The Kite Runner - chapter 19

What happens :

• Amir and Farid travel to Pakistan
• Stay with Farid's brother

How Hosseini tells the story:
Not a lot actually happens in this chapter yet it manages to add to the novel a lot as it is constantly being infused with the past. The first aspect that notices in this chapter is the increased use of Afghan language. This tells the reader that we have re-entered this part of Amir's life and are now almost slipping back into his past. The narrator, Amir, sometimes doesn't even translate the language, leaving the reader to work out what is being said independently. This allows the reader to become more entwined in what is happening in the novel.

This chapter is also very sectioned with breaks in the text and a change of scenery or time. This constant changing allows the reader to see how Amir's frame of mind is constantly changing. There is also a small section of dialogue that is sectioned off. This adds to the novel and how it is being told as it is told as a memory and only certain points are remembered in life such as the bits of a trip that stick out. This is what Hosseini is doing in this chapter, telling the parts of the journey that would stick out in Amir's memory later on.

There is also the use of a dream in this chapter. This highlights Amir's guilt by using short, factual snetances but infuses some imagery within them such as the metephor 'vast, cavernous emptiness.' By putting this part in italics it shows the reader that this is a dream and separates it from the rest of the chapter. Finally the use of the imagery to describe the moon reminds the reader of Amir's reason for being in Pakistan. He describes it as a 'bony glow of a half-moon.' By making it a half moon it instantly reiterates the idea of Hassan as he is his half brother. Also the way it is said to be 'bony' makes the reader think of death and this could be Hosseini showing the reader Amir's realisation of why he is back in Pakistan.

The chapter ends with yet another reference to a past occurance in the novel with Amir putting money under a mattress. He recognises that he has done this before but this time it is for a good cause. This could heighten the idea of being 'good again' to the reader.