Conclusions Paragraph

Khaled Hosseini’s uses imagery and diction to communicate how war can drastically change the lives of Afghans living in Afghanistan. In The Kite Runner, Amir is not only the main character, but he is also a character that experiences both what life was like before and after the Taliban regime. Amir is lucky in that he didn’t have to spend his childhood under the Taliban and is able to escape with Baba at the very beginning of the conflict; however, over twenty years later when Amir returns to Kabul to save Hassan’s son Sohrab, Hosseini uses imagery to convey the effects of war on Kabul. “When Kabul finally did unroll before us, I was certain, absolutely certain, that he had taken a wrong turn somewhere…Rubble and beggars. Everywhere I looked, that was what I saw” (244-245). The imagery here not only conveys Amir’s reaction, but also demonstrates how severely Kabul has change. A lot can happen in twenty years, but for one to no longer recognize their hometown really demonstrates how much war has change Afghanistan and the lives of the people. In addition, Hosseini not only uses diction to enhance his imagery, but also uses it to communicate the poverty and hardships of Afghans as a result of war. The war completely destroy Afghanistan and turn a once peaceful nation into a place full of “rubble and beggars,” and to make matters worse, the beggars are little children and their mothers. “They squatted at every street corner, dressed in shredded burlap rags, mud-caked hands held out for a coin. And the beggars were mostly children now, thin and grim-faced, some no older than five or six. They sat in the laps of their burlap-clad mothers alongside gutters at busy street corners and chanted “Bakhshesh, bakhshesh!’” (245). Words such as “shredded”, “mud-caked”, “thin and grim” all depict the dire situation of Afghans. Physically their burlaps are shredded, but also metaphorically, the nation and the lives of these people are all shredded. Life in Kabul is no longer what it used to be. Words such as “mud-caked, thin and grim” describe the children; but also indirectly describe Kabul. One of the first things Amir notices when he reaches Kabul is rubble. Thus, to use words such as “mud-caked” and “thin and grim” add to rubble in portraying how broken and torn down Afghanistan has become as a result of war. Hence, Hosseini uses imagery and diction to communicate the effects war has on a nation and its people.

The Kite Runner, Passage Fifteen (Chapter 20 – pages 244-245)

In the old days, the drive from Jalalabad to Kabul took two hours, maybe a little more. It took Farid and me over four hours to reach Kabul. And when we did... Farid warned me just after we passed the Mahipar dam.

“Kabul is not the way you remember it,” he said.

“So I hear.”

Farid gave me a look that said hearing is not the same as seeing. And he was right. Because when Kabul finally did unroll before us, I was certain, absolutely certain, that he had taken a wrong turn somewhere. Farid must have seen my stupefied expression; shuttling people back and forth to Kabul, he would have become familiar with that expression on the faces of those who hadn’t seen Kabul for a long time.

He patted me on the shoulder. “Welcome back,” he said morosely.

Rubble and beggars. Everywhere I looked, that was what I saw. I remembered beggars in the old days too—Baba always carried an extra handful of Afghani bills in his pocket just for them; I’d never seen him deny a peddler. Now, though, they squatted at every street corner, dressed in shredded burlap rags, mud-caked hands held out for a coin. And the beggars were mostly children now, thin and grim-faced, some no older than five or six. They sat in the laps of their burqa-clad mothers alongside gutters at busy street corners and chanted “Bakhshesh, bakhshesh!” And something else, something I hadn’t noticed right away: Hardly any of them sat with an adult male—the wars had made fathers a rare commodity in Afghanistan.

The Kite Runner