Heartstrings and Hardships: Relationships in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner

Abstract

The Kite Runner was the first novel to be published in English by an Afghan American writer, Khaled Hosseini, in 2003. Alice Munro, a Canadian short story writer, inspired him. Hosseini penned this novel after seeing a news headline about the Taliban banning kite flying. The novel won the South African Booker Prize in 2004. Hosseini continued to captivate audiences with his subsequent novels, including A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Mountains Echoed. This paper explores the complex interplay of relationships in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, focusing on how love, loyalty, betrayal, and redemption shape the characters' lives and highlight broader socio-political themes. By analysing these relationships, the study sheds light on Hosseini’s commentary on the resilience of the human spirit amidst adversity, providing insight into the emotional and moral landscapes that define The Kite Runner’s narrative.