THE ROLE OF SYMBOLS IN “THE KITE RUNNER” BY KHALED HOSSEINI

Abstract

The main focus of this research work is to analyze the symbols and their role in interpreting the novel “The Kite Runner” by Afghan-born American writer Khaled Hosseini who has widely used artistic signs in his novel. With the help of symbols the essence of the work has been conveyed to the reader through the sensitivity of artistic principles. The symbols in the novel were analyzed being divided into categories as characters, places, things and complex symbols. The introduction of the symbols in the novel, as the secret information of the author to the reader, is a masterpiece of the artistic idea that has not been provided in the text but intended for it. Moreover, it is a figure of speech through which any author is able to express in an indirect way a certain mood, concept, a political ideology, a period or emotion in a work of literature using a physical object, character, event or word. Symbols in the literary work are of great importance to help readers visualize complex concepts and central themes, and track their development; afford writers the opportunity to communicate complex ideas efficiently and artfully; invite readers to interpret a text independently; add emotional value to a text; conceal themes that are too controversial to state openly; imply change or growth in characters or themes through shifts in the way that characters interact with particular symbols, or ways in which the symbols themselves change over time. The catastrophic events connected with the World Trade Center that occurred on September 11, 2001, caused a surge of interest in a little-known Central Asian country Afghanistan. Consequently, most people around the world discovered a new, yet soon stereotyped face of Afghan people as terrorists and their allies. Thus, Khaled Hosseini along with other compatriot authors endeavored to reshape the overlooked image of his nation and his native land once he abandoned, in different perspectives, social and moral angles.