Themes

1.Love & Tension Between Father and Son

Quot : “Your father, like you, was a tortured soul…we had both sinned a betrayed” (Hosseini, 2003, p. 317). 

2.Search for Redemption

Quot: “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini, 2003, p. 239).

3.Persistence of the Past

Quot :“I dream that someday you will return to Kabul to revisit the land of our childhood. If you do, you will find an old faithful friend waiting for you” (Hosseini, 2003, p. 230). 

While Amir’s father, Baba, had betrayed his son’s trust in deceiving him from his half-brother, Amir also sinned by failing to save Hassan from Assef. In addition, both father and son had betrayed Hassan. Thus, while both father and son escaped from Afghanistan, they carried their sins with them throughout the rest of their lives. Hosseini uses the motif of father-son relationships to show the continuation of sin between Amir and Baba. Thus, this motif allows for Hosseini to demonstrate how both Amir and Baba attempt to achieve redemption. Baba attains he own penance by taking care of Ali and Hassan, while Amir tries to save Hassan’s son Sohrab. A constant theme recurring throughout the novel is the concept of redemption. Hosseini is trying to show both the sins that Baba and Amir had committed, and the consequences of their actions. For Baba, it was a lifelong debt to Ali and Hassan whom he took care of like family, hidden behind his secret guilt. For Amir, it was a chance to forgive himself for his deceitful trick on Hassan while attempting to reconnect with his newly found nephew.

Symbol

1.Lamb

Quot : “I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.” (Hosseini, 2003, p. 82). 

2.Kite Running

Quot: “A grown man running with a swarm of screaming children. I ran with the wind blowing in my face, and a smile as wide as the Valle of Panjsher on my lips“ (Hosseini 391). 

1.Cleft Lip

Quot: “Sanauar had taken one glace at the baby in Ali’s arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked a bitter laughter”