Our story is set in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1975, before the russian invasion. The main character Amir, is looking back at his childhood and how it has had a profound effect on his life. Amir’s father, Baba, is a cold hard man who is disappointed in his son. He is a successful businessman. They are of the high – caste pashtun, and the sunni muslims. Amir’s best friend is hassan, who is son of the servant Ali. They are low – caste hazara, and are shia muslims. Amir is the leader, and hassan is the follower Hassan is uneducated, whereas Amir loves poetry, reading writing – which disappoints his father who wants him to like football. Rahim Khan is Baba’s friend who is kind and shows an interest in Amir and his writing. Farsi is the language of afghanistan, and their are numerous farsi and muslim words used in the novel. For example :

Inshallah = God Willing.

Kochi = Nomads.

Buz Kashi = Annual Tournament Featuring Horsemen.

Namaz = Daily Prayers.

The first main turning point in the novel is when Amir witnessed Hassan’s rape and makes the decision to do nothing. He just wanted to get to the kite to please Baba. Hosseini has built up to this event by foreshadowing that something happens that will change their lives forever, in a negative way. Even in the first paragraph of the novel, Hosseini is hinting at what is to come

“That was the winter hassan stopped smiling”

”it shouldn’t have get this way. Baba and I were finally friends …. except that now I had left it, I felt as empty as an unkempt pool I was dangling my legs into. “ ( pg 72 )

Amir always wanted babas attention, but he did a really bad thing to get it. Feels guilty and what he has done is haunting him to the point that he is physically sick. He now feels that he doesn’t deserve babas attention.

analyse how language features were used to capture the reader’s imagination.

amirs narrative point of view.

foreshadowing.

first language words, festivals and cultures references.

symbolism – kites, lamb to the slaughter, the cleft palate.

In this novel the kite runner, author khaled hosseini uses numeous effective language feature such as narrative point of view, foreshadowing, and symbolism to capture the readers imagination. hosse

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