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Kite Runner motifs - Coggle Diagram
Kite Runner motifs
The Kite
serves as a symbol of Amir’s happiness as well as his guilt. Flying kites is what he enjoys most as a child, not least because it is the only way that he connects fully with Baba,
the kite takes on a different significance when Amir allows Hassan to be raped because he wants to bring the blue kite back to Baba. His recollections after that portray the kite as a sign of his betrayal of Hassan
Because Amir has already redeemed himself when he flies a kite with Sohrab the kite is no longer a symbol of his guilt. Instead, it acts as a reminder of his childhood
also becomes the way that he is finally able to connect with Sohrab, mirroring the kite’s role in Amir’s relationship with Baba.
Amir and Hassan have their differences but when they fly the kite nothing else matters. The kite symbolizes freedom
The person in charge of the kite experiences wounds and lots of blood. Kites becomes a matter of honour and pride at the expense of others
When he tries to remember something happy in the fuel truck, Amir immediately thinks of his carefree days flying kites with Hassan.
The harelip
The split in Hassan’s lip acts as a mark of Hassan’s status in society. It signifies his poverty, which is one of the things that separates him from Amir
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Baba, who is Hassan’s biological father, chooses to pay a surgeon to repair Hassan’s lip, signifying his secret fatherly love for Hassan.
Assef splits Amir’s lip as he beats him, leaving Amir with a permanent scar much like Hassan’s. In a sense, Amir’s identity becomes merged with Hassan’s.
He learns to stand up for those he cares about, as Hassan once did for him, and he becomes a father figure to Sohrab. Because of this, it also serves as a sign of Amir’s redemption.
wounds/scars are used to highlight differences between a character's physical appearance and their internal world
Those that are disfigured physically (Hassan, Ali, Baba) seem to be morally strong
The Past
Amir does not exactly have flashbacks, which would suddenly put him back in the midst of an earlier event. Instead he repeatedly moves the story back in time
The novel begins with him living in San Francisco then jumps back to his childhood in Kabul. He jumps back yet again to Baba’s and Ali’s childhood
Amir tells his story and his choice to regress in time and give the back story of each character provides critical information about the character’s history.
Reinforces the thematic idea that the past defines the present- Amir and Baba both can't let go of the past
many characters are haunted by memories of the past. Amir is constantly troubled by his memory of Hassan's rape and his own cowardice, and it is this memory that leads Amir to his final quest for redemption
The Lamb
In Islam, as in Christianity, the lamb signifies the sacrifice of an innocent. Amir describes both Hassan and Sohrab as looking like lambs waiting to be slaughtered
Hassan resembled the lamb they kill during the Muslim celebration of Eid Al-Adha, which honors Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son for God
Assef and the others had put mascara on Sohrab’s eyes, just as Amir says the mullah used to do to the sheep before slitting its throat
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In Hassan’s case, Amir sacrifices him for the blue kite. But in Sohrab’s case, Amir is the one who stops his sexual abuse. Sacrifice is portrayed as the exploitation of an innocent
Pomegranates
a symbol of betrayal and guilt that becomes a symbol of redemption when Amir returns to the tree before he saves Sohrab from the same fate he condemned Hassan to
In Christianity, the pomegranate can be
seen as a symbol of resurrection and According to the Quran, the gardens of paradise include pomegranates
the change of the meaning of this motif links to the change i relationship between Hassan and Amir as Amir betrayed him once but now redeems the relationship by saving his son
Amir and Hassan have been like family their whole lives and this was the last straw for Amir. He couldn't stand watching Hassan be perfect for any longer and throwing the pomegranates shows his wrath.
the pomegranate tree still represented Amir and Hassan's friendship since they were always found in places Amir and Hassan made memories together and grew in their friendship with one another.