Kite Runner
Annotated Bibliography

Bennett, Tony. Formalism and Marxism. Routledge, 2003.

In the United States, Marxist literary criticism was most important during the Great Depression in the 1930s, especially during the era of the Popular Front up to the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939. Unlike formalists, Marxists were less concerned about the formal devices, construction style and structure of art and literature as opposed to its social and economic context and political relevance (3). Many of the major writers of the 1930s had a strong affinity for Marxism, socialism and Communism, including Lillian Hellman, Richard Wright, Langston Hughes, John Steinbeck and John Dos Passos. This was the heyday of Socialist Realism, proletarian literature and glorification of the lower classes in their struggles against capitalism and fascism. Marxist did not regard art and literature as abstract, neutral or purely autonomous, but as a reflection of the social and economic system in which they were created.…...

Kite Runner Lord
Loyalty and Coming of Age in the Kite Runner and Lord of the Flies

Coming of age is as difficult a challenge as one will ever face. The challenges of growing up and of taking on the responsibilities incumbent upon an adult are considerable. This is even more so when one grows up before a backdrop of violence, chaos or disorder. In such a context, honor, integrity and loyalty are either forged or bypassed. This is the reality at the center of both Khaled Hosseini's massively successful The Kite Runner (2003) and illiam Golding's groundbreaking Cold ar parable, Lord of the Flies (1959). In both texts, young boys find themselves faced with matters of life and death; civility and violence; friendship and hatred. And in both texts, young boys are forced to make the kinds of decisions typically reserved for men. In particular, the struggles of Hosseini's Amir and…...

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Works Cited:

Golding, W. (1959). Lord of the Flies. Perigree Books; Reissue Edition.

Hosseini, K. (2003). The Kite Runner. Riverhead Books.

Despite the fact that readers can identify the theme of the absence of women in both the first and second halves of the novel, it is much more pronounced in the first half. In the second half of the novel, women are characters with much more regularity. The two primary female characters in the second half of the novel are Soraya, Amir's wife, and his mother-in-law Kahanum Taheri. During this part of the novel, Hosseini emphasizes the theme of women's understanding, using primarily Sonyora, although Kahanum Taheri is supportive of their marriage. Just prior to the engagement, she says, "You're barely in the house and I'm crying already," (Hosseini 167), showing her support of the engagement that is about to take place. After their wedding, Amir acknowledges that the absence of women that had characterized his childhood is now over. He says, "All of my life, I'd been around men.…...

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Works Cited

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead, 2003.

"People sipping lattes at Starbucks were talking about the battle for Kunduz, the Taliban's last stronghold in the north," but not in a way that encouraged them to feel compassion for Amir and his father Baba. (Hosseini, 2003, 316) the author noted that this was an ironic consequence that many exiles from nations hostile to the United States experienced, not just Afghanis.
Unlike his father Baba, Amir, because he remained haunted by his cowardly actions and the disloyalty of his childhood, bore the slings of fortunes and insults of the American land of his refuge and torment far better than his father. Amir saw these difficulties as deserved punishments for his past crimes, rather than undeserved suffering. Amir could not escape the negative parts of his past in his own mind, even in America. "Swimming classes. Soccer.... And the Taliban scurried like rats into the caves." (Hosseini, 2003, 316) as…...

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Works Cited

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead Hardcover, 2003

Time passes, Hassan's family leaves Kabul and Amir's family also have to escape to Pakistan and then to unite States. Hassan however never feels hatred for Amir. Something unusual for a child, Hassan names his child Sohrab after the character in story told by Amir.

Evaluation

There are two very contradicting personalities shown in the movie. One of Hassan and the other of Assef. The children are fragile and sensitive. Also the children are fearful and tend to avoid danger (Lereya, Samara, and Wolke, 2013). In the movie however, Assef is totally insensitive. He could not just rely on verbal show of his prejudice and hatred. Assef grows up with these traits and to have a 'better future' in Afghanistan, he joins Taliban. ather than adopting the extremist religion philosophy of the group, he continues to have his evil inner self satisfied by abusing children (Lereya, Samara, and Wolke, 2013). This time…...

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References

Effects of Bullying, (n.d.), Retrieved from:

 http://www.stopbullying.gov/at-risk/effects/ 

Lereya, S.T., Samara, M., and Wolke, D., (2013), "Parenting behavior and the risk of becoming

A victim and a bully/victim: A meta-analysis study," Child Abuse Negl.2.

