“The Kite Runner” a Novel by Khaled Hosseini
Definition of friendship from the novel
Friendship is the mutual attachment and mutual affection that people who are friends share. In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, readers can see different levels of friendship. For example, friendships between Baba and his sons, Baba and Khan, Hassan and Amir, and several others. The friendship between Hassan and Amir is, however, not a straightforward one as Hassan loves Amir so much, and he always protects him, but this is not the same way Amir feels for Hassan. As the novel begins, Amir clearly shows that there is nothing he would ask Hassan that he would not be given. On page two, readers also see the theme of friendship, whereby Ali tries as much as possible to ensure that the two boys were in a good relationship. He always told them that people who live together share a very strong bond that cannot be broken. From the novel, it is evident that Amir’s father attempts to maintain relationships with his two sons who have no idea that they share the same father. Amir, being the legal son, loves his father, but he is not sure whether the father loves him as much. Hassan, being the “servant’s son”, receives love and friendship from his real father indirectly. Wherever there is the theme of love, betrayal is unavoidable. Amir’s friends, led by Assef, want to beat Amir up for staying with Hassan, who belongs to a minor clan in the region. Another instance of betrayal was when Amir did not help Hassan when he was being molested by Assef and his friends. He also uses tricks on Hassan to portray him bad in front of his father to win his favor.
Illustration of the theme from the novel
The theme of companionship is a repetitive subject in the book since it runs throughout the novel, both in a progressive and undesirable way. The scene at the end of the novel contains many characters that have died, including Amir’s father and Hassan. Amir, after getting some useful information from Khan, his father’s friend, he learns that Hassan was his real brother. He also learns that after they flew to the US through Pakistan due to the invasion of the soviets in Afghanistan, Khan took care of their house. Khan grew lonely with time and decided to find Hassan and his wife Farzana so that they could come and stay with him, and they agreed. He leaves Hassan and his wife and goes to Pakistan for treatment. It is in Pakistan that he receives a call to inform him that Taliban went to Baba’s house and killed Hassan and his wife, and took their little son to orphanage. Amir feels guilty, and he decides to go back to Kabul to find his brother’s son as an atonement for what he had done to him. At this moment, Amir is also married, but his wife cannot conceive. He convinces his wife and goes out looking for Sohrab, his late brother’s son. He goes to the orphanage that Khan had directed him to, but the boy is not there. The orphanage confirms that Sohrab had been taken away by Taliban officials about a month ago. A bond of friendship and blood is so strong that Amir decides to follow up the issue. He discovers that the top official is Assef. He orders Sohrab to be brought, and the boy comes with a feminine look, which suggests that perhaps he had been abused sexually. In the last scene, the theme of friendship comes out clearly when readers note that Sohrab and Amir are playing with the kite happily.
Change of the plot
The plot of this novel changes because the scene takes a different course from what the reader might have expected. Amir atones for his mistake and lives happily. He gets a child after many years of marriage. Sohrab, after all the frustrations, is happy again and is united with people that he can call a family.
Change of character
When analyzing Amir from the beginning of the story to the end, one realizes that he changes directions in the novel. From the beginning of the novel, he is the character that many readers would love to hate due to his actions. At the end of the novel, it is hard for the reader not to sympathize with Amir. He becomes a moral person, and he has even put his life at risk to save Sohrab.
Significant quotes from the novel
Several significant quotes have been used in the novel. One important one, which is based on the theme of friendship, is what Amir says when he goes to rescue Sohrab, but Assef beats him up. He feels like he paid for what he did to Hassan several years ago. He says, “My body was broken. Just how badly I would not find out until later, but I felt healed, healed at last. I laughed” (219). At the beginning of the novel, Amir says “For you, a thousand times over” (10). This shows that he felt that he was quite advanced. In the middle of the novel, Amir says “There is a way to be good again” (167). This implies that he believes that the future would be better than the past.
Foreshadowing from the novel
There is foreshadowing in the novel. When Amir is beaten up by Assef, he says that he is now expiated. The incident foreshadows his happy future after his atonement for his mistakes. He says that what he is today is from his past, and admits his mistake of walking in a desert early for the last twenty-six years.