The Message and Meaning of The Kite Runner

Although I don't believe The Kite Runner to be AP worthy, the book does have multiple, powerful themes. A particularly evident theme in the novel is the importance of coming to terms with one's past.   Linked to this theme is the necessity of love in one's life and the how it is damaging to define people based upon a few actions or qualities. All of the themes in the novel come together to show that forgiveness and love can triumph over prejudice, guilt, and hatred.

     From the time Amir is twelve, when he watches Hassan get raped by Assef, to the time he is a full grown adult, living with Soraya in California, he never escapes the guilt of his past.  Amir's guilt haunts him, driving him to do things that are out of character.  At the mere mentioning of Hassan's name after Amir's graduation, the narrator writes "a pair of steel hands closed around my windpipe at the sound of Hassan's name"(134).  Amir guilt prevents him from telling Soraya, his wife, the full story of his life, and leads to him pushing Hassan, his best friend and brother, away.  It is not until Amir travels to Afghanistan and redeems himself, atones for his sins, that he can live with a clear consciousness. As Rahim Khan describes Baba's guilt driven motivation he writes "what true redemption is[…] when guilt leads to good" and there is a clear connection to Amir's struggle(302).

     Before Amir's struggle with guilt, is his struggle for his father's love, which ties into a thematic idea regarding the importance of love in one's life.  While in the narrator's case it primarily applies to Baba, it has greater span than that of a father's love.  Throughout all of Amir's childhood he works to gain his father's affection, works to "show him […] that his son was worthy, evening putting down his best friend, Hassan, in order to do so(56). It pains Amir to put down Hassan and he regrets it. However, he is desperate for his father's approval.  Only when the two arrive in America does the bond between them become apparent.  Amidst the chaos of moving and adjusting, Amir finds happiness when father starts treating him as an equal.  Contrasting Amir's and Baba's relationship is the relationship between Hassan and Ali. Although the two have less than Amir and Baba, they have a strong relationship based upon love and live more happily.

     Multiple characters in The Kite Runner are defined by a singular or limited viewpoint.  Hassan and Ali are persecuted because they are simply Shia and Hazara.  Similarly, Soraya is treated like a disgrace because she had a failed marriage. In both cases, the characters go through great pain.  The same process also goes in the opposite direction. Assef is a wealthy Pashtun, and most treat him with respect because of that. Yet in reality, he is a pretty terrible individual.  Baba after having a child, Hassan, with a Hazara women, in order to protect his honor cannot accept Hassan as his son, and is only able to love him from a distance.  While it is not the primarily theme of The Kite Runner, the destructive nature of discrimination is shown through multiple viewpoints in the book.

     When The Kite Runner concludes, Amir, Sohrab, and Soraya have found happiness.  Amir has forgiven himself and feels that he has redeemed himself in the eyes of Hassan.  The biggest message I took from the ending was of the power of forgiveness, and this is an increasingly relevant message. Polarity and division have lead to more and more conflict and hatred, and it's forgiveness that ends this cycle.  In showing this message, the book reminded me again of the Song of Solomon when Milkman understands and forgives Guitar beneath the gum tree. I think the more people that value the hidden strength of forgiveness, the more peaceful the world will become. At least that would be ideal, I'd enjoy it.

Chapters 23-End: An AP Worthy Conclusion?

The last quarter of The Kite Runner details the return home of Sohrab and Amir from Afghanistan and Pakistan, and it picks up right after the duo's escape from the now single-eyed Assef. After fleeing Kabul, the two are brought to Peshawar, Pakistan, where Amir can recover from his surgery;  while he was unconscious, Amir received surgery that saved his life, and that gave him a harelip like that Hassan had.  As Amir awakes, he learns of his conditions and meets Sohrab for the first time. Rahim, although he has left Pakistan to die in peace, leaves Amir with two things: the first being the knowledge that Baba "was a man torn between two halves"(301), loving both Amir and Hassan, and the second being Sohrab.  The adoption agency Rahim told Amir he could leave Sohrab with is determined never to have existed.  With the Taliban threat driving him out of Peshawar, Amir ultimately brings Sohrab to Islamabad and realizes there that he wants to adopt the boy.  However, problems arise in the adoption process and Amir learns he must briefly leave Sohrab in an orphanage, an act Amir promised never to do.  In response, Sohrab tries to kill himself and the narrator's response is horrifyingly realistic:     "Suddenly I was on my knees, screaming. Screaming through my clenched teeth. Screaming until I thought my throat would rip and my chest explode"(343).

      Despite this terrifying moment, Amir and Sohrab ultimately complete their voyage home, and as the two began to find happiness in San Francisco I was left wondering whether or not the book was at an AP level. Before I start critiquing and praising the novel, I do want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I think that everyone would benefit from reading it. The Kite Runner has many powerful themes, uses strong literary techniques, and does all of that in an environment that I personally wasn't very familiar with.  However, that is not to say that I believe it should be in the AP curriculum.  While the novel has some incredible aspects, I would not put it in the AP curriculum, but instead have it used in another English or social studies class.  

     The literary merit of The Kite Runner begins very strongly.  Ethnic tension, honor, revolution, and love are only a few of the major components in the first couple of chapters.  The Hazara and Pashtun divide echoes many classic conflicts, from the Protestants and Catholics to the struggle of slaves and freedmen in nineteenth century America.  Hosseini's use of flashbacks, Afghani language, as well as his poetic style of writing create a emotional narration tinged with regret. Themes like the importance of love in a person's life can be seen in Amir's struggle for his father's love and the effects of the past on one's present can be seen in Amir's inability to accept his own history.

     Despite the great literary merit in the beginning of the novel, The Kite Runner had multiple qualities that led me to think it may not suit an AP class.  Throughout the entire book, irony was not particularly prominent, and although I loved the techniques used, some of them did not feel particularly original.  Maybe it was because I had just read The Song of Solomon, but the use of a journey myth detracted from the the novel.  The journey myth technique made for fast, enjoyable reading, yet in it was lost the narrative feel and the realism that strengthened the themes in the book.  Additionally, the book did not leave lots of room for interpretation, or varying opinions.  This is beginning to feel like nitpicking, so I will stop.  The Kite Runner is an incredible book, and from it l learned many new things about Afghanistan and Afghani culture.  I would recommend this book to everyone as one to enjoy and learn from, but I do not believe the book is suited for an AP English class.