Retrieving the fallen kite : Kite symbolism in Khaled Hosseini’s the kite runner

Abstract EN

This paper examines the symbolic représentations of the kite and the way in which it is used as a unifying thematic device.

A close reading of Hossein i’s novel in relation to the kite symbolism lays bare the relationship betw een Amir and his kite-assistant and ehildhood ffiend 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 résonance when the novelist forges a connection between Amir and the kite, a relationship that ultimately enables the former to reconcile with his flawed but redeem able self.

Hius, 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).