The Kite Runner Group

Question:

dance319
dance319
Student
High School - 12th Grade

Help with identifying parallelism in the beginning and end of "The Kite Runner." 

How do both the begining (1st chapter) and end (scene with Shorab and the kite) parallel? 

Does this paralleling have meaning for the story as a whole and its themes?

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Posted by dance319 on Saturday November 8, 2008 at 1:43 PM and tagged with chapter 1, ending, parallels, the kite runner, themes.

Answers:

  1. spencke
    spencke Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    These two parts of the novel are parallel in many ways.  The most obvious is the use of the line "for you, a thousand times over."  We also see the chance for Amir to be good again in the introduction and his carrying out of that in the last chapter.

    Both excerpts take us back to the tournament and the rape of Hassan.  Seeing Sorhab in a volatile state and Amir becoming nervous because of his memories simply enhance the uneasy feeling that we get when reading this book.

    Basically, Housseini is opening and closing a circle: ending where he started.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/kite-runner/plot-summary

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    Posted by spencke on Thursday November 13, 2008 at 5:27 PM