Examples Of Irony In The Kite Runner

A vegan eats a slice of meat-lovers pizza. The “one hundred percent unsinkable” Titanic sinks on its main voyage in 1912. A fire station burns down. Such examples portray the use of irony in many instances. Irony is a very powerful tool that can occur in everyday situations to the twisting and turning of plots in literature. Sometimes it provides the reader with suspense or humor. Other instances in literature, it is the backbone of the story, emphasizing a central idea. In many cases, such as in Khaled Hosseini’s, The Kite Runner, irony can be used to drive and propel the rest of the novel, making it a major component of the novel. Hosseini completes just this by using situational and tragic examples of irony to reveal truth in the deceitful, corruption filled and troublesome story of love and friendship between two half brothers.

Both enjoyed the thrills that the Kite Tournament brought each year. This year, Amir and Hassan were dominant in the contest and all that was left to do was to run down the last kite, then Amir would be claimed victor. Amir’s success would prove to Baba that Amir was a winner and show that he could live up to the high expectations of his father and eventually win his father’s love, something that Amir had desperately yearned for since a young lad. But Baba’s love would come to a great price for Amir: his loyalty to Hassan. Amir did nothing to stop Hassan from rape, leading Amir to become the coward that Baba did not wish for him to be. Sacrificing his friendship and loyalty to Hassan in order to better his relationship with Baba, Amir earned himself an overwhelming sense of guilt instead of happiness. It is from this instance of irony that all other conflict within the novel stems