In
the novel The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini symbols create a deeper
understanding of Amir and Hassan’s relationship and how their “friendship” or
brotherhood is undermined. One symbol in particular is Hassan’s cleft lip.
Hassan’s lip is one of his most representative features and this flaw is one
that Amir takes notice to a lot during the novel. The cleft lip serves as a
reminder or somewhat societal mark on Hassan, making him and everyone that he
interacts with know his true status in society. This feature separates him from
Amir which is by Afghan standards wealthy and spoiled, to him which is a Hazara
who is a servant to Baba and Amir. Hassan’s deformity is indicative of his
poverties. This split between his lip signifies the “split” relationship Amir
appears to have with Hassan, in which he doesn’t know whether to call him a friend
or a servant. Baba, who we now know is Hassan’s true biological father, chooses
to pay a surgeon to repair Hassan’s lip as a birthday gift. This bothers Amir
for some reason, maybe because he wants to be better than Hassan in Baba’s eyes
or wants all of Baba’s attention as his son (not knowing Hassan was his son as
well). This building action between Hassan and Amir leads up to Amir acting as
a coward in many ways, leading up to Hassan and Ali’s departure from Baba’s
household. Now Amir must live with the same life scar on the inside as Hassan
did outwardly on his lip.
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