An Archetypal Interpretation Of The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is the first novel written by the contemporary Afghan American writer Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003, the novel has gained a great success. Both readers and critics have spoken highly of it. The novel tells a story of the initiation of an Afghan boy, which has provoked people’s speculations over a series of themes such as friendship, kinship,redemption, good and evil and war and peace. As a relatively new work, there is much more room for the study on the novel. Studies at home and abroad mainly focus on some certain topics,including the theme of initiation, the genre of bildungsroman, diaspora literature and cultural identity, and the symbolic images in the novel. The archetypal criticism stresses the inner cause implied by the context, which always arouse people’s resonance. There have been a few scholars studying this novel through archetypal theories, but those studies are not systematic and thorough. The interpretation of the novel from the perspective of archetypal criticism still needs paying more attention. This thesis aims to interpret the archetypal characters, the archetypal narrative structure and the archetypal motifs in The Kite Runner from the perspective of archetypal theories of Carl Jung and Northrop Frye.Those main characters in the novel have their own archetypes respectively. For instance, the archetype of the protagonist Amir is an initiation hero, while that of Hassan is a scapegoat. In addition, there is the old wise man Rahim Kahn and the anima Soraya, who have lead Amir out of the confusion during his initiation. Those archetypes in the certain context will help to interpret the initiation of Amir and the tragedy of Hassan.The narrative structure is a typical U-shaped structure, which is also called biblical narrative structure by Northrop Frye. The U-shaped structure develops in the order of paradise―sin―suffering―redemption―rebirth. Either the structure of the whole novel, or the structure of some contained parts, falls in the U-shaped style. Generally speaking, the course of Amir’s growing up is just in such a U-shaped structure. At the beginning, Amir lived an abundant life in the peaceful Afghanistan, which was as happy as living in the paradise. However,he betrayed and drove away Hassan because of his prejudice and jealousy, which made him become a sinner. Then the war broke out, Amir was forced into exile. Time flied and Amir turned to be an adult, but he still stood the suffering in his mind all these years. Later, a call from Rahim Kahn brought Amir back to “the way to be good again”(Hosseini 104). He returned to Aghanistan, discovering a series of truth and rescuing Hassan’s son, Sohrab. In the end, the kite fled back to the sky, just as the kite flied in Amir’s childhood, symbolizing the complication of Amir’s redemption. Besides, the experience of Amir’s Baba also falls into the U-shaped structure.On the contrary, the short-lived Taliban tyranny in the novel is the embodiment of an inverted U-shaped structure.The theme of the novel comes from a new interpretation of the classical biblical motifs―sin versus redemption and good versus evil. Khaled Hosseini conveys to readers that the pursuit of humanity and all kinds of beautiful human emotions are the common resonance in human beings’ society. As to sin versus redemption, Hosseini holds a tolerant and benevolent attitude toward sins. A sinner can return to the way to be good again if he or she completes his or her redemption. This can be seen from the experience of Amir as well as his father. As to good versus evil, Hosseini advocates that the good will eventually overcome the evil. The comparison between the U-shaped structure and the inverted U-shaped structure implies this belief.The archetypal criticism is an important method to explore the inner spirit of literary works which endows literary works with vitality and enduring appeal. Based on the archetypal theories,this thesis studies the characters, structures and themes of The Kite Runner. Through analyzing those archetypes, readers can get a deep understanding of the novel. Khaled Hossein makes readers understand the story happening in the remote and notorious Afghanistan by applying those typical archetypes such as the hero of initiation, the scapegoat, the wise old man and the U-shaped narrative structure and so on. The western world has regarded the mid-eastern countries represented by Afghanistan as the cradle of terrorism since 911 event in 2001.A number of westerners have demonized the stricken country. Hosseini brings a real Afghanistan which is tormented by the successive wars in front of the world, and makes readers realize that the pursuit of beautiful human emotions such as love and hope is timeless and can be found anywhere, regardless of class or culture.