《追风筝的人》中风筝意象的分析

论文总字数：43342字

摘 要

《追风筝的人》是美籍阿富汗裔作家卡勒徳•胡赛尼的首部著作，同时这也是第一部由阿富汗裔作家创作的英文小说，小说一经出版便备受读者和评论界的喜爱与认可。小说讲述的是两个阿富汗少年关于成长、背叛与救赎的故事，小说不仅深刻的反映了阿富汗的种族问题和宗教问题，也对战争的无情进行了揭露与控诉。

国内外有不少学者对《追风筝的人》进行了文学解读，包括成长小说、精神救赎、文化身份认同感、作品主题分析、作品叙事视角等角度。国内外不少学者从精神救赎这个角度对作品进行了分析，而小说中风筝这一突出的意象也是众多学者研究的一个重点。

目前对《追风筝的人》中风筝意象的专门研究还不算多，仍有许多可研究的空间。因此本文是在学术界既有相关研究资料的基础上，以不同的成长阶段为切入点，分析作品中“风筝”这一意象在主要人物身上所彰显的不同意义，更深入地解读作品的深层内涵。对阿米尔而言，风筝是他快乐与痛苦的来源，风筝象征着童年时期的阿米尔和哈桑之间纯洁真挚的友谊，同时也是他少年时期对哈桑的背叛与成年后自我救赎之路的象征。对哈桑来说，风筝的意象暗喻了他无力主宰的命运，他的人生就如同风筝一般，漂泊不定，无可把握，任人摆布。同时风筝也隐喻了哈桑身上勇敢、忠诚、自我牺牲等美好品质，寄托了作者对真善美的人性及和平美好生活的渴望。在阿米尔父辈心中，风筝是阿富汗人民尊严的象征，是阿富汗传统民族精神的象征，寄寓了他们回归祖国的希望。在《追风筝的人》这部作品中，“风筝”不只是阿富汗传统民族游戏的代名词，更是一个承载着多元意象的载体，它作为一个符号自然地贯穿于文本始末，营造了浓郁的诗性氛围，对人物角色的塑造、冲突的展开、主题思想的深化和表达都具有重要作用。

本文从新的角度分析小说中“风筝”这一多元意象，论述了作品中风筝这一意象在不同人物身上彰显的不同含义，从而侧面展示了阿富汗的宗教信仰、民俗文化以及民族精神。

关键词：《追风筝的人》；卡勒徳•胡赛尼；风筝；意象

Contents

Acknowledgments i

Abstract ii

摘 要 iv

Introduction 1

Chapter One The Kite and Amir 6

1.1 The Kite in Amir’s Childhood --- Freedom, Self-accusation and Strong Desire for Baba’s Affection 6

1.2 The Kite in Amir’s Youth --- Selfishness, Cowardice and Betrayal 8

1.3 The Kite in Amir’s Late 30s --- Integrity, Bravery and Redemption 11

Chapter Two The Kite and Hassan 14

2.1 The Kite in Hassan’s Childhood --- Bravery and Loyalty 15

2.2 The Kite in Hassan’s Youth --- Tolerance and Self-sacrifice 16

2.3 The Kite in Hassan’s Late 30s --- Hopes of Humanity and Hopes for a Better Future 18

Chapter Three The Kite and Baba 19

3.1 The Kite in Baba’s Midlife --- Pursuit of Bravery and Guilt for Hassan 19

3.2 The Kite in Baba’s Sunset --- Concerns and Hopes 21

Conclusion 23

Works Cited 25

Introduction

Khaled Hosseini and The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini was born on March 4, 1965 in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is an Afghan-born American novelist and physician. His father worked as a diplomat, and his mother taught at a girl’s school in Kabul. His family moved to France when Hosseini was 11years old. After four years, they emigrated to the United States and later became American citizens. Hosseini worked as a doctor in California after graduation. After years, he retired from medicine to write full-time. He has published three novels: The Kite Runner (2003), A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007) and And the Mountains Echoed (2013). The most successful one is his debut novel The Kite Runner. The backgrounds of his novels are partially set in Afghanistan and the main character is usually an Afghan.

This is one of those unforgettable stories that stay with you for years. All the great themes of literature and of life are the fabric of this extraordinary novel: love, honor, guilt, fear, redemption… It is so powerful that for a long time after, everything I read seemed bland. (Allende 2007)

The Kite Runner is the shattering first novel by Khaled Hosseini in 2003, and it is the very first English novel by an Afghan-American author. The story is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of Afghanistan’s monarchy through the Soviet military intervention, the exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the rise of the Taliban regime.

