The Kite Runner

Everywhere Amir looks—in the kites that hang in the sky, the eyes that watch him, the clothes of loved ones—the colors red, yellow, and green occur and reoccur in The Kite Runner. These colors in the narrative are tied directly to Amir’s various stages of spiritual turmoil and renewal. Although their use and connotations fluctuate, they often appear together at moments of high drama, danger, or reflection. Hassan, a humble character who never lies and remains courageous in the face of danger, is often dressed in a green chapan. In Islam, green is the color of the prophets, as well as physical and spiritual salvation. Green is the color worn by the nurse Aisha, who tends to Amir’s chest tube—keeping his lung from collapsing and reminding Amir that her name is synonymous with the prophet Muhammad. It is worth noting that the only kite Amir ever runs himself is green, literally chasing salvation. 

Yellow and red are linked strongly in the narrative. Together red and yellow make up the pattern on the kite Amir and Hassan fly for the novel’s central kite tournament in Kabul: “He lifted our kite, red with yellow borders” (55). In Islam, pale yellow is associated with wisdom, a color fitting for Amir’s renewal and redemption. Its appearance in the text serves as a visual signal that Amir’s outlook is changing from the fiery unchecked passion of his youth. In a scene rich with red symbolism, Amir lures Hassan to the pomegranate tree at the top of the hill north of Baba’s home, where he attempts to goad Hassan into a fight. Hassan breaks the pomegranate on his own forehead instead. Red links Amir on several occasions with Assef and the Taliban, who drive red trucks onto the pitch at Ghazi Stadium. In their final meeting, Assef is dressed in full white except for sinister specks of blood. By the time Amir has reached the novel’s finale, he chooses a kite that is entirely yellow: “I excused myself and walked over to the kite stand, my shoes squishing on the wet grass. I pointed to a yellow seh-parcha” (320).

The absence of Amir’s mother directly correlates to his imaginative constructions, and where Baba’s presence is characterized by his morphing with a vicious bear, Sofia’s love of literature comes to symbolize Amir’s higher powers and agency in the text. When Amir writes, he is using his talent to transcend his own selfishness in service to others, mimicking the narrative’s most morally stalwart characters, the servants Ali and Hassan. Writing becomes Amir’s portal to freedom, gaining the attention and consideration of Rahim Khan, the man who will give him the chance to save Sohrab. Amir uses the advance on his second novel to build a home for his own family and finally earns Baba’s acknowledgement on his deathbed, when he finds Soraya and Baba attempting to hide the journal Rahim Khan had given him: “‘I can’t believe you can write like this,’ Soraya said. Baba dragged his head off the pillow. ‘I put her up to it. I hope you don’t mind.’ I gave the notebook back to Soraya and left the room. Baba hated it when I cried’” (150-51).

The Kite Runner ’s references to various other works of literature, poetry, and anecdotes are more than just set dressing. They often offer direct commentary on characters or plot developments, or they nod subtly to deep themes present in the work. When Hassan invites Amir to accompany him to the bakery, Amir is reading a Farsi translation of Ivanhoe, a medieval romance by Sir Walter Scott that concerns itself with bigotry that plagues its cast of characters. When Soraya is reading author Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, a Romantic-era novel concerned with family separation, class, and racial purity, it relates directly to Soraya’s turbulence with her father, whom Amir repeatedly runs into conflict with due to his outdated social customs and rigid nature. The poetry of Hafez, the tragedy of Rostam and Sohrab, and the work of Homer are used to reflect the novel’s own cast of tragic characters.

Framed with similar care and importance as kites, eyes are among the first images featured in The Kite Runner, usually an identifying marker or special prescience. When we meet Hassan in the narrative’s second chapter, Amir emphasizes the special quality of Hassan’s eyes: “[...] eyes that looked, depending on the light, gold, green, even sapphire” (3). Through this special emphasis on Hassan’s eyes, we understand that this character’s vision is elevated above the vantage of others in the text. By association, other eyes can be examined beneath this lens. Notably, Raymond Andrews, whose child died by suicide, regards Amir with eyes reminiscent of Athena’s gray eyes in Homer’s epic the Odyssey, an archetype for wisdom in literary tradition. Andrews is curt but prophetically warns Amir of the dangers of making promises to children. Amir’s own broken promise to Sohrab nearly results in the same tragedy as Andrews’s daughter. Reflecting on Sohrab’s near-death by suicide, Amir notes, “[...] his eyes, still half open but lightless. That more than anything. I want to forget the eyes” (303).

Eye damage and loss of sight are distinct motifs that often allude to spiritual turmoil or clarity following a sudden shift in vision. When Baba takes Amir and Hassan to Kabul’s resident kite maker, Saifo, he is said to be “nearly blind,” keeping his most coveted kites in a cellar-style storeroom beneath the ground, imbuing them with mystical importance. This mystical quality echoes in a fortune teller who sees Hassan’s hardship: “His sightless eyes are like molten silver embedded in deep, twin craters” (65). When he offers to read Amir’s fortune, Amir pulls away—apparently frightened by what the blind mystic can see of his destiny, a running theme in Amir’s character progression.