Retrieving the Fallen Kite: Kite Symbolism in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner

المؤلف

Associate Professor of English Literature, English Department, Faculty of Arts, Zagazig Univeristy

المستخلص

This paper examines the symbolic representations of the kite and the way in which it is used as a unifying thematic device. A close reading of Hosseini’s novel in relation to the kite symbolism lays bare the relationship between Amir and his kite-assistant and childhood friend Hassan. In addition, it is through the kite symbolism that the relationship between Amir and his father is re-established. Apparently, the kite gradually acquires additional symbolic resonance when the novelist forges a connection between Amir and the kite, a relationship that ultimately enables the former to reconcile with his flawed but redeemable self. Thus, the kite is used as a symbol that represents the hope of building a new secure life, the kind of life that Amir as well as his fellow citizens were unable to achieve in a strange unbearable place like Afghanistan where “mines were planted like seeds of death and children buried in rock-piled graves” (119).

الكلمات الرئيسية