Kites:
As
we continue to read The Kite Runner,
we find that Amir is constantly caught in an emotion that will not leave him.
Guilt for what happened in the past is haunting Amir every day until he saves
Sohrab, the object of this guilt is the kite. The kite reminds Amir of his
childhood when he used to fight other kites (by cutting them loose) but it also
reminds Amir of the time he allowed Assef to rape Hassan. After Amir saves
Sohrab the kite no longer symbolized his guilt rather his childhood, since he
repaid his dept. This is what Hosseini truly intended for the kite, that it
symbolized Amir’s guilt until he rescued Sohrab.
Pomegranate Tree:
As young boys Amir and Hassan used to read
books together under the pomegranate tree, at that moment the tree itself was
very fruitful and full of life. When Amir visits the tree many years later it
is barren (without fruit), it has no life. We can think of this context to
symbolize Amir and Hassan’s relationship. When they were young they were both
innocent kids who enjoyed life and each others company. As time passed they’re
bond started to wither just like the tree until it no longer bore fruit. This is
a very interesting resemblance that Hosseini used to show the reader how Amir
and Hassan grew apart.
Infertility:
An interesting segment of the book arose
when Amir and Soraya were unable to conceive a child together due to
infertility. This incident is prone to many different interpretations of what
it may symbolize. A very plausible and possibly unique interpretation would be
that of a relation between Amir and his denial to a child of his own with
Soraya. Amir denied a boy whom meant a great deal in his life, this boy being
Hassan, his childhood. The day Amir failed to act and prevent the Rape of
Hassan was the day he stole Hassan’s childhood and very well his own. To articulate
on this perception it needs to be described that Amir was to blame for the
rape, because he failed to act when he should have, Hassan would have done the
same for him. Amir was the monster he thought himself to be because he did not
have the courage to stand up for someone he may have very well loved. And this
failure resulted in the loss if Hassan’s innocence and a gap in their
relationship. This can be reflected in the denial of Amir to conceive his own
child, recognizing he has denied someone else of their own childhood. And
furthermore he was brought by fate to take in Hassan’s own orphaned child as a
way toward redemption. Amir was to redeem himself for denying Hassan’s
childhood by raising Hassan’s child. Infertility symbolized Amir’s guilt for
the denial he was responsible for of a Hassan’s childhood, and the subsequent
redemption he was to carry out by raising the child of Hassan.
