by saying that Hassan stole some of his stuff, which leaves Baba in sadness. Later on, war starts to boil within Afghanistan. Amir and Baba are forced to leave their home since they are in danger, so they escape to California. Amir and Baba’s lives are extremely different in America and are struggling to survive. Baba’s wealth disappeared due to the war, so he works himself to the bone in order to earn money. Sadly, Baba gets cancer and dies, but was able to stay alive long enough to see Amir get married to Soraya. As the story continues, Amir gets a call from Rahim Khan, who was a close friend of Baba. Rahim Khan and Amir meet up in which Khan tells Amir that Hassan and his wife, Farzana, were executed in the middle of the street while their son, Sohrab, watched. Khan wants Amir to go save Sohrab, but Amir originally declines the offer, but accepts as soon as he finds out that Hassan was his half-brother. Honestly, Amir accepts his quest in order to make up for the mistakes he did to both Baba and Hassan. In order to get Sohrab back, Amir must face off against a Talib official, who turns out to be Assef (Hassan’s rapist). They get into a fight, but Amir is saved when Sohrab shots Assef in the eye with his slingshot. An issue arises with the adoption of Sohrab since his parent’s don’t have death certificates, so he must put Sohrab in a temporary orphanage in order to legally adopt him. Sohrab hears this and tries to kill himself because Amir promised he would take him back to America. Luckily, Sohrab survives, but doesn’t trust or forgive Amir. The book ends positively though since Sohrab and Amir win a kite-fighting contest, which brings them closer through their love for Hassan. 

2. There is a way to be good again...” The largest theme presented in The Kite Runner was the idea of redemption. Amir feels like he must redeem himself and his father from the events that happened in their past. For example, the search for Sohrab was originally just a way for Amir to make amends to his mistakes such as leaving Hassan when he needed him to stand up against Assef. As the quest continues, Amir’s feelings toward Sohrab change, but the intent was for himself not for the well being of Sohrab.  

3.  “It always hurts more to have and lose than to not have in the first place.” The books is written in first-person, so the tone often changes depending on Amir’s mood. The audience is able to feel his emotions and reactions from his point of view, which elicits pathos. “Some stories don't need telling”. In addition, this causes the audience to have a deeper connection with the characters. “Not a word passes between us, not because we have nothing to say, but because we don't have to say anything”.  Honestly, I cried a few times while reading this book because I felt the emotions of each character. 

4. Quotes:

-“I want to tear myself from this place, from this reality, rise up like a cloud and float away, melt into this humid summer night and dissolve somewhere far, over the hills. But I am here, my legs blocks of concrete, my lungs empty of air, my throat burning. There will be no floating away.” 

-Imagery: The usage of imagery provides the audience with images in which the readers can create within their minds.

-“People say that eyes are windows to the soul.” 

-Metaphor: This metaphor provides an interesting comparison that allows the audience to see how people can put on a cover, but sometimes it’s impossible to lie about your emotions. 

-“Time can be a greedy thing-sometimes it steals the details for itself. 
-Personification:  Personification connected with the flashbacks, which also connected the tones at that particular time in the book. Personally, this usage of personification allowed me to better understand the concept of time within this particular piece of literature.

-“Life is a train, get on board.”  

-Cliche: This is a classic cliche about how life continues and moves on even if you aren’t ready for it, so sometimes we must take a leap of faith and hop on for the ride.

-“Attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun.” 

-Simile: The usage of a simile was absolutely amazing due to the fact that it provided the images with the mind of the reader, which in time allowed the reader to make personal connections with the events taking place.

-“Sad stories make good books” 

-Oxymoron: Sad isn’t thought of as good, so the idea that sad stories make good books is an oxymoron. 

-“Panic. You open your mouth. Open it so wide your jaws creak. You order your lungs to draw air, NOW, you need air, need it NOW. But your airways ignore you. They collapse, tighten, squeeze, and suddenly you're breathing through a drinking straw. Your mouth closes and your lips purse and all you can manage is a croak. Your hands wriggle and shake. Somewhere a dam has cracked open and a flood of cold sweat spills, drenches your body. You want to scream. You would if you could. Cut you have to breathe to scream. Panic.” 

-Evocative: This quote brings strong images, memories, and feelings, which elicits pathos and strengthens the narrator’s tone at that particular time.

-“Sometimes, Soraya Sleeping next to me, I lay in bed and listened to the screen door swinging open and shut with the breeze, to the crickets chirping in the yard. And I could almost feel the emptiness in Soraya's womb, like it was a living, breathing thing. It had seeped into our marriage, that emptiness, into our laughs, and our love-making. And late at night, in the darkness of our room, I'd feel it rising from Soraya and setting between us. Sleeping between us. Like a newborn child. ”

-Allusion: This quote alludes to Amir’s feelings and emotions toward wanting a child, which was a huge deal to Amir, his wife, his family, and his culture.

-“It wasn't meant to be, or, maybe, it was meant not to be.” 

Paradox: A paradox is a situation, person, or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities. This quote struggles with these two contradictory ideals, which alludes to the idea of how sometimes we must accept that somethings just aren’t worth hoping for.

-“December 2001

I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the 

winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud 

wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. 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. Looking back now, I realize I have 

been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.” 

-Flashback: This piece of literature has various examples of flashbacks, which connects the audience to both the present and past sides of the characters within the book. In addition, it provides depth in characterization and details to the plot of the story.

Characterization:

1.  -Direct characterization is when the author makes statements about a character's personality directly to the reader. 

-Indirect characterization is when the author reveals the character's personality through that character's thoughts, words, or interactions with others.

Examples of direct characterization:

-“In a British accent, he tells me his name is Dr.Nawaz, and suddenly I want to be away from this man, because I don't think I can bear what he has come to tell me.”

-“Never mind that to me, the face of Afghanistan is that of a boy with a thin-boned frame, a shaved head, and low-set ears, a boy with a Chinese doll face perpetually lit by a harelipped smile.”

Examples of indirect characterization:

-“When you kill a man, You steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, Rob his children of a father.” 
-“I laughed. Partly at the joke, partly at how Afghan humor never changed. Wars were waged, the Internet was invented, and a robot had rolled on the surface of Mars, and in Afghanistan we were still telling Mullah Nasruddin jokes.”

2. Personally, the author’s main focus is on the characters within this piece of literature, so his syntax and diction changes depending on which character he is talking about. He uses the characters as gateways to change the emotions of his audience. For example, the failed suicide attempt rips at the soul of the audience (I cried when I read that part).

3. The protagonist, Amir, is a dynamic and round characters because by the end of the story he has developed into a better version of himself. He has accepted his mistakes and instead of beating himself up about them, he is able to live life.

4. “He says the boy had cut himself deeply and had lost a great deal of blood and my mouth begins to mutter that prayer again: 

La illaha ila Allah, Muhammad u rasul ullah.

They had to transfuse several units of red cells─

How will I tell Soraya?

Twice, they had to revive him─

I will do namaz, I will do zakat. 

They would have lost him if his heart hadn't been young and strong─ 

I will fast.

He is alive.” 

After reading this book, I felt like I had known those characters for years. Like I said, I cried quite a few times while reading this book. I was emotionally connected to the characters and their feelings.