The novel tells a story about a rich Pashtun boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who is haunted by the guilt of betraying his closest friend Hassan, the son of his father’s Hazara servant. The young Amir fails to prevent Hassan from Assef’s atrocity in an act of cowardice and afterwards suffers from an increasingly intense guilt. Even after leaving the country, moving to America, marrying, and becoming a successful writer, he is drenched in that overwhelming guilt. Hassan is “the all-sacrificing Christ-figure, the one who, even in death, calls Amir to redemption” (Rankin-Brown 2008). Following Hassan’s death, Amir begins to atone for his guilt by rescuing Hassan’s son, Sohrab, over two decades later.

Guilt and redemption are the two most prominent themes in the novel. The first half of this novel features how Amir betrays his closest friend Hassan. The later half of the book focuses on Amir’s attempts to atone for his sins by rescuing Hassan’s son at the hand of Taliban.

The Kite Runner becomes a bestseller for over two years after being printed in paperback. Reviews are generally positive, though parts of the plot draw significant controversy in Afghanistan.

Previous Studies at Home and Abroad

Although The Kite Runner has been widely acclaimed by critics and received affirmation and welcome of the readers, little academic research has been done on this novel.

So far, the relevant research achievement of The Kite Runner in the West is still limited. To be Good Again: The Kite Runner as Allegory of Global Ethics (2009) is written by David Jefferess, he points out the ethical problems and humanitarianism related in the novel. David Jefferess argues that The Kite Runner reflects a shift from the supremacy of race and nation as primary markers of political community and identity to the idea of the “modern” as the framework for determining the “human” (2009).

The studies about Hosseini and The Kite Runner in China have progressed significantly compared to those related researches at abroad. Most of recent studies at home focus on the perspectives of themes, characters and symbolism.

First of all, from the aspect of themes, most of the researches focus on Bildungsroman. Wang Qingqing in her To Retrive the Lost Kite: An Analysis of The Kite Runner from The Perspective of the Initiation Story (2012) points out that The Kite Runner is a typical initiation story, and the most important thing is that the author adopts symbolism to show the protagonist’s growth. Another thesis An Analysis of The Kite Runner as Bildungsroman (Ding Shouyi 2013) reveals the novel’s traditional and innovative qualities in terms of its content, characters, structure and sociocultural influences. Some other scholars interpret the novel from the perspective of betrayal and redemption. Li Yuxia (2008) discusses the contradiction between friendship and betrayal under the background of different social status and religious beliefs, and then explores the nature of human being and redemption. Jiang Xiaoqing in her A Spiritual Journey to Redemption: A Bildungsroman Perspective to The Kite Runner (2010) interprets how Amir understands his past mistakes and gradually overcomes his character flaws and grows mature through the redemption. There are also papers analyzing the novel from the viewpoint of cultural identity. Wang Qi in his Wandering Souls: Analysis on Exiles’ Pursuit of Cultural Identity in The Kite Runner (2013) explains the racial and religious reasons for the formation of exiles, and elaborates the different ways of the pursuit of cultural identities of Amir, Hassan and Baba, and thus expresses the author’s desire for cultural identity.

Secondly, from the aspect of characters, An Analysis of the Image of Hassan in The Kite Runner (Li Jing 2009) reveals that Hassan is a scapegoat of his parents’ sins and the racial discrimination of the Afghanistan society. Sun Yiping (2013) regards Hassan as spiritual Moslem as Hassan is deeply imprinted with Islamic culture.

Thirdly, from the aspect of symbolism, Huang Ying in her Echoed Images and Cultural Metaphor in The Kite Runner (2011) makes a detailed analysis of the images of kite, pomegranate tree, slingshot and harelip. Wang Jianrong in his An Analysis of the Kite Image in The Kite Runner (2009) focuses on the symbolic meanings of the kite. He analyzes the relationship between the kite and three different objects: for Afghan, the kite symbolizes courage: for Amir, the kite represents his betrayal and redemption: for Hassan, the kite is a symbol of his loyalty, bravery and self-sacrifice.

All the previous studies at home and abroad have an important reference value for my studying on Hosseini and The Kite Runner.

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