IRONY

"In the hour of need, believe me that there's no one you'd rather have at your side than a Pashtun." Chapter 12

"Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that?" p. 17

http://www.stockfreeimages.com/3764786/Stairs-to-wealth-made-of-columns-of-coins.html

"Homes that made Baba’s house in Wazir Akbar Khan look like a servant’s hut." (Page135)

REPORT:

   Early in the novel Baba had explained to Amir after the kite running tournament, "'When you kill a man, you steal a life." "You steal his wife's right to a husband; rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness" (Hosseini 18). This is extremely ironic because Baba had been lying to Amir his whole life. Stealing his right to the truth. He never told Amir about Hassan being his half-brother, even on his death bed. It was Rahim Khan who had told Amir.

     Baba had said to Amir in chapter 12 that "in the hour of need, believe me that there's no one you'd rather have at your side than a Pashtun." Amir is a pashtun that didn’t stand up for Hassan. Instead he just watched with fear and guilt. Hassan on the other hand is a hazara who would do anything for Amir if he needed help. From this you can sense some irony in the fact that Amir, a Pashtun didn’t help Hassan when he was by his side.

   Amir stated on page (135), “Homes that made Baba’s house in Wazir Akbar Khan look like a servant’s hut.” Irony is definitely detected in this quote because Amir talks about his and Baba’s life in Afghanistan, and then Baba contrasts the fact that he had more wealth in Wazir Akbar Khan, than in present America. You can also sense the amount of Irony in this quote, because Amir and Baba are essentially contrasting a poor country Afghanistan to a wealthy Country America. This sense of irony can also be related to present day, when an Immigrant from another country makes that transition to a country like America or Canada.

Themes

THEMES

“There is a way to be good again" (1.3).     

“real brains of the government" as Farid says (21.12).   http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Leadership_g403-Leader_With_Team_on_jigsaw_puzzle_p93547.html

“That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Other_Objects_g271-Open_Blank_Ancient_Book_p143771.html

Report:

            Throughout the story a variety of themes are portrayed by the author. The three that stood out the most include the search for redemption, the intersection between politics and personal lives, and the persistence of the past.

Earlier in the novel, Amir feels the need to make a big impact, and make Baba feel happy. Knowing that his mother had a huge choice to sacrifice her life for him, Amir feels like he has to fill a huge void. In order to make Baba proud, Amir though that winning the kite running tournament would make Baba a proud father and change their relationship. A big search for redemption in this novel involves Amir’s guilt resulting from not helping out Hassan when he was in desperate need. Throughout the last half of the novel, most of Amir’s decisions result from his feeling of guilt towards Hassan. He feels as if he needs to make up for what he had done. Early in the book Baba explains to Amir that “a boy who doesn’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.” Amir feels like that has to change when he becomes an Adult, standing up for what was right.

The impact of politics and personal lives had a dramatic change in the novel’s plot. When Amir and Hassan were children, Kabul seemed like a calm and beautiful place. The plot slowly began to change after the Soviet invasion and from there Kabul got worse and worse. The establishment of the republic gave Assef the opportunity to harass Amir. When the Taliban’s began to take over, Baba and Amir were basically forced to flee to America. With the Taliban controlling most of Kabul, Assef was given a major role and Hassan had been murdered. These events change Amir’s destiny, later making him go back to Kabul.

Most of the characters in the novel feel a tremendous amount of influence from the past. Sohrab’s past really affects his behaviour in the novel. The physical and sexual abuse he had gone through makes him scared, insecure, and he no longer can trust anyone. He later attempts to commit suicide because of his parent’s death, and not wanting to go back to the orphanage. In Amir’s case the past changed his destiny. He would never forget and let go from the day he watched Hassan get raped. In the beginning of the book Amir says “I had become what I am today, at the age of twelve.” Later in the novel Amir uses his past guilt and poor decisions as motivation to save Sohrab.

SYMBOLISM IMAGES AND QUOTES

The Kite Runner

Photo Journalism Assignment

Symbols:

           

            The Lamb: "He positioned himself behind Hassan. Hassan didn't struggle. Didn't even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse of his face. Saw the resignation in it. It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb.." (81)

            The Cleft Lip: “Sanaubar had taken one glance at the baby in Ali's arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked a bitter laughter. [...]. She had refused to even hold Hassan, and just five days later she was gone.”

