Extended Metaphors In The Kite Runner

In the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini he wanted to break away from the single story others might have on Afghanistan. The extended metaphors in his book show us what was really going on. One extended metaphor he uses is assault, he shows us this through 4 of his characters Hassan, a young woman on a train, Kamal, and Sohrab. The use of assault through the novel is to show us each major change in Afghanistan like a civil war and the importance of reading things other than single stories. Young Hassan is the first character used to show Afghanistan through the use of assault in this novel. Amir watches the scene of Hassan's assault unfold till he cant, “I stopped watching, turned away from the alley”(Hosseini 77).This first scene with SA is to show the internal conflicts going on in Afghanistan. This is Afghanistan at war with itself; Amir and Hassan being best friends and then Amir's betrayal of Hassan. Amir turning his back on Hassan at this moment shows the separation happening in Afghanistan. Even after the fact Amir says, “I

Sohrab was taken by the Soviets and used for their enjoyment, “the man’s hand slid up and down the boy’s belly”(Hosseini 281). Sohrab is used to show Afghanistan after the Soviets invasion that they still had power and control over them no matter how much time passes. We see that Afghanistan is still not under its own control and is forced to comply with the more powerful counterparts like the Soviets. Sohrab's ending is not so clear. We get one more glimpse of hope for him and Afghanistan in the process; “I looked down at Sohrab. One corner of his mouth had curled up just so. A smile”(Hosseini 370). This leads us to Afghanistan's future could be a hopeful one with Sohrab starting to smile. The future for the country is not something that we can predict but we can hope for a brighter