Preview

The Kite Runner

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1578 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Kite Runner
Leah VanLandingham
Mrs. Fichtner
AP English
4 September 2014
The Kite Runner Every man is called upon at least one time in his life to do something great. This task could be as small as giving back to the community or as large as saving a life. The man can either chose to be a coward and step down, or to step up and face the challenge along with any consequences it may come with. The characters throughout The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, had to face many challenges and were called upon many times by faith to step up and do something great. Throughout The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini does an immaculate job of portraying his own experiences in Kabul while capturing the cultural aspect of regular society and terrorism during the time period in which The Kite Runner was written in. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is set in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, during 1980-2000. During this period, Afghanistan went through a long and treacherous battle against the Russian army and also against the Taliban. Between the years 1933-1973, Afghanistan was ruled under a monarchy by King Zahir Shah. While the king was on vacation, the king’s cousin Mohammad Daoud Khan, former Prime Minister of Afghanistan, seized control of Afghanistan. After so many years of terrorizing the people of Afghanistan, Khan was eventually taken down by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan. The PDPA, who had close ties with the Soviet Union, a communist nation, instituted many social reforms in Afghanistan. This sparked many rebels groups to form and attempt to return Afghanistan to its traditional state, which failed miserably. The Soviet Union marched into Afghanistan to stop these rebel groups. The Soviet Union was eventually taken down after many years of terror and destruction, ending in the PDPA claiming control for another few years. While the PDPA was in control for a second time, many rival militias within Afghanistan and Kabul went to war, striking even more fear

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Set throughout the time of Afghanistan’s feud with Russia and also the control of the Taliban cluster, Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner takes US through the excruciating journey that emeer (The main character) should endure to achieve redemption for his sins still as his father’s love. Hosseini shows US the death of a child's innocence once emeer horrifically witnesses his supporter, Hassan, obtaining raped and will nothing to prevent it, each attributable to the very fact of their social variations and also the ‘reward’ that emeer would gain if he let it pass. This death of emeer's innocence propels the story forward by pushing Amir to come back to extreme measures so as to disembarrass himself of the…

    • 182 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Afghanistan’s troubled times resulted in the Taliban’s takeover and the suffering of the Afghan people which would challenge the people to face great adversity in the time to come. The characters would have to seek redemption despite the circumstances in Afghanistan and its society’s standards. In the books A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini betrayal allows the theme of redemption and self-sacrifice as well as the perseverance in the face of adversity to develop, these themes are shown through the characters Amir and Miriam.…

    • 89 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rarely has a book left me speechless like The Kite Runner has. It was so beautifully haunting that I simply could not tear my eyes away from reading it. The portrayal of the characters emotions were so raw, that it left me in tears or crying in denial. Nonetheless Hosseini has published Kite Runner as his first book, which I find immensely awe worthy. To deliver a masterpiece that leaves its readers too stupefied to not deliberate in life is what amazes me about kite runner. Furthermore, the book has provided such realistic insight on the political upheaval that has occurred in Afghanistan. Within its 371 pages it has provided me a peak into the different ethnic groups and its social hierarchy. Not only does The Kite Runner emanate a wonderfully crafted story it also educates its readers with each turn of a page. Despite having a rather heated political situation circulating around the world presently, I still believe that people should read it. With so many misconceptions regarding Muslim nations floating around and eventually being seen as the truth, a read like this properly clarifies the gray…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    the kite runner

    • 665 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When the novel begins and Amir says “I became what I am today at the age of twelve,” he is referring to when he witnessed his friend get rapped and made no action to do anything about it. His assertion is not entirely true, because he underwent many other life transforming actions. Amir was changed by the facts of growing up with no mother and a unusual afghan father, his character was undoubtedly changed when he went back to Afghanistan and found out that he and Hassan were half-brothers and went on a treacherous journey to find his half-brother’s son. Amir would be described as a sensitive, caring man who was hard on himself in his childhood all the way up to his adult years.…

    • 665 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kite Runner Themes

    • 2157 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The Kite Runner is an Afghan American fiction novel written by Khaled Hosseini. In the text the story of a man, named Amir’s, past is told. In continuation, a reader of the novel may get the impression, at the beginning of the book, that Amir is just an ungrateful child that receives everything he wants, but in reality that is not the case. Throughout his journey he dealt with various hardships that inflicted drastic alterations on it. As readers explore a journey down memory lane with Amir, a magnitude of themes is presented through the challenges that Amir faces. Ultimately, the trials and tribulation that people face help mold them into who they are.…

    • 2157 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Kit Runner can be seen through many different literary lenses. Marxist Theory is a perspective I found to best describe The Kite Runner. Marxist views society on the economic and cultural theory of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles. They assume that each society is made up of a set of concepts, beliefs, values and ways of how the classes struggles within the societies based on who has the power and money and who doesn’t. They also look at what role does power, money, class and religion play in the society. It is clear to say that The Kite Runner is a book filled with different classes and the struggle of power between the societies. The Pashtuns have enough power and money in the Afghan society that allows then to put down the Hazaras.…

