The Kite Runner LRB 6

An analysis of the effect of setting -- time, place, circumstances

The novel The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini spans multiple countries and decades, but is mostly concentrated in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a vastly different country from America and without this particular setting the novel would lose its emotional and realistic nature. Though, in the late '70s the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, which marked the beginning a long and unforgettable era of violence and instability within the country.

Meanwhile our protagonist does what any of us probably would have done and left all of the “riches” behind to come to find refuge in America. Towards the middle of the novel, now in California, which depicted by the story seems like a place of refuge for most fleeing Afghans. Adapting to the American culture was tremendously easy for Amir, but not so much for his father Baba, who could not fully grasp America’s outward arms. For example, Baba was outraged when the elderly clerk would not accept his trust, despite being a good customer for so long. In Afghanistan, everything was based on trust, even the “credit cards” were a piece of wood which a clerk wood slit when something was purchased. So such an extreme setting change for Baba was tough on him and the reader can certainly see why. However, Hosseini details the Afghan-American community by depicting how they keep their customs and old stories of the good old days intact, by most Afghans reminiscing amid piles of junk at a flea market, recalling their homeland.

Amir does return to a less than remembered Afghanistan. The wars, violence, and now Taliban have turned Amir's country into a wasteland filled with rubble and lack of infrastructure. The book overall portrays a unique ability to connect all sorts of different settings from Afghani values both decimated and peaceful, American protection, and how all these setting can form one’s life through many cross-cultural experiences.