Feedback on Kite Runner Essays

Thank you to the students who have sent me essays on The Kite Runner. I have enjoyed reading them and I thought I would share some of the ideas from the essays. It has been wonderful to note how many of you have really engaged with the text and made insightful comments.

I have paraphrased some of your ideas below:

• A common thread in the essays is Baba’s role as a cause of Amir’s weakness of character. As he is such a dominant person he shapes people around him. If Baba truly lived by his definition of moral courage he would have been more open and this would have given Amir the strength to behave differently. Many of you saw Baba’s pride and his lack of honesty as a cause of Amir’s weaknesses. However, several of you have noted that Baba is a product of his environment and that Hosseini is suggesting that it is time for Afghanistan to move away from its past ways.
• The ending was discussed in some essays. Is it a satisfying one? We know that Hassan is dead, he has lost close friends, his family is gone and he is childless. Is this a happy ending? However, if we look at things from another perspective we see that he has saved Sohrab and brought him to America and finally redeemed himself. Is it more true to life to have such an ambiguous ending? What we do know is that the final scene in the book is a reversal of Amir and Hassan’s kite flying days. Amir is now the kite runner for Sohrab. He is a good man. He has atoned. He has redemption.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

FYI, The Kite Runner was written by Khaled Hosseini not Kalid Hosinni or Karl Houdini.

Brothers in The Kite Runner

Baba would buy us each three identical kites and spools of glass string. If I changed my mind and asked for a bigger and fancier kite, Baba would buy it for me – but then he’d buy it for Hassan too. Sometimes I wished he wouldn’t do that. Wished he’d let me be the favourite.

Amir and Hassan grew up together, inseparable. However, Amir was sometimes cruel to Hassan, eventually betraying him when he looked on as Hassan was raped. Hassan had proven himself over and over again to Amir, defending him against bullies, encouraging him when he felt down and also fitting the role of servant. Hassan put up with Amir’s occasional cruel taunts and superior attitude. When he watched Hassan’s rape, Amir could only compare Hassan’s look to that of a sacrificial lamb.

Even though Amir was forgiven by Hassan he was never able to redeem himself with his brother and friend. He did that through his heroic rescue of Hassan’s son, Sohrab.

Check out this post

If you are studying The Kite Runner check out this post on my scholarship@kkc blog.

Level Two Essay on The Kite Runner

I have added an extract from Toby’s essay on The KIte Runner. To read the whole essay go to the Year 12 page. What do you think of the essay?

Analyse how one character’s attempts to solve a problem were important to the text as a whole.

“I ran.” The decision made by the protagonist Amir, in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, creates a conflict between Amir and his best friend Hassan, a Hazara. But the true conflict of the novel lies within Amir himself: the conflict between Amir, and his conscience. Amir’s extreme guilt carries through into his new life, forcing him to confront the demons of his past. It is paramount that Amir atones for his past sins, as the reader also feels trapped by Amir’s guilt. The reader yearns for Amir to make things right, because it is evident that he is still haunted by his decision.

What to do at Level Two

Naturally, the primary purpose of an essay on a literary text is to provide an interpretation of that text. In so doing, an essay needs to move beyond a description of characters and events to an analysis of the different elements of the text.

This analysis should bear in mind that the world that is presented in the text may well be fundamentally different from the world in which you live. Therefore, in analysing the characters and events of a text, you will need to take an “imaginative leap” into the moral and social framework of that text, imagining how such characters and events would be judged from within that framework.

The following essay questions are designed to highlight these two different aspects of interpreting texts: narrative vs. analysis and making judgements. All questions would be suitable for The Kite Runner or To Kill a Mockingbird.

1. Analyse how ONE main character or individual changed to become more (OR less) admirable.
2. Analyse how features of ONE important section made it particularly effective.
3. Analyse how the writer presented a positive OR negative view of humanity and / or society.
4. Analyse how ONE OR MORE symbols were used to present an important idea or ideas.
5. Analyse how a text strengthened or changed your opinion of a particular topic or issue.
6. Analyse how the resolution of a main conflict was important to the text as a whole.
7. Analyse techniques used to show changes in a main character or individual in a text you have studied AND why these changes were important to the text as a whole.

Another Essay

Here is another essay. Be inspired and write one yourself!

Analyse how the resolution of a main conflict was important to the resolution to the text as a whole.

“It’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, and how you can bury it. Because the past claws it’s way out”.

In the novel ‘The Kite Runner’ by Khaled Hosseni we follow the story of Amir, and his quest to make right a ‘past of unatoned sins’, which he simply could not bury. As the story of Amir’s childhood unfolds, we realise that he lives under the shadow of his guilt. Making right what he did so many years ago is paramount if Amir is to live a free life, the resolution of his internal conflict-his desperate need to atone, is essential to the novel.

Read the rest on the Year 12 page.

New Kite Runner Essay

I have added an essay on The Kite Runner to the Year 12 page.

‘Analyse how the resolution of a main conflict was important to the text as a whole’.

In the novel ‘The Kite Runner’ by Khaled Hosseini, the resolution of Hassan’s rape and the conflict it created became an essential quest for Amir. Amir needed to resolve this conflict by atoning for his mistakes so that he could continue his life without his ever-present guilty conscience.

Read the rest on the Year 12 page.

The Kite Runner Sliderocket

I have created a slideshow to help you revise some of the key ideas in The Kite Runner.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Afghan women jailed

In our discussions about Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner we talked about life in Afghanistan for women. This recent article in The Independent makes for sobering reading.