The Kite Runner - Structure, Form and Language
Structure
The story is told from a chronological end point. Through this, the narrator is allowed to foreshadow future events. This narrative structure also allows Amir to undercut current events by revealing their ending, for example, at the end of chapter five,
"that was the winter that Hassan stopped smiling", and tension can be built -
"I never got to finish that sentence. Because suddenly Afghanistan changed forever" (page 30).
As the novel progresses, there is less foreshadowing to future events, instead, memories of earlier times are inserted, so that central events (the rape) shapes the current event/atmosphere etc.
It is at the moment of Hassan's rape that the structure and style change. The chapters leading up to the rape are told in a straightforward narrative. Stories unfold chronologically. However, at the moment of the attack, the narrative structure fractures and does not fully resume the linear narrative of the previous chapters. Witnessing the rape, Amir's narration veers to other stories at other times, suggesting that his subconscious is trying to avoid dealing with the present. In the chapters that follow, events are presented out of order, with gaps, and needs the readers own interpretations.
Form
The Kite Runner could be seen as a fable - a story which conveys a moral lesson. This novel does this by reinforcing moral ideas of what is good and what is bad through Amir's guilt and journey of looking for redemption and atonement.
The Kite Runner could also be seen as an allegory - a story in which a metaphor is expanded out into a whole story that a smaller narrative stands for a larger one. In The Kite Runner, Amir's journey of redemption becomes an accompaniment to a description of the trials of the Afghan people; his search for reconciliation can be seen as representative of their search for peace and self-determination.
