The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Close Reading Outline 

By Taylyn Strange

Thesis: The Kite Runner showing the effects of the past on Afghanistan and on the characters and the impact it has on the reader and their view of Afghanistan 

Topic 1: Afghanistan 

Topic 2: Amir 

Topic 3: Sohrab 

ylyn Strange

Dr. H

Regional and Ethnic Lit

18 March 2019 

Research Question

 Does the Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini correctly represent the Afghan community and culture in his novel The Kite Runner? 

Annotated Bibliography 

Aubry, Timothy. “Afghanistan Meets the Amazon: Reading The Kite Runnerin America.”     

PMLA,vol. 124, no. 1, 2009, p. 25-43.

The article above begins by describing the truth that is behind this novel when looking at the country of Afghanistan. While American culture usually sees Afghanistan as Taliban terrorists, this novel opens up the humane side of Afghanistan and allows the readers to feel a sympathy and connection with the characters in the book. Also, this article shows that although the novel is full of traumatic events, it shows a light for the inside of Afghanistan that Americans usually do not see. Instead of broadcasting poverty and hunger, it shows that there are different economic levels and that these divides are the true problem in the community. 

Many sources are used to back up the statements in this article. There are three pages full of citations at the end of the article to show exactly where all of the information came from. This article uses critical reviews and fact-based sources about Afghanistan to develop the different opinions and arguments. This source does not provide opposite arguments to explore, but the one-sided arguments that it uses are strong. The source, for the most part, is of great quality. 

Aubry, Timothy. “Reading The Kite Runnerin America.” Reading as Therapy: What 

            Contemporary Fiction Does for Middle-Class Americans, 2011, p. 175-198.

            This article shows different reviews made by Amazon readers and brings them together to show an overarching message about the novel and its widespread appeal. It allows for different opinions from different cultures about the validity and reality of the book. American reviewers side with the concept that people are drawn to this novel due to the emotion that it gives, while Afghan reviewers steer towards the idea that the author developed characters in a way that they are perceived as only Afghan and not, simply, as human. The article continues to reveal the different victims and monsters that are in the story and even dives into different themes as well. The article finalizes by showing that views about the book will be different regarding one’s cultural background, but the power of the novel can come through when looking at the political and human issues that are shown. 

            Persuasion is key in this article, but it is used in from two different views. Both forms, American and Afghan, have valid viewpoints and facts to back them up. The main resource for this article comes from Amazon reviews, and it uses direct quotes to be specific about the delivery. However, the summaries of the novel are vague and could be more specific with quotes and actual instances in the novel. Overall, this article is written well and orderly and gives many new ideas to think about. 

Caillouet, Ruth R. “The Other Side of Terrorism and the Children of Afghanistan.” The English 

Journal, vol. 96, no. 2, 2006, p. 28-33. 

This article captured the picture of 9-11 and how it connects with The Kite Runner,and other Afghan literary works. This article is written by a schoolteacher whose son was shipped to Afghanistan when serving in the Army. The teacher shows the different ways in which she would incorporate these aspects into her classroom. When speaking of the novel, she pinpoints the differences in Afghan and American children’s lives. One specific example that she uses is war on the homeland. She ends by showcasing that difficult topics are actually great to bring up to high school students due to the real-world aspects that these books help with. 

Reading this article was very informative and even very helpful for me since I desire to one day be a schoolteacher. The article is written very well with many sources to back it up. She uses personal reasoning and scholarly reasoning to back up her arguments. When speaking about the novel, she uses specific examples when relating her argument to the book. 

Chan, Stephen. “The Bitterness of the Islamic Hero in Three Recent Western Works of Fiction.” 

Third World Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 5, 2010, p. 829-832.

            To begin, this article emphasizes three different books, but I am only going to discuss what it says about The Kite Runner. This article completely rejects what Hosseini did with the novel and claims that it is completely made for Hollywood. The author also dislikes the way that Hosseini makes the character’s life better in American than it was in Afghanistan which shows a lack of cultural value. Comparing the book to the other three mentioned, the author of the article claims that while it was the most popular of the books, one of the others should have made a bigger impact. 

