Abstract

The Kite Runner is a successful and world-favored work in English literature in recent years. Claimed to be the first English-language Afghan novel, with its distinctive Afghan background, delicate time of publication, The Kite Runner wins an immediate attention and popularity around the world. In the novel, Khaled Hosseini, the author, tells a moving and thought-provoking story about a boy's development. Amir, who betrayed his friend and servant, Hassan, who later proved to be his half-brother, walks through the way of growing up which lasts more than 30 years. During these years, Amir experiences the war in Afghanistan and flees to America; he carefully deals with the relationship with Baba and the haunt of the past; he is unwillingly exposed to the secret about Baba, Hassan and himself; he feels the pain of growing up and pays the cost. This paper tries to interpret this novel as an initiation story: to analyze different periods of Amir's growing up; to reveal the truth that the road of growing up is never plain and the cost is huge.

KEYWORDS:initiation story; betrayal; salvation; cost

摘   要

《追风筝的人》是近年来广受喜爱并取得巨大成功的英语文学佳作。作为阿富汗裔美国文学史上第一部真正意义上的小说，并由于其中浓郁独特的阿富汗风情以及微妙的出版时机，一问世，小说就赢得了广泛的关注。在小说中，卡勒德•胡赛尼讲述了关于一个男孩成长的故事，动人而又发人深省。小说的主人公，富家少年阿米尔，虽与仆人哈桑情如手足，却背叛了他，从此踏上了一条长达30多年的成长之旅。在这30多年的成长道路上，阿米尔的内心经历了从最初的怯弱，退却，内疚,到最终的觉醒顿悟；他本人也遭遇了阿富汗战争，流亡至美国；一方面要摆脱过去的阴影，另一方面又必须小心翼翼处理同父亲的关系；而后又不得不面对他与哈桑以及父亲三人之间的秘密。对阿米尔来说，这成长的30多年是痛苦的，他所付出的成长代价是巨大的。本文拟用成长小说的相关理论来深入解读《追风筝的人》：从成长小说的叙事结构入手，解读阿米尔不同的成长时期；揭示出成长路上的艰难和代价。

关键词:成长小说；背叛；救赎；成长代价

1. Introduction
1.1 Khaled Hosseini and his masterpiece The Kite Runner 
Khaled Hosseini was an Afghan American, who was born in 1965, in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, whose father was a diplomat of the Afghan Foreign Ministry and whose mother was a teacher.
    When he was young, Khaled Hosseini showed his great favor for literature. In 1976, the Hosseini family fled to Paris, and later were granted political asylum in the United States, when Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.