The Final Fight

The climactic scene in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner is a physical fight between Amir and Assef. Being a stronger and more experienced fighter than Amir, Assef was dominating the fight. Amir took a lot of blows, and in the end, Sohrab, the person that Amir came to save, used a slingshot to fire a projectile that struck Assef in the eye, causing Assef to scream in pain. Using this opportunity, Amir and Sohrab escaped. Although this scene appears to be a typical kid-to-the-rescue scene, there are many literary parallels and irony that relate back to earlier stories in the novel. 

The most ironic thing in the fight is that although Amir came to save Sohrab, it was Sohrab who saved Amir instead. This relates back to the earlier story in the book when Hassan stands up for Amir in a fight against Assef and when Amir did not have the courage to stand up for Hassan when Assef was raping Hassan. Supposedly, Amir was supposed to redeem himself by saving Hassan’s son Sohrab. In some ways, it is like paying a life debt to Hassan. However, instead, Sohrab is the one who saves Amir and so Amir now owes another life debt to Hassan’s family. Another irony in the fight is when Amir begins to start laughing because he is getting beaten up. This is ironic because just moments ago in the fight, Assef boasts about laughing while he was getting beaten up and talks about how the guards got angry. Yet, when Assef goes to beat up Amir, Amir begins laughing and Assef gets even angrier. A literary parallel that is seen is when Sohrab, who represents Hassan, successfully shoots Assef in the eye.  This fulfills the threat that Hassan makes to Assef about shooting Assef in the eye if Assef ever tried to hurt Amir. 

While the fight scene between Assef and Amir may appear to be simple, there are definitely literal parallels and irony that Hosseini brilliantly includes to create what is almost like a full circle ending to the conflict Amir and Hassan had with Assef. 

Reflection: This was definitely one of the more humorous and exiting pieces that I had to write. This is because Hosseini does a great job putting in numerous of literary parallels and ironic components in the the fight. At the same time, the fight itself was exciting to read. Overall, it definitely made for an excellent climax to the story.