            The Wilted Pomegranate tree: “ I stood under it, remembered all the times we’d climbed it, straddled its branches, our legs swinging, dappled sunlight flickering through the leaves and casting on our faces a mosaic of light and shadow. The tangy taste of pomegranate crept into my mouth. I hunkered down on my knees and brushed my hands against the trunk. I found what I was looking for. The carving had dulled, almost faded together, but it was still there: Amir and Hassan. The sultans of Kabul. I sat cross-legged at the foot of the tree and looked south on the city of my childhood.”

SYMBOLISM WRITEUP

                                                                        SYMBOLISM WRITEUP

For the symbolism category we have chosen three symbols. The three symbols we have chosen is: The lamb, Hassan’s cleft lip and the wilted Pomegranate tree. With these symbols we have chosen three pictures that we thought would connect to the symbols itself and to the quotes we have selected from the book. The three images that we have chosen are of a Lamb that is submitting, a boy with a cleft lip, and an old Pomegranate tree. The reason why we have chosen these three symbols is because we believe that these were the most important symbolic features in the story that really made it more moving and interesting to read.


            The lamb is one of the most important symbols in Kite Runner because of the comparisons between the Religious ideologies to the character Hassan. In Islam and Christianity and Judaism, the story of Abraham signifies the lamb as a sacrifice of an innocent.  Similarly in the book Amir himself states in the story,
 “He positioned himself behind Hassan. Hassan didn't struggle. Didn't even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse of his face. Saw the resignation in it. It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb.”
 In other words, Amir compared Hassan to the lamb he saw when Baba made him watch the mullah slaughter the lamb during Eid-Al-Adha. Eid-Al-Adha honors prophet Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son for God. Similarly speaking, in the story Hassan was the one who showed innocence and who figuratively sacrificed himself for Amir by being raped. The image that has been chosen for this symbol relates to the quotes because the image shows a lamb resting its head on the dirty ground almost like its being submissive; Likewise Amir in the quote is addressing Hassan’s face as he, “Saw the resignation in it” like the lamb in the picture.

Hassan’s cleft lip is another crucial symbol to the story, as it furthers a meaning and observance to Hassan’s features and attributes and how people treat him. Hassan’s cleft lip acts as a mark to his status in society and it also further signifies his poverty in society. This difference is also relevant between him and Amir because he is a Hazara and Amir is a Pashtun, which makes Amir much wealthier than him.  Hassan’s cleft lip gave everybody a bad impression of him that even his own mother, Sanaubar criticized him. The image that has been chosen for this symbol is of a boy who has a cleft lip, and the boy in the image seems like he has been neglected by something or someone. The quote that we have chosen for this symbol is of Hassan’s mother Sanaubar, who denied Hassan when he was a born baby. On page 82 of the book it sates, “Sanaubar had taken one glance at the baby in Ali's arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked a bitter laughter. [...]. She had refused to even hold Hassan, and just five days later she was gone.”

The image that has been chosen for this symbol connects to the selected quote because as stated before, the cleft lip boy in the image seems he has been neglected. Therefore, we can sort of relate Hassan’s pain to the cleft lip boy in the image. Although there is no evidence that Hassan felt bad that his mother left, one can only imagine how they will feel if their mother just leaves and comes back after decades. We can infer that Sanaubar initially had no feelings for Hassan when he was born; therefore we can relate Hassan’s potentially hidden feelings to the image.

The wilted Pomegranate tree is the most significant symbol in the story because it signifies Amir and Hassan’s friendship. The tree also signifies the past and the present, where the past was when Amir carved, “Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul.” The present is when Amir goes back to his old house after several years and observes the same tree with the dull carving. The image that is chosen for this symbol is of an old wilted Pomegranate tree. The quote that is chosen for this symbol is of Amir coming back to Kabul after several years, and he discovers the tree where he embedded the carvings. The quote that is chosen and that relates to the image is Amir describing his feelings,
“ I stood under it, remembered all the times we’d climbed it, straddled its branches, our legs swinging, dappled sunlight flickering through the leaves and casting on our faces a mosaic of light and shadow. The tangy taste of pomegranate crept into my mouth. I hunkered down on my knees and brushed my hands against the trunk. I found what I was looking for. The carving had dulled, almost faded together, but it was still there: Amir and Hassan. The sultans of Kabul. I sat cross-legged at the foot of the tree and looked south on the city of my childhood.”The image essentially relates to the “Wilted Pomegranate tree” look which Amir had very fond memories of.  It also relates to the aftermath of destruction and time, however the memories of Amir to the tree is more relevant to the image and quote.