Form, Structure and Language in chapter 1 of The Kite Runner
- 3. FORM Bildungsroman Novel AKA „coming of age‟ novel.
- 5. Bildungsroman tell limited, uneventful stories in which weak but flexible heroes reach their maturity.
- 6. EVIDENCE Willow Tree-symbolises new beginnings and redemption. First Person Intradiegetic narrator Willow Tree-symbolises new good Rahim Khan: There is a way to be beginnings and redemption. again. Willow Tree-symbolises way out. Metaphor: The past claws it’s new beginnings and Willow Tree-symbolises new beginnings and redemption. redemption. Everyday meaningful events: Then I saw a pair of kites Retrospective: I became what I am today at the age of 12.
- 7. STRUCTURE: USE OF SYMBOLS Harelip“Hassan Kites- “I looked the up at those twin harelipped kites” Kite Language: Runner”. “For you a Does Amir thousand times still see over” Hassan as inferior? Redemption/ Death: Willow Tree. Weather. Foreshadowing and analepsis
- 8. LANGUAGE 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Anthropomorphism: Because the past claws it‟s way out. Metaphor: I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the past 26 years. Use of simple sentences: “Because the past claws it‟s way out… One day last summer my friend Rahim Khan called from Pakistan…It was my past of unatoned sins. Minor Sentences: “Ali. Kabul.” Simile: “Like a pair of eyes looking down on San Francisco the place I now called home.” Repetition of “thought”. Connotations of frigid. Semantic Field of the park-associations with the park (setting).
- 9. Loosely Circular Retrospective Episodic? Narrative Structure Use of setting Hints at climax and catharsis Begins with a crisis
- 10. • Unreliable? • Pathetic Fallacy. • Adult • There is a way to be good again First Person Who is Amir addressing • • • • Rahim Khan Bildung sroman Novel Hasan His Conscience Soraya His father • I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley…
- 11. IS AMIR MANIPULATING THE READER? It is this honesty from Amir right from the start that allows real emotional connection with the reader which keeps them interested-narrative voice/characterisation. When he talks about remembering „the precise moment‟ the foreshadowing makes the reader want to continue to find out the event that is the catalyst for the novelnarrative voice.
- 12. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS Settings: The Kite Runner is about Afghanistan but is opens in San Francisco. Shifts in Time-links to chapter 2. Amir begins narrating his childhood. Is Chapter 1 the exposition? Characterisation of Rahim Khan: He is the catalyst to make Amir proactive. Suggests he is wise. Characterisation of Amir: Rich, educated and reflective. Hasan-precious and vulnerable. Amir as villain/anti-hero