Theme of Redemption in Khaled Husseini’s The Kite Runner

Abstract

Khaled Hosseini’s Novel, The Kite Runner is considered one of the major novels of the late 20^thcentury.The narrator considered a ‘living classic’ creates a story of redemption which transcends both culture and time. The novel is set in Afghanistan, a country in the process of being destroyed with the fall of  monarchy and the intervention of Soviet military to the exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States and also the rise of the Taliban. The Kite Runner thus transports readers to Afghanistan at a tense and crucial moment of change and destruction. Besides this, it is a haunting tale of friendship which spans cultures and continents and follows a man’s journey to confront his past and find redemption. The protagonist Amir, the son of a rich Kabul merchant and also a member of the ruling caste of Pashtuns moves to California and becomes a successful novelist but returns back after 26 years to redeem his sins by saving his friend Hassan’s son’s life. Hosseini also uses the dynamics of father-son relationships to express theme of redemption using a web of tragedy to bring the assurance that there is always "a way to be good again".