1. Theme
"There is a way to be good again."
"For you a thousand times over! he said. then he smiled his Hassan smile and disappeared around the corner." (pg71)
"Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft." (pg19)
The one of important theme in this book is Amir's sin and redemption. During the whole story, Amir always struggled with his and his baba's guiltiness and tried to redeem it by saving Sohrab. In the story, Hassan said "For you a thousand times over!" when he was chasing the kite for Amir. This quote shows Hassan's loyalty towards Amir. It also shows Amir and Hassan's friendship. Amir has had a guilty that he betrays Hassan who has supported and encouraged Amir all the times. Also, there is another theme in this story which is the relationship between Amir and Baba. Baba was the one who affected Amir's childhood and his life. Baba also always wanted his son to be perfect; he felt embrassed when he thought Amir did not do good and honourable things in front of other people. This baba's expectation made Amir to feel more guilty about what he did to Hassan.
2. Symbols
"Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba." (pg82)
"I watched Hassan get raped, I said to no one. A part of me was hoping someone would wake up and hear, so I wouldn't have to live with this lie anymore." (pg.91)
"There was a pomegranate tree near the entrance to the cemetery. One summer day, I used one of Ali's kitchen knives to carve our names on it: 'Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul.'" (pg30)
In this book, the kite runner, there are three important symbols which are the lamb, kite, and the pomegranate tree. In Islam, the lamb represents sacrifice; people killed the lamb for purifing their sins from the bible. In this book, Hassan was the one who sacrifices his everying for Amir. The lamb represents Hassan's sacrifice and loyalty. Moreover, the kite represents Amir's guilt and happiness about his childhood. When Amir was young, kite was the only one thing that helps Amir to be honoured by Baba. In the other hand, it was also the one that causes Hassan to get raped. So ironically the kite represents Amir's both guiltiness and happiness. Finally, the pomegranate tree represents the friendship between Amir and Hassan. In the book, Amir carves his and Hassan's name on the pomegranate tree. This is the one of Amir's good memory of childhood with Hassan. Therefore, the three significant synbols from this book are the lamb, kite, and the pomegranate tree.
3. Irony
"I didn't want any of it - it was all blood money; Baba would have never thrown me a party like that if I hadn't won the tournament." (pg107)
"I don't know at what point I started laughing, but I did. It hurt to laugh, hurt my jaws, my ribs, my throat. But I was laughing and laughing." (pg302)
"I looked down at Sohrab. One corner of his mouth had curled up just so. A smile. Lopsided. Hardly there. But there." (pg391)
There are three different types of ironies in this book, the kite runner. First of all, there is an important irony between Amir and Baba. Although Amir desires to get honoured by Baba, he thinks it is a "blood money" after he won the kite tournament. Amir feels affriad if Baba discovers his sin and starts to hate him. After the kite tournament, Amir was happy to be with Baba, however, he was so tense about his guiltiness and about Hassan. Moreover, his guiltiness makes another irony, which was in the relationships between Amir and Sohrab. After the kite tournament and Hassan's rape, the book never mentioned about that Amir flies his kite again. Amir does not fly his kite because of the guiltiness towards Hassan. However, Amir sloves his relationships with Sohrab by flying the kite. This is the irony that he used the kite to get closed with Sohrab. The kite was the one that caused to get trouble in Amir and Hassan's relationships. However, it also helps Amir to be more friendly to Sohrab. Finally, the last irony was when Amir and Assef faught each other. When Amir was beating by Assef, he was laughing even it hurted him painfully. Therefore, there were several ironies which helps to enrich the theme of the story.
