The Mothers of the Kite Fliers and Kite Runners: An Against-the-Grain Study of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner

Abstract

The cover page of the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini showcases the brilliant reviews the book received from Daily Telegraph, The Times, Sunday Express and Isabel Allende. Set on the backdrop of a politically troubled Afghanistan, the novel is a tale of friendship, love, loss, betrayal, and hope, coupled with the central Christian theme of guilt and redemption. However a closer reading of The Kite Runner reveals a bizarre reality. In this “… devastating, masterful and painfully honest story of a life crippled by an act of childhood and cowardice and cruelty” (Daily Telegraph), all we get to know are the fortunes and the miseries of the Afghan males, but what about the women? The lack of women characters is so stark that to any sentient reader, it almost appears as if the Afghan community is formed solely out of male members. Only when the story shifts out of Afghanistan, the woman becomes somewhat visible in the character of Soraya. Even then, does the woman in the house attain the same subjectivity as that of the man? Does she succeed in being relevant in the society where a child is more its father’s than its mother’s? Where do the mothers of the kite fliers and kite runners stand in a society whose spirit is best reflected in the kite fighting tournament, a passion passed from fathers to sons? This article is thus an attempt to unearth and explore the unvoiced trivialising of women as the Other in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner.