Kite Runner Key Quotes Flashcards
chapter 22
“sohrab…”
the snapping…”
“sohrab screamed”
“the snapping sound yet again”
- no clear structure, amir tell it as it happens
- very fragmented shows inability to remember
chapter 1, 14, 25
“I drove to the golden…”
“I drove to the golden gate park”
cyclical structure of amirs story
“the book said that my people had …”
“the book said that my people had killed the hazara’s… the book said a lot of things”
(anaphora/ child narrator_
“in those dreams I can…”
“in those dreams i can never tell baba from the bear”
extended metaphor/ motif
chapter 15
“sifting through the rubble of that…”
“sifting through the rubble of that orphanage. There were body parts of children”
viceral imagery
chapter 25
“a leaf in the woods, shaking in the…”
“a leaf in the woods, shaking in the wake of a startled birds flight”
metaphor - things not solved but amir is becoming more like Hassan
amir throws pomegranates at Hassan
“Hassan was speared in red like..”
“Hassan was speared in red like he had been shot by a firing squad”
(foreshadowing hastens death)
“His head was shaved, his …”
“His head was shaved, his eyes darkened with mascara”
Sohrab as sacrificial lamb
chapter 15
“then, a thing made of skin and bones…”
“then, a thing made of skin and bones pretending to be rahim khan opened the door”
(emotive/ parallels between rahim and baba)
chapter 1 - implies events to come
“because the past…”
“because the past claws its way out”
personification
“how he grinned, how he grinned,…”
“how he grinned, how he grinned, as hr pummelled that poor kid unconscious”
(repetition, shock, foreshadow sociopath)
chapter 19
“on the carcass of an…”
“on the carcass of an old burned out soviet tank”
metaphor/ imagery
chapter 17
“”- and ordered him to kneel -” “no …”
“”- and ordered him to kneel -” “no god no” “- and shot him in the back of the head”
(very fragmented structure with unattributed speech)
chapter 22
“ethnic…”
“ethnic cleansing”
euphemism for genocide
chapter 25
“if someone were to ask me today whether the story of Hassan, Sohrab…”
“if someone were to ask me today whether the story of Hassan, Sohrab, and me ends with happiness, i wouldn’t know what to say”
(ambiguous ending - things aren’t resolved but amir gained reception)
chapter 17
“Hassan slumps… his life of unrequited loyalty drifting…”
“Hassan slumps… his life of unrequited loyalty drifting from him like the windblown kites he used to chase”
simile/ poetic description of Hassan
chapter 16 - rahim’s narrative (different style to amir’s)
“i would take a walk… i wouldn’t recognise…”
“i would take a walk… i wouldn’t recognise anyone there… i would get up in the morning”
different, more formal/ factual tone to amir
“how is that…”
“how is that whore these days?”
personification of America by Assef
chapter 22
“But i felt healed. Healed…”
“But i felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed”
repetition - Assef and amir both laughed through pain
chapter 17
“like wolves looking…”
“like wolves looking at a flock of sheep”
simile/ Hassan as sacrificial lamb
“sanubar’s…”
“sanubar’s suggestive stride”
(alliteration
“piss on the beards of all …”
“piss on the beards of all those self righteous monkeys”
repeated - against education + religion
chapter 19
“they hadn’t been staring at the watch…”
“they hadn’t been staring at the watch at all. They’d been staring at my food”
(motif of watch as economic power)
chapter 20
“i saw children playing in the…”
“i saw children playing in the ruins of a windowless building”
(juxtaposition, effect of war on kids)
“when Russian tanks would roll…”
“when Russian tanks would roll into the very same street where Hassan and i played”
(binary opposite/ juxtaposition)
chapter 13
“blood is a powerful…”
“blood is a powerful thing, bachem, never forget that“
repeated motif/ again language
chapter 13
“Every woman needed a husband. Even…”
“Every woman needed a husband. Even if he did silence the song in her”
(metaphor)
“i talked Hassan into firing walnuts with his slingshot…”
“i talked Hassan into firing walnuts with his slingshot at the neighbours one eyed german shepherd”
foreshadowing Assef’s fate
chapter 14
“There is a way to be…”
“There is a way to be good again”
repeated
chapter 7
“i opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life…”
“i opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned out differently if i had. But i didn’t. I just watched. Paralyzed”
(fragmented sentence with repetition)
chapter 16
“A toothless woman with stringy graying…”
“A toothless woman with stringy graying hair and sores on her arms. She looked like she had not eaten for days… slashes cut this way and that”
“again, the…”
“again, the car sickness”
motif of sickness as guilt
chapter 22
“Stood in a roomful of targets, let the bullets fly, free…”
“Stood in a roomful of targets, let the bullets fly, free of guilt and remorse, knowing you are virtuous good ands decent”
“the sky is seamless and blue, the…”
“blameless…”
“the sky is seamless and blue, the snow is so white my eyes burn”
“blameless blue”
(change/ events to comer)
“a few weeks later, the Taliban banned…”
“a few weeks later, the taliban banned kite fighting. And two year later, in 1998, they, they massacred the Hazaras”
(contrast/ pathos)
“sometimes i think the only thing he loved as…”
“sometimes i think the only thing he loved as much as his late wife was Afghanistan, his late country”
(personification)
