Symbols In The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel from 2003, is an astounding depiction of the everyday in Afghanistan framed amid the nation's tumultuous time, from the collapse of the Afghan empire to the emergence of the Taliban and the Afghan immigrant population in the United States. It quickly became a New York Times best-seller, selling over 8 million copies. It has subsequently been translated into 40 languages and adapted for film and stage in 2007. The Kite Runner is a metaphorical novel. The kite itself serves as the novel's emblem (Baxtiyorova, 2019). A close reading of The Kite Runner reveals that kite flying has a number of major symbolic overtones, including freedom, happiness, betrayal, longing for parental love, atonement,

After winning the kite tournament, Hassan rushed after the kite to retrieve it for Amir. Amir pursued Hassan and eventually discovered him in an alley, pinned down by his comrades and raped by Assef. Regardless, Amir stood by and did nothing. Thus, the flying kite acted as a reminder of Amir's betrayal following Hassan's rape. This was hinted at in The Kite Runner when Assef told Hassan to keep the blue kite before raping him. "I'm letting you keep the kite, Hazara. I'll let you keep it so it will always remind you of what I'm about to do." (Housseini,

At the end of the novel, Amir engaged in a kite-fighting competition with Hassan's son, Sohrab, with Amir serving as the kite runner. "The last time I felt a rush like this was that day in the winter of 1975, just after I had cut the last kite, when I spotted Baba on our rooftop, clapping and beaming. I looked down at Sohrab. One corner of his mouth had curled up just so. A smile." (Housseini, p370). This shows that Amir has the ability to reacquaint himself with his background, acknowledge his flaws, and find a way to convey regret. Here, kite flying has become a sign of unity for Sohrab and Amir in the same way that it was for Baba and Amir and Hassan and Amir. (Khujamberdiyev, 2022). (Kraifi & Chihi, 2019) determined that Housseini used the kite flying to symbolise atonement and hope after Afghanistan gained freedom from Soviet rule, following the United States bombings on the Taliban, and, most significantly, after Amir had forgiven his guilt by saving Sohrab and taking him to America. The imagery of kite-flying in The Kite Runner also plays a part in the novel's themes of redemption and forgiveness, as it suggests the possibility of atonement and