Leah Thompson
8/22/14
The Kite Runner You don’t just drown in the ocean; you seemingly become a part of it. Your hair dissolves into the waves, your eyes liquefy into the sea, then your lips turn into jagged salt. Water floods into your ribcage and you’re left with the waves grasping around your neck. A submerged voice that sound just like your own pulsates, “only the truth will set you free.” Truth is a clash of perception, a chance to escape the transgression of ones’ past, instead of operating on the fringes of society. Rather than being burdened by the constraint of ones’ mortality, truth is used to dispose of the relentless monsters that get suppressed into a mind. This internal conflict is demonstrated in Khaled Hosseini’s, The Kite Runner, which tells a fictional tale about the lack of control Amir …show more content…
Hosseini uses the motifs of silence and lies throughout the novel in order to portray both the way these become exacerbated and conversely, speaking the truth to change the status quo. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Silence and suppressing the truth result in a rippling effect. This rippling effect is portrayed in having Amir being faced with the obstacle and the opportunity to tell the truth of his relation to Hassan, Amir claims, “He’s our servants son” (p 69). Hosseini suggests that keeping silent is an effort to push away problems, which then continues the vicious cycle and intensifies problems. The vicious cycle starts with silence, continues with lying, then results in guilt. A vicious cycle can only break when you speak the truth in order to set yourself free. When the guilt from the lies can transform into good. As Amir debates whether or not he would speak up for Hassan and stop the rape, he decides to choke on his hollow words and stay silent. Hosseini portrays this by having Amir say, “in
8/22/14
The Kite Runner You don’t just drown in the ocean; you seemingly become a part of it. Your hair dissolves into the waves, your eyes liquefy into the sea, then your lips turn into jagged salt. Water floods into your ribcage and you’re left with the waves grasping around your neck. A submerged voice that sound just like your own pulsates, “only the truth will set you free.” Truth is a clash of perception, a chance to escape the transgression of ones’ past, instead of operating on the fringes of society. Rather than being burdened by the constraint of ones’ mortality, truth is used to dispose of the relentless monsters that get suppressed into a mind. This internal conflict is demonstrated in Khaled Hosseini’s, The Kite Runner, which tells a fictional tale about the lack of control Amir …show more content…
Hosseini uses the motifs of silence and lies throughout the novel in order to portray both the way these become exacerbated and conversely, speaking the truth to change the status quo. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Silence and suppressing the truth result in a rippling effect. This rippling effect is portrayed in having Amir being faced with the obstacle and the opportunity to tell the truth of his relation to Hassan, Amir claims, “He’s our servants son” (p 69). Hosseini suggests that keeping silent is an effort to push away problems, which then continues the vicious cycle and intensifies problems. The vicious cycle starts with silence, continues with lying, then results in guilt. A vicious cycle can only break when you speak the truth in order to set yourself free. When the guilt from the lies can transform into good. As Amir debates whether or not he would speak up for Hassan and stop the rape, he decides to choke on his hollow words and stay silent. Hosseini portrays this by having Amir say, “in