7th September 2017

The Kite Runner Revision

  1. Identify one character in the text who changes over the course of the novel. Discuss how and why they change and what the importance of this change is. use quotations to support your answer.

In the written text ‘The Kite Runner’ a character who changes over the course of the novel is Amir. Amir starts the novel as a young child (about 7 or 8), Amir and his best friend Hassan are throwing walnuts at the dog next door. Amir is the son of a successful rich business man in Kabul. His best friend Hassan is their servant’s son. The boys grew up together but although they would be considered best friends, Amir is never quite sure if he actually wants to be friends with him because he is a Hazara. This is the start of Amir’s journey to redemption. A key turning point in the novel for Amir is after the ‘kite fighting’ competition when Amir goes to find Hassan but instead finds him being raped. Instead of helping Hassan, AMir runs away and pretends that he didn’t see anything. “I want to tear myself from this place, from this reality, rise up like a cloud and float away, melt into this humid summer night and dissolve somewhere far, over the hills. But I am here, my legs blocks of concrete, my lungs empty of air, my throat burning. There will be no floating away.” AMir says this as he watches the unfortunate encounter in the alleyway between Assef and Hassan. As shown in the quote, Amir feels overwhelmed by the quote and says he wants to ‘float away’. But floating away isn’t always an option in life and it definitely wasn’t an option for Amir. Amir has the choice to fight Assef for Hassan’s innocence or to run, although Amir doesn’t run he also doesn’t step in to help his ‘best friend’, this is because Amir is a coward. This event leads to Amir’s fight for redemption.

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