Kite Runner
In Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner, the protagonist Amir is haunted by his childhood memories of Hassan. The memory of Hassan's rape in the deserted alleyway resurfaces throughout the novel. This persistence of the past is one of the main themes of The Kite Runner. Recollections of his personal past, and also the history of his native Afghanistan cause Amir emotional anguish and guilt. The persistence of the past creates a crisis of identity for Amir, too. Memories of the past also motivate Amir to create positive change for the future. The persistence of the past is a central theme in Hosseini's The Kite Runner, affecting Amir's sense of self, Amir's sense of place, and Amir's sense of the future.

The persistence of the past affects Amir's sense of self and personal identity. Amir is rarely able to forgive himself, understanding that when Hassan was raped that the boys…...

Amir, on the other hand, attends high school, and even though he is already twenty by the time he graduates he becomes largely Americanized through the process of receiving his education. He views America both as a land of new opportunity and as a means fo escaping the darker past he left behind in Afghanistan. Of course, this past continues to haunt Amir, and this also colors his perception of America. While thinking of Hassan, the friend that Amir first failed to protect and then directly betrayed, Amir reflects that, "The first time I saw the Pacific, I almost cried. It was as vast and blue as the oceans on the movie screens of my childhood" (136). This statement illustrates the bittersweet nature of Amir's perception of America and the way that it has changed his life -- and the way that his presence in the country itself indicates the…...

This explains why Baba loved Hassan so much -- Hassan was the more beloved brother, in Baba's eyes, even though he could not lay claim to him publically.
Finally, the novel reinforces blood ties perhaps most explicitly in the longing for a homeland that both Baba and Hassan experience. Neither of them can give up the past, no matter how much they try to move forward. After all, the novel begins with the words that Amir is who he is, not because of his location in the United States during the present moment of the book, or even his status as an author but of what happened back in pre-Taliban Kabul in 1975, "at the age of twelve, on a frigid and overcast day," remembering the events as if they still lived within him (Hosseini 1).

I had on last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who…...

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Works Cited

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead, 2004.

Kite unner by Khaled Hosseini
Throughout history, armies have marched through the mountains of Afghanistan, sometimes pausing to wage war while other times simply passing through on their way to grander prizes. Most of the stories written about the Khyber Pass portray this region of the world as being hostile and untamed, and for good reason. For modern readers in the West, the manner in which young Afghanis come of age may seem completely alien in many ways, but Khaled Hosseini's novel, The Kite unner, makes it clear that people are just people all over the world. To achieve this outcome, the author positions the reader in the midst of Afghan culture by examining the threats as well as the hospitableness that define tribal society, and structures the novel to be a description of what is required to become a man in Afghani society today using various literary tools and…...

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References

Hosseini, K (2004). The kite runner. New York: Riverhead Trade.

Thus, it is plain to see that Amir's lack of reaction in front of his friend's sufferance is not determined solely by cowardice. Hassan is raped by Assef and his friend while trying to recuperate the kite flown by Amir in the tournament. Thus, Amir allows this tragic scene to happen before his eyes, while fixing the kite that will bring him closer to Baba's affection: "Hassan was standing at the blind end of the alley in defiant stance.... Behind him, sitting on piles of scrap and rubble, was the blue kite. My key to Baba's heart."(Hosseini, 83) Amir thus deserts his friend and unconsciously thinks that he has the right to use him for his personal interest since he is his social inferior. Amir's mixed feelings for Hassan are also influenced by the sense that somehow his father prefers his friend to him. It is obvious that he…...

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Works Cited

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead Books, 2003.

He'd just stood there, doing nothing, red juice soaking through his shirt like blood. Then he'd taken the pomegranate from my hand, crushed it against his forehead. Are you satisfied now? He'd hissed. Do you feel better? I hadn't been happy and I hadn't felt better, not at all. But I did now. My body was broken-just how badly I wouldn't find out until later-but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed." (p. 252-53)
The fact that Hassan had always been enamored by Amir is something that Amir acknowledged. He knew that Hassan had always loved him immensely. "Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same year. And under the same roof, we spoke our first word.

Mine was Baba. His was Amir, my name." (p. 10)

The more Amir recalls the events of his past, the more readers…...

