The Kite Runner: Motifs

The Kite Runner: Motifs

1. The Kite

   • The kite represents Amir's happiness and guilt. He enjoys it very much as a child. It reflects Baba's approval. Amir won the kite flying tournament but to fully get Baba's approval, he let Hassan get raped for him. The kite represents the betrayal between Amir and Hassan.
     • "That was the thing about kite flying, your mind drifted away with the kite." (67)

2. Scars and Deformity

   • Hassan's scar is a representative feature of himself. It marks his status in society. His poverty is what separates him from Amir. Baba pays to get his cleft lip surgically fixed. This shows his secret fatherly love for Hassan. Hassan's lip is surgically corrected, but when he is made perfect on the outside, he experiences something so traumatic that his internal self changed during "the winter Hassan stopped smiling." (47)
     • "...The face of Afghanistan is that of a boy with a thin-boned frame, a shaved head, and low set ears, a boy with a Chinese doll face perpetually lit by a harelipped smile." (27)

3. The Pomegranate Tree

   • This is where Amir and Hassan used to play when they were young. They had carved each others names in the tree. It represents how close their friendship was. After the rape the two go back to the tree but it just isn't the same. Amir tries to get Hassan to fight back he won't, he won't let Amir be accountable for the rape. The tree used to be a place for friendship and love but now it is just filled with Amir's guilt and anger.
     • "There was a pomegranate tree near the entrance to the cemetery. One Summer day, I used one of Ali's kitchen knives and carved our names on it: 'Amir and Hassan, the sultan of Kabul'" (30)
     • "Hit me back!' I spat. 'Hit me back goddamn you!'" (98)

4. Lamb

   • The innocent lamb has to be sacrificed. The lamb (Hassan) is sacrificed by Amir. Amir watches as he is raped so he could better his relationship with his father Baba.
     • "Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba." (82)

5. Rape

   • The rape symbolized the overwhelming power Amir has over Hassan It revealed the flaw in Amir and Hassan's friendship that wouldn't ever heal. Amir is haunted with his guilt and betrayal of Hassan. It causes him to drive away Hassan and Ali. The rape effected Hassan in every possible way (mentally and physically). He was never the same after that traumatic event.
     • "Just like I pretended I hadn't seen the dark stain in the seat of his pants. Or those tiny drops that fell between his legs and stained the snow black." (84)

6. Sickness

   • The characters loose a part of themselves when they get sick. Baba gets cancer at at time where he now feels powerless. Rahim Khan gets sick but is no longer surrounded by those he cares about most. Amir gets car sick very easily, this also represents his guilt about Hassan.
     • "The first time I heard Baba moan in the bathroom. The first time I found blood on his pillow. In over three years of running the gas station, Baba had never called in sick. Another first." (67)