Violence In The Kite Runner

Violence’s Redemption Violence is never the answer, but violence can often lead to an answer. In the case of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, violence serves as a catalyst for a young man’s salvation. Amir perceives and experiences violence invading his personal life as well as his country. He lives through impactful situations that follow his conscience as he grows older. Even leaving his war torn country does nothing to solve his problems. Eventually, he is forced to return and face the cruelty once again. All the barbarity he lives through helps breaks him down to a speck of the man he could be, but it also helps build him up into a man he can respect. Khaled Hosseini uses multiple scenarios involving violence as a means to create an …show more content…
The novel’s title, The Kite Runner, introduces a position in the game that the people of Afghanistan play. Hassan is the kite runner in the beginning of the novel, running kites for Amir. The game is won by tearing the string of other player’s kites. There is definitely some competition, but it is taken to a new level when it’s mentioned that the string is covered with glass fragments. It is a way to win the game, but it also causes harm to the player flying the kite since he or she is holding the string and running it through his or her fingertips. Each player is determined to cut other player’s kites and win the game. This game leads Hassan into the more violent scene where he is sexually abused. Later in the novel a scene with kites is presented yet again, but this time it is Amir who is the kite runner. Still considering it a violent game, Sohrab and Amir are playing with a kite when challenged by another flyer. Once the other player’s kite is cut Amir is the one who runs the kite for Sohrab. Completing the circle back to when Hassan did the running. Although the violence between the kites is minor compared to the other violence the characters face, it still serves a step towards Amir’s redemption. The game also represents Afghanistan and the war. The thousands of kites Hosseini portrays in the novel represents the people fighting in the war. The minimal violence in the game does not compare to the amount of violence during war, but Amir experienced the game which gives him some perspective about the war. He never faces the war directly just like he never faces his problems with Hassan