Childhood In Great Expectations And The Kite Runner

The poet Elizabeth Brewster claims that ‘people are made of places’.
In light of this quotation, compare and contrast the extent to which setting have an impact on the presentation of the childhood of Pip in ‘Great Expectations’ and Amir in ‘The Kite Runner’.
Brewster’s claim that identity and landscape are inextricably linked is a claim that Hosseini would clearly support. Through the eyes of Amir in ‘The Kite Runner’, the novelist paints a tortured focaliser that is clearly moulded by the arena of his childhood which is presented as war-torn Afghanistan. Similarly, Pip’s persona emerges as the product of the stimulus he experiences in the bleak showground of Victorian England, characterised by the darkness of the marshes and latter the underbelly

Elena Caballero-Robb argues that the ‘shadow of childhood casts itself into adulthood’, suggesting that the experiences of one’s childhood are moulded by settings which bolster great impact over the formation of an adult personality. Hosseini confirms by hyperbolising the impact of Amir’s past by claiming that he ‘looked down the alleyway of his childhood’ for the past twenty-six years. The claustrophobic imagery associated with the dim alleyway confirms Robb’s claim as Hosseini paints the microscopic detail by which Amir is able to recall the point at which his life changed. His allusion to ‘crumbling bricks’ emerges as a metaphor for his shattered life and guilt. Similarly, Katherine Carlson labels Great Expectations a ‘dark bildungsroman’ as the childhood experiences of Pip transform him into a troubled adult. Pip’s adult focaliser longs to ‘dissolve the spell of his childhood’ as he regrets the way that his past has claimed him in regard to his grim outlook, cruel behaviour and fixation with wealth. Dicken’s clever employment of ‘spell’ confirms the everlasting effect that his past has on Pip as it is likened to a curse or a burden that he is forced to carry. Thus, both Dickens and Hosseini portray such a rite of passage by betraying the boys’ loss of innocence through their troubled focaliser. It is the harsh reality

Hosseini brilliantly argues that a place that was once home can become alien and unwelcoming through a series of juxtapositions between the present and the past. Hosseini paints a picture of brokenness as he unveils a shattered Kabul, that has been ravaged by the military forces of America and Russia. Instead of becoming a safe haven of security, it is reduced to a series of ‘knocked holes’. The use of the simple ‘holes’ frightens the readers as its simplicity conjures up images of destruction, devastation and demolition. The idea that a major city can be levelled to something as simple as a collection of hovels while hinting at the hyperbolic also creates a deep pathos for Amir as he realises the destructive power of time. Arguably, Hosseini is drawing parallels between the early peace that Amir enjoyed before Hassan’s rape, with his city becoming a reflection of his own destruction of character. Amir is forced to confront the cruel passage of time as he recognises that even the ‘golden moments’ of his past have been stolen by the hand of time. Hosseini’s imagery of an idyllic childhood through the mention of the past’s ‘dappled sunlight’ only hardens the reality that Amir must face. The almost utopian phrase directly juxtaposes with Hosseini’s mentions of dark holes, as Amir’s safe and secure city has turned into a shadow of his former self, much