The Kite Runner-Fogel

        The quest for redemption is a difficult one, as it is shown in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The book’s plot highlights on a key lesson that all people can take from it; you are able to redeem yourself of cowardly actions and words from your past by proving you have the courage to stand up for what is right in the present. Throughout the book’s story I was also able to learn more about some of Afghanistan’s history and what Afghanistan may have been like in that time. When I read SparkNotes’ commentaries on The Kite Runner, it allowed me to comprehend and open my eyes to more of Hosseini’s themes, symbolism and motifs that I didn’t necessarily catch when reading. But at times SparkNotes did not fully analyze some of the symbolism and motifs to the best of their ability, which made me realize how much their interpretation differed from my own.  

        One theme that SparkNotes recognized better than myself is both Amir and Hassan’s son Sohrab’s characters are heavily influenced by the past. Amir defines himself by his past. His feelings of guilt for his past actions continue to motivate him in the present. Not only does he feel responsible for Hassan’s rape as kids, but Amir also feels responsible for Hassan’s murder because he thinks his actions led to Hassan’s death when he pushed Hassan and Ali out of Baba’s house. For Sohrab, his traumatizing past affects all of his behavior. The physical and sexual abuse he endured makes him flinch anytime Amir touches him. His parents’ death also creates fears of abandonment so much that he attempts suicide when Amir says he may have to go back to an orphanage. After reading SparkNotes’ comments on this theme, it made me realize why so much of The Kite Runner is spent on Amir’s past. This is because of how much the past influences him. As Amir says on the book’s first page, “The past can never be buried” (Hosseini).

        Physical features are very important things to take notice of when reading a book. They place a mental picture in my mind of what the characters look like, and can help me to understand the characters better physically, mentally, and emotionally. But what I didn’t take from one of Hassan’s features which were mentioned several times is the symbolism of Hassan’s cleft lip that SparkNotes took note of. SparkNotes showed me that the split in Hassan’s lip acts as a mark of Hassan’s status in society. It is one of the things that separate him from Amir because the cleft lip signifies his poverty, so the cleft lip indicates that he and his family do not have the money to fix the deformity. Later in the book, Amir’s lip splits from a fight which leaves Amir with a permanent scar much like Hassan’s. “In a sense, Amir’s identity becomes merged with Hassan’s” (SparkNotes). Just like Hassan once did for him, Amir learns to stand up for those he cares about and he becomes a father figure to Hassan’s son Sohrab. SparkNotes’ finding of symbolism of the cleft lip allowed me to realize that when I read a book, I need to dig deeper in order to find the author’s true meaning behind certain objects placed within the book.

        Kites were another use of symbolism in The Kite Runner. SparkNotes commented “The kite serves as a symbol of Amir’s happiness as well as his guilt” (SparkNotes). It then went into their reasoning of why they believed this. Although I believe what they said is true, I think the kites symbolized more than just happiness and guilt of a character. I believe that the kites with their glass strings symbolize the polarity between beauty and violence, simultaneously representing the country of Afghanistan at the time this book takes place and Amir and Hassan. The two main kite fights in the novel — the tournament Amir wins and the one at the end of the book — not only also represent Amir and Hassan but also symbolize the juxtaposition of roles, for at the end Amir has become the kite runner. Because of this, I think kites also symbolize the interrelationship between betrayal and redemption.

          A powerful motif shown throughout The Kite Runner is rape. It appears when Hassan and Sohrab were raped as kids, Baba stopping the rape of the woman in the truck with them as they flee Kabul, and the rape of Kamal that Kamal’s father implies. In our society we seem to avoid the topic of rape, but Hosseini opens the topic up so the reader is able to fully understand the point he is trying to get across when he brings rape up multiple times in the book. Hosseini shows that rape is not just physically violent, but it is also an attack on the victim’s emotions and dignity. Rape represents complete physical and mental domination of those who don’t have power by those who do, and Hassan and Sohrab suffer lasting emotional trauma from being victims of rape in The Kite Runner. SparkNotes did not take note of Afghanistan’s culture, which is that a person’s honor is extremely important in Afghanistan culture and the act of rape would belittle someone on an epic scale.

In conclusion, SparkNotes’ commentary on The Kite Runner was both beneficial and hurtful. It had comments that really allowed me to comprehend and understand parts of the book better, but it also only described the themes and symbols generally instead of finding the literal and deep meaning of what Hosseini strived for the reader to find. It made me not want to use SparkNotes again so that instead I can find what meanings books I read in the future entail by myself.