A Rhetorical Narrative Analysis Of The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner mirrors the pursuit of human nature and redemption of soul through a dynamic narrative among the author,characters and readers.The application of rhetorical narrative theory enables Hosseini's construction of narrative dynamics and judgments of both readers and characters to become the centers of the text and reading.Based on rhetorical narrative theory,this thesis concentrates on narrative progression and narrative judgments to explore the ultimate reasons for protagonist's transformation and to quest judgments of readers and characters on emotive,ethical and aesthetic levels and interrelationship among them.To begin with,the first chapter tries to give a brief introduction about Khaled Hosseini and his works,as well as literature review concerning the novel aboard and domestically.The last two sections focus on the definitions and classifications of narrative progression and narrative judgments in rhetorical theory of narrative.The second chapter analyzes the main characters Amir and Hassan in detail on the basis of James Phelan's interconnected classification of character: the mimetic,the thematic,and the synthetic components.Meanwhile,the analysis from three-dimension characters contributes to readers' understanding of the characters' conflicts.The third chapter is centered on narrative progression in the novel.By analyzing the instabilities of characters in three aspects and tensions between the author and readers,and with cultural and social background to the circumstance,this chapter attempts to discover the motivations behind the betrayals of the protagonist and how Hosseini pushes forward the development of narrative progression on the textual level.Meanwhile,from the perspective of tensions,this chapter intends to probe the discrepancies between the author and readers in knowledge and beliefs,which greatly arouse readers' interests and their participation.The forth chapter puts its attention on narrative judgments made in form,ethics and aesthetics respectively.Based on the process of Amir's growth,this chapter is divided into interpretive judgments,ethical judgments and aesthetic judgments to explore readers' multileveled responses.With the help of narrative judgments,this thesis aims to illustrate the truth of the events and to reconstruct and evaluate theethics and aesthetics containing in the narrative and to explore Hosseini's narrative techniques,artistic qualities and reflective thoughts in the text as well as multileveled responses of readers.By approaching both narrative progression and narrative judgments as the primary rhetorical components,this paper strives to explore how progression and readers' dynamic gaining proceed in the novel,delving the importance of readers' interpretive experience and the interaction among the author,characters and readers to get the shape and the effect of rhetorical purpose.