"The Kite Runner" Parallel Scenes
The scene parallel to the mattress scene at Wahid’s house can be found early in the novel. Hosseini depicts treason within Amir and Hassan’s friendship through Amir’s jealousy towards Hassan. Amir plants money under Hassan’s mattress and accuses him of stealing it. While with Wahid, Amir notices that his children are left out at meals and do not have much, so he shoves a wad of money under their mattress. This is parallel to the other mattress scene due to the reasons for planting the money. When Amir framed Hassan he did it out of jealousy, but for the children he did it out of kindness. This shows a change that has taken place within Amir.
Another blatant parallel is Sohrab’s reference as a sheep to Hassan’s sheep passage. This father and son duo is depicted as sheep because they were both innocent like the lamb; however, they were used in different contexts (Hassan’s to rape and Sohrab to sadness). Both are “looks of the lamb” that will be stained in the reader’s mind.
This would have to be my favorite example of parallelism within the whole book. As Assef was beaten by the Taliban he laughed because it caused him to pass a kidney stone that caused him pain. This is parallel to Assef beating Amir and Amir laughs. The reason they both laugh is because though they are getting a beating, they each experience a relief. Assef of his stones and Amir to the terribleness he let happen to Hassan.
The book ends on one of the heart touching moment of the book. As we end this story Amir and Sohrab and are fighting kites just as he and Hassan used to, the parallel. The last kite fight we saw with Hassan was indeed his last; it ruined him. His son’s first time fighting kites shows a new beginning for Sohrab. We see Hassan’s ending and Sohrab’s beginning through kite fighting.