The Kite Runner: A poignant reminder of Afghanistan’s tragic history
Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner is a tale of loss, redemption and hope amidst a time of despair. Throughout the tale he [the author] manages to aptly distil a powerful idea to the reader:
Our childhood is an echo chamber of trauma that haunts us for the rest of our adult lives.
The story begins in Afghanistan during 1975, shortly before the evolution of his beautiful homeland crumbled under the weight of warfare and violence.
At times, the story gives the reader a rare insight: an understanding about what a war-torn country looks like from the inside. We’re given a glimpse of the damage to people's diminishing livelihoods, the welfare of the land turned barren, and the growing animosity and tension as the conflict escalates between warring factions.
It almost feels surreal to see a nation stripped of their former life.
Similar themes are mirrored in the compelling narrative: a harrowing story following the intertwined lives of two twelve-year old boys (Amir and Hassan), who grow up under different circumstances due to their ancestral heritage.
The reader peers through the eyes of Amir as he reflects on a significant period in his childhood in Afghanistan. The narrative leaps through the decades up to the present day in California when he is a middle-aged man stripped of his former life, seeking out redemption for a past transgression.
As readers, we’re thrust into sentiments of nostalgia. While the story progresses, we become enraptured by the joyful moments, yet equally tormented by the insidious callbacks to regrets and sorrow.
As adults, we yearn to be swept up in the arms of nostalgia. We think it will provide us with blissful experiences to revisit. But we often forget the painful memories that linger behind in the past. The reader empathises with this as we see Amir crippled by his own past actions and the unbearable guilt weighs on him during adulthood.
The book inspires the reader to recall those familiar moments of childhood: the paths you once walked, the food you grew up eating, to the family gatherings and occasions where you’re surrounded by strangers labelled as “extended relatives” by your parents.
It prompted me to think of my own experiences whenever I return home. Everything remains unchanged for the most part - the sights of my hometown are the same, yet whenever I walk through those familiar roads, trails and lanes I can’t help but feel that something is different.
It is a similar feeling that rings true as Amir later returns to a ghost city he once called home. The description of the changing nature of Afghanistan is highlighted in his former neighbourhood - now a husk of a place - bringing about the darker reality of nostalgia. Everything feels different, much older, beyond repair.
I felt the same echo resonating within. Inside, the “me” from my childhood has sought out the bracing comfort of home. Yet he walks around in the skin of someone else.
The lost sense of belonging can be disorienting. The identity crisis results as a conflict between the warring parts of ourselves. As Amir forgets how to co-exist amidst a turbulent past and an unsettling future, the reader also gets swept up in their own story of identity and sense of belonging.
We often forget that although a place we call “home” carries other family legacies (who have come and gone in the annals of time), it also carries the weight of its own history. Yet the place remains a symbol of our childhood. It forever becomes attached to our identity. The environment moulds us into who we are today. That is how the story makes you feel. My mind became immersed in cultural practices and traditions that I’ve not thought about in years.
And at the same time, the story haunts us with guilt. My heart ached as I witnessed Amir and his father assimilate into another country as they flee from the terrors of the Afghan war. I also felt the confusion ensnare me as the racial discrimination between pasthuns and hazaras carved a schism between Amir and Hassan. It echoes the fragility and tragedy of the human condition.
Overall, The Kite Runner is an intricately-layered tragedy weaved through Afghanistan’s tumultuous history. Hosseini evokes the powerful sentiment of nostalgia to great effect, his compelling storytelling conveying the well-known proverb “Home is where the heart is.”
That is why I think this novel is a worthwhile read.
My Rating:
4.5/5 Bookmarks
Day 6 - This piece was posted as part of the 31 Days of Content Challenge that I undertook in March 2022.