Lasting FriendshipYesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Essays - Films

Lasting FriendshipYesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Lasting FriendshipYesterday, Today, and Tomorrow An important stepping stone in every child's life is when a child makes a vow to be best friends forever with another child. Many girls cement this promise by buying a necklace with half hearts on them, while boys may carve their names into trees, but either way this promise is very important for children to prove that they have someone who they can trust. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseinis epic coming-of-age tale set in Afghanistan, Hosseini utilizes vivid imagery, cultural symbolism, and ancient texts to answer the novels central question about whether or not a true friendship can be broken. Traveling with the characters throughout the novel, the author uses intense, lifelike imagery to accentuate every detail so that it may tug each and every heart string of the reader. Amir and Hassan had a very unique and rare friendship. Then he would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break (Hosseini 11). Demonstrating that there has been a unique bond between the two boys ever since birth, infers that, like a tree, there eternal bond started as a seed and then flourished into something proportionally off scale. Baba would laugh and throw his arm around Ali. But in none of his stories did Baba ever refer to Ali as his friend(Hosseini 25). Along with Hassan and Amirs blossoming friendship, a parallel entrusts itself between the seams of the novel with Baba and Ali. Their beautiful, resilient friendship coincides with the foundation that Amir and Hassan possess in their friendship. Afghanistan is painted out during The Kite Runner as a nostalgic, majestic land before war ravishes the peace within its border. Symbolism notoriously binds the novel into a work of art that exemplifies the true friendship cannot be broken. It was warm and sunny, and the lake was clear like a mirror. But no one was swimming because they said a monster had come to the lake. It was swimming at the bottom, waiting (Hosseini 59). As Hassan explains what had occurred in his dream to Amir, the morning of the kite flying tournament, it significantly foreshadowed the events that took place during the kite flying tournament. When Hassan says there is a monster sitting at the bottom of the lake, waiting, it represents Assef waiting to scar and hurt Hassan. We sat against the low cemetery wall under the shade thrown by the pomegranate tree (Hosseini 91). As Hassan and Amir return to the place that symbolizes their entire friendship, what once was the site of intense, brotherly love is now fille d with Amir's bitterness, guilt, and anger. There is also a third time that Amir visits the tree. With Afghanistan devastated by two wars, Amir is sent on a quest to find Sohrab. I stood under it, remembered all the times sunlight flickering through the leaves and casting on our faces mosaic light and shadow. The tangy taste of pomegranate crept into my mouth (Hosseini 264).As Amir is there, the wilting of the tree, the ability for it to not bare fruit anymore, and the lingering taste in his mouth represent that the friendship may be separated here on Earth, but it still continues to exist even after death. It is quite ironic that in the novel Hassan names his first born son Sohrab. The name comes from an ancient text, the Shahnamah, that echoes throughout the book several times. Hassans favorite book by far was the Shahnamah, the tenth century epic of ancient Persian heroes (Hosseini 29). The friendship that is lured out by this ancient text demonstrates that even though Hassan cannot read, the fact that Amir reads to him shows how grateful he is to Amir, which also shows why Hassan is so loyal to Amir. They named him Sohrab, after Hassans favorite hero from the Shahnamah, as you know (Hosseini 211). It is not a coincidence that due to Hassans loyalty for Amir and the friendship that tied their brotherhood together, he almost in a sense named his son in honor of Amir because Amir was the one who told the