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These are notes from my English A-Level course that I'm keen to share!
Thomas Hardy, W.H. Auden and F. Scott Fitzgerald from AS
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Thursday, May 31, 2012

Repetition, Symbolism and Imagery in The Kite Runner

This is with respect to either AO2 and AO3 of the exam!


The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini

Repetition:

-          Baba’s love for Amir and Hassan is repeated by Amir’s love for his nephew Sohrab

-          Hassan’s rape echoes later in the rape of his son Sohrab

-          The reappearance of Sanaubar vitally emphasises on Hassan’s forgiveness of Amir, and how he is not afraid to forgive his own mother

-          The case of “one-eyed Assef”

-          The flying of kites

-          “Smiling” – Hassan’s harelipped smile, and then Sohrab’s smile

Symbolism:

-          Afghan carpets show pride in the community and the colours in them are relative to the colour in Amir and Hassan’s life as children

-          Blood: the rape scene, the execution at the stadium, the fight with Assef, hospital, etc.

-          The harelip: recalls suffering in the novel

-          Assef’s eye can be used as a symbol of the eye of evil and how good triumphs over it

-          Pomegranate tree

-          Hassan and Sohrab’s smile

Imagery:

-          Amir and Hassan’s childhood home and how it plays psychologically on Amir’s mind once he is in America

-          The flea market is an image of the life Amir has sacrificed along with Baba to save their lives; at the same time it reminds him of the inverse situation that Hassan must be facing, which brings us back to his suffering and inner devastation

-          The devastated city of Kabul demonstrates how the once peaceful city where snow fell soundlessly, and one could smell kebabs in the streets has now become victim to unbearable violence and how, Kabul, the city of Amir’s dreams has turned to rubble – this also casts an image of Amir’s dream of meeting Hassan turned to debris, i.e. it is never fulfilled

-          The imagery of Hassan’s rape and the execution are not described in detail, as a discreet explanation is better left to imagination. Nevertheless, the effect is so powerful and is maintained in such a way that we do not feel the lack of detail

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