    • 1413 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    the kite runner

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages

    We are constantly influenced by various things we encounter, these things even have the potential to change the way we view the world around us, none more so than texts like Khaled Hosseini's novel, The Kite Runner. The book is a retelling of an Afghani boy's life, which addresses the issues of friendship, coming of age, and the power of the past can have on somebody. The Author's way of addressing of these issues, has significantly shaped my own views, specifically how friendship can often be unequal, how coming of age can be based upon a specific event, and that the actions from the past can haunt you until the day you die. Through Hosseini's presentation of these issues and ideas, The Kite Runner has both changed and reinforced my opinions about friendship and how previous actions can haunt your present reality.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Kite Runner

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages

    There are two types of strength: Strength in the mind and strength in the body. But question is which is stronger? Santiago, an old man, strives to overcome and fullfil his dream of catching a fish. Through his journey the old man tries to proceed on catching a fish even though he's been unlucky since ''eight-four days now without taking a fish'' (pg 1). A boy name Manolin, a friend of Santiago, Admires Santiago perseverance and fishing man skills. Though through the boy couragement words the old man still has trouble with catching a fish and processing over brains and brawn.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Kite Runner Essay

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Do you know that Afghanis play a game where they fight with kites? The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini describes kite fights between local Afghani kids, regardless of their social status. The main characters in this story that come from a higher socioeconomic level are Baba, a lawyer from the Pashtun tribe, and his son Amir. The main characters in this story that come from the lower socioeconomic level are Ali, a servant from the Hazara tribe, and his son Hassan who are servants to Baba and his family. The Kite Runner explores how different classes of people worked together to run things in Afghanistan.…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Kite Runner

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “My hands are stained with Hassan’s blood; I pray God doesn’t let them get stained with the blood of his boy too.” (Hosseini, 2003, page 346) Amir, the main character, said this while his nephew was in the hospital because of a potentially fatal suicide attempt. Many people would say, because of this quote, that Amir is not worthy of forgiveness. This makes Amir, the main character in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, not worthy of forgiveness.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Kite Runner

    • 358 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The relationship between Baba, Amir’s father, and Amir shows us how Amir always wanted his father’s attention, which leads him to always feeling jealous when Baba would treat Hassan better, or give him any sort of attention. Even though Amir and Hassan were best friends he still felt like he had to out do Hassan to prove himself in front of Baba.…

    • 358 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Kite Runner

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Ignorance is bliss. Or so one may think....in actuality ignorance is merely an illusion of bliss, a false occurrence produced by telling secrets when one fears the truth. .Just like a dream though, one most eventually awake from the ignorance in secrets, and the protection that secrets provide fades away into nothingness.....and the truth explode into the world and people finally see things the way they really are and realize they much rather handle the truth. In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini's characters keep secrets to protect each other, but the ignorance that they spread causes more pain to the people then the truth would have. They learn this harsh reality by suffering from massive guilt, realizing the aftermath of the secrets, and by experiencing the joy of turning ignorance into enlightenment.…

    • 957 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Kite Runner

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages

    It is never too late to redeem your prior mistakes. Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, he writes about an afghan boy who grows up with fear of standing up for himself. He later finds out in life that he is more like his father than he throught. Throughout the novel, the author shows that its never too late to redeem your prior mistakes which is shown through Hassan’s rape, Hassan;s mother leaving him, and Soraya talking to Amir about her life when she was sixteen.…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kite Runner

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the novel The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini, exemplifies the act of loyalty. This novel outline the hardships character faced and how their perception of the world has changed. The conflict between the Soviets and the Taliban’s affects the character in this novel to experience hardships. The three main characters that change their perception are; firstly after Baba fled to America with Amir his hardships had begun. Secondly after coming to America Amir has forgotten about his past. The guilt Amir carried around with is gone, he compares America to a river because, after immigrating Amir’s sins and his guilt get washed away; however this satisfaction does not last long. Later on Amir learns that Baba lied to him about Hassan and all of his emotion come to life when find out about the secret that Baba was hiding from him. Finally Hassan who does not have different view point in this novel. He consistently stays loyal to Amir throughout his life; Hassan is the only character in this novel that is not affected by the events occurring around him.…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Two main themes in the novel The Kite Runner are that of social class and gender roles. Everywhere that Amir, the main protagonist, turns, society is divided. From his earliest childhood memories to living in America, there always seems to be some sort of invisible line drawn between his people. There is separation between the Pashtuns and the Hazaras, between Americans and Afghans, between men and women, and between the Talibs and the people of Afghanistan.…

    • 1500 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays