Literary Devices In The Kite Runner

The Fault In Their Friendship “For you a thousand times over!” (Ch. 7). Khaled Hosseini uses literary elements to illustrate a number of themes. In the novel The Kite Runner, setting illustrates the theme friendship means being loyal, character illustrates the way people treat their friends shows if they are good people, and mood illustrates the way people treat the their friends shows if they are good people. Hosseini uses setting to compare Afghanistan and the United States while developing the theme friendship means being loyal. This is first shown when Amir says, “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba. Was it a fair price? The answer floated to my conscious mind before I could thwart it: He was …show more content…
This is first shown when Baba presents Hassan a plastic surgeon to repair his cleft lip and Amir becomes jealous, “I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget Baba’s sympathy. It wasn’t fair. Hassan hadn’t done anything to earn Baba’s affections; he’d just been born with that stupid harelip.” (Ch. 5). This demonstrates that Amir is jealous of the attention Hassan is receiving from Baba. Amir wants to prove himself to Baba but encounters difficulties such as Baba giving Hassan his attention instead of Amir. Furthermore, Amir will also become aggressive towards Hassan in a passive way by mocking his weaknesses such as his cleft lip as shown in the paragraph, showing that Amir isn 't a good person based on how he treats Hassan. While Amir is jealous, which makes him a bad friend, Hassan is loyal, which makes him a good friend. An example of this is when Hassan defends Amir and himself by using his slingshot to threaten Assef: “I turned and came face to face with Hassan’s slingshot. Hassan had pulled the wide elastic band all the way back. In the cup was a rock the size of a walnut. Hassan held the slingshot pointed directly at Assef’s face. His hand trembled with the strain of the pulled elastic band and beads of sweat had erupted on his brow.” (Ch. 5). This shows that Hassan is a loyal person and a good friend because of how he protects Amir and himself even though Hassan and Amir were outnumbered by Assef and his friends, who are also older and stronger than the Hassan and Amir. The theme the way people treat their friends shows if they are good people is shown by characterization, while the theme the way people treat their friends shows if they are good people is shown by