            This article was a great read and a great examination of the way in which the book was written for the big screens. The problem with this article was the length. It was very short, and there were no examples or sources to back up the information that was given. Also, it was very opinionated which could be problematic for further research. 

Graham, Mark. “A Way to Feel Good Again: The Kite Runner.” Afghanistan in the Cinema, 

            2010, p. 146- 164.

            This article emphasizes the impact of The Kite Runner, not only through the book, but also through the movie that was created based upon the novel. Unlike the other articles, this one correlates with the Afghan’s views on Hosseini’s depiction of Afghanistan. Overall, the reviews are negative, but not due to what is in the book. This article speaks about what Hosseini leaves out of the book such as immigration, religion, and war. The ending of the article, though, depicts that Hosseini actually did a nice job with changing the world’s initial image of Afghanistan. 

            I enjoyed this article the most because it took a different viewpoint. The problem that stemmed from this article was lack of sources and lack of specific detail. There were many points that could be valid, but they are not supported by any background information. Also, the book and movie are only spoken about with bare minimum information so many pieces are confusing when thinking about the different scenes that are being discussed. 

Lee, Thomas. “The Story of Hope.” Consilience,no. 1, 2008, p. 141-156. 

            This article opens with speaking of Afghanistan being in the news for reasons such as the novel The Kite Runner. This article is not like others, though, because it is a picture filled article that has small summaries under each picture. The purpose of this article is to show the realities of Afghanistan and the realities of the families that live in this community. The pictures in this article showcase the real aspects of Afghan world and real people that are in the culture. This article gives ways to compare and contrast the story from these pictures and even offers insights underneath the pictures. 

            While this article is very different, it is a great read and even better source to use for comparing and contrasting. While there are not many words, there is a whole story that is told through the pictures. The main source comes from an American group which seeks out to help those in the Afghan community, so this source can be seen as a valid and great one. The pictures are also taken by the author, so they are first-hand experiences portrayed to the reader. 

Stampel, Tanja. “The Elusiveness of Cultural Identity in Khaled Hosseini’sThe Kite Runner.”  Imagined Identities: Identity Formation in the Age of Globalism, 2014, p. 33-48.

            This article dives straight into the Afghanistan aspect of Hosseini’s novel. It describes how the scenery is illustrated through the writer’s words and accurately shows the beauty and downfalls of the physical landscape in Afghanistan. The writer also describes how the political schemes are nicely interpreted through the author’s characterization. The mixture of American and Afghan community is also a main topic in this article. Also, the oppression of women in the novel is mentioned during a section of this article. The author concludes with the final idea that Hosseini’s overall message is that Afghanistan would be a better country if the ethnic divide was diminished. 

            The article is a great resource and encompasses many different ideas and themes that the book promotes. The author uses many different outside sources to provide factual information rather than just stating opinions. Also, the article is full of quotes from the book so that portions of the book are not generally spoken about but rather pinpointed and analyzed. The arguments in this article are set up with strong background information so that they can be proven. 

Historical Overview 

            In The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the culture and community of Afghanistan is viewed through the eyes of a child that is witnessing the world before and during the war. Afghanistan is envisioned in this novel as a place that is divided by its ethnic and group differences. Another division that is shown in this novel is economic which contrasts from the typical world view of poverty stricken Afghanistan. The novel reveals a large timeline of events in the Afghan world, and they correlate with the occurrences of the actual times in the country’s history. Although it is in story form, the plot is delivered in a way that circles different problems in the country and shows the impact of the war on the country before and after. 

            Through my annotated bibliography, I found many articles that will answer my question of whether or not the novel is a proper depiction of Afghanistan during the time that it is written about. My articles show differing viewpoints, and these views come from Americans and Afghans alike. The articles all emphasize that Hosseini gives Afghanistan an actual human feel rather than throwing it off as only a third-world country like many people do. However, some of my articles show the downfalls of Hosseini’s work by highlighting that there are many pieces missing that need to be added in order to grasp the realities of Afghanistan during the time period. Since my articles all derive from different authors and backgrounds with many different sources, I am able to use them all to support every side of the argument. These articles give me historical evidence and personal stories to develop my own argument.