The Kite Runner Quotes: Warfare
- Created by: mhannah
- Created on: 03-05-18 22:50
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- The Kite Runner Quotes: Warfare
- "The shootings and explosions had lasted less than an hour, but they had frightened us badly, because none of us had ever heard gunshots in the streets. They were foreign sounds to us then. The generation of Afghan children whose ears would know nothing but the sounds of bombs and gunfire was not yet born."
- Chapter 5. If you were to describe Afghanistan's political situation, you might describe it as "war-torn" or "ravaged." But those descriptions apply, really, only from 1978 on – before then, Afghanistan was a relatively peaceful country.
- Hosseini places Afghanistan's loss of innocence right next to Amir's and Hassan's – the infamous **** scene happens only two chapters later
- "Even at the dinner table, in the privacy of their home, people had to speak in a calculated manner."
- Chapter 10. During the war, even the dynamics within the home changed. Hosseini describes the dangers of occupied Afghanistan but also the betrayals within Amir's family.
- "Hardly any of them sat with an adult male – the wars had made fathers a rare commodity in Afghanistan. "
- Chapter 20. Hosseini is giving us a picture of Afghanistan; he's commenting on the situation of his characters. Don't forget that Amir's own father has recently died. And Hassan, Amir's half-brother and Sohrab's father, died during Taliban rule. Rahim Khan, a father-figure to Amir, is dying as Amir drives around Kabul.
- This book is about the effects of war on Afghani people; but it's also about the very personal losses – a father and a brother and almost a nephew – experienced by Amir.
- "I saw a bullet-pocked sign half buried at an angle in a heap of debris. It read DRINK COCA CO––."
- Chapter 20. Earlier in the book, Amir mentions all kinds of American influences in Kabul: movies, cars, bikes, jeans, and cowboy hats. Now, when he returns, he finds a half-legible Coca Cola sign. American influence is in the process of disappearing.
- "a TV set with no screen half-buried in rubble, a wall with the words ZENDA BAD TALIBAN! (Long live the Taliban!) sprayed in black. "
- Chapter 20. War's influence is everywhere. In the book, TVs are markers of prosperity and American influence. But here's a TV, smashed, and near graffiti promoting a totalitarian regime.
- "I saw a dead body near the restaurant. Hardly anyone seemed to notice him."
- Chapter 21. Hosseini casually introduces a shocking image. Readers will at first be shocked but will then move on because that's what Hosseini does. Hosseini knows his readers, like the Afghani citizens, are getting used to horror.
- "Suddenly, people were standing in grocery store lines and talking about the cities of my childhood, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif."
- Chapter 25. The personal and political are linked here in terms of how Amir's culture and history in Afghanistan has been changed by the politics of the country and the Taliban; after 9/11 the realities of life of Aghanistan become common discussions within American society
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