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Reference:

Khaled Hosseini, the Kite Runner. Riverhead Brooks. 2003

hy does Amir constantly test Hassan's loyalty? Boys will be boys, and they are always testing the loyalty of their friends. They challenge friends to do things for them and follow their lead. In this case, Amir needed to know that his friend was loyal because his own dad wasn't loyal. He wanted Hassan to treat him like family. He sent many kites up in the air and it was Hassan's duty as a friend to fetch the kites. That is also a test of loyalty.

But the point here also is, in the absence of a nurturing, loving mother (which Amir suffered through), when one's father doesn't seem totally committed and loyal to the son, that son needs to find another male who is loyal and who will be loyal.

How bad was the relationship between Amir and his dad? In Chapter 3 Amir, the narrator, talks about his relationship with…...

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Works Cited

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead Books, 2003.

It begins with Amir learning not only that Hassan is dead, but that Hassan was in fact his half brother (Hosseini, 2004). With the knowledge that Amir and his dad escaped to America and Hassan was "cut out" by Taliban makes Amir the winner again by being the last "kite" still standing in the family.

We see the metaphoric symbolism once again when Amir goes to rescue Hassan's son, Sohrab. At that time Amir must go through many channels and much red tape, as if dancing the kite in the sky once again and in the end he is once again facing Assef on the playing field of life.

When they agree to fight to death it is metaphorically linking their fight for the boy to the same principle as kite competitions. In addition, it symbolically represents what happened to Hassan years ago and Amir now has a chance to make up…...

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References

Shah, Allie (2005) 'Kite Runner' writer soars to success; Khaled Hosseini will be here to talk about his bestselling novel - and about his native Afghanistan.(SOURCE)

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

Hosseini, Khaled (2004) the Kite Runner. Riverhead Trade; Reprint edition

Her natural involvement in raising Sohrab, however, serves as a completion of Soraya's own personal redemption -- she is saving one of the many lost children of Afghanistan -- as it does for Amir, making redemption not only achievable but the natural result of its earnest pursuit.
Conclusion

The sins that are committed by the various individuals in the book are largely defined and described by the characters themselves. Their various paths to redemption are equally personal. As the central character and narrator of the novel, this is most visible in Amir; his understanding of his own and of his father's sins is what drives many of his decisions and attitudes in life, and what causes him to seek redemption in the first place. ithout this drive and the clarity of his perception, redemption might have proved impossible after all.

orks Cited

Calliouet, Ruth. "The Other Side of Terrorism and the Children of…...

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Works Cited

Calliouet, Ruth. "The Other Side of Terrorism and the Children of Afghanistan." The English Journal, Vol. 96, No. 2 (Nov., 2006), pp. 28-33.

Hosseini, Khlaed. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead Books, 2005.

Noor, Ronny. "Review: The Kite Runner." World Literature Today, Vol. 78, No. 3/4 (Sep. - Dec., 2004), p. 148.

Could his death be tied to his traumatized past? We cannot really tell. But we can assume that since he was the actual victim of the incident, he might have had to suffer too. Not only was he a victim at the hand of a bunch of rowdy street kids, he was also abandoned by his father and his best friend. That was something very cruel for a young boy to handle. That must have taken its toll on him and he finally gave up on life. When Rahim Khan tells Amir, "There is a way to be good again" (p. 1) we realize that redemption is the most important theme of this book. Childhood and what happened during that period have had a powerful impact on Amir's adult life; he is unable to forget anything about that incident and where that happened: "I have been peeking into that…...

An escape story refers to a story where a person is getting away from some type of negative situation.  The escape story can be a literal escape from something or an imagined escape.  Kate Chopin’s Story of an Hour is a famous escape story, because the protagonist imagines all of the freedoms that she has now that her husband has been declared dead, only to discover he is not really dead.  The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is another popular escape story, even though his escapism is in his head.  However, escape stories....

The Art of Captivating Titles

In the realm of good writing, a title is more than just a label; it is a captivating first impression that can entice readers to delve into the depths of your work. A truly memorable title has the power to resonate with an audience, spark curiosity, and set the tone for the journey that lies ahead. Crafting such a title requires a delicate balance of intrigue, brevity, and relevance to the content. Here are the key elements that contribute to the allure of a captivating title:

1. Enigmatic Allure

Titles that hint at a deeper meaning or....