Abstract

The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini’s first novel, has received a lot of praise after the publication. Using the kite as a link, it tells a story of an Afghanistan boy who immigrated to America with his father for escaping from war. He atoned for his crime which is committed in his childhood after decades. With kite, pomegranate tree, slingshot and other images, the novel epitomized symbolism thoroughly. As one of the foremost images in the novel, kite runs through the story. In the process of the plot of the novel, the kite image, corresponding to the fates of characters and the nation, is a reflex of the beauty, ugliness, goodness and evilness of humanity.
Firstly, this paper makes an introduction about the novel, the author and the background and purpose of research. Secondly, it explains the origin of symbolism and embodiments in the paper. Thirdly, from the perspective of symbolism, it analyzes the kite image from two aspects: The first part, from longitudinal direction, consists of three different stages of the plot and analyzes the deep meaning of kite; the second part, from horizontal orientation, makes a concrete analysis of the kite from spiritual level of individual, nation, all mankind.

Keywords:  The Kite Runner  kite  image  symbolism  Hosseini

摘要

《追风筝的人》是卡勒德·胡塞尼的处女作，问世后大受好评。书中以风筝为线索，讲述了一个身在美国的阿富汗移民男孩童年的往事和他成人后对儿时过错的心灵救赎过程。小说大量运用风筝、石榴树、弹弓等意象，将象征主义发挥得淋漓尽致。其中风筝这一意象贯穿故事始终，前后呼应。风筝在故事情节发展中的状态对应着主人公和民族的境遇，折射出人性深处的美丑善恶。
本文首先对作者作品及研究背景和目的进行介绍，然后说明象征主义的起源和在文中的体现，接着从象征主义角度出发，从两个层面解读文中的风筝意象：其一是纵向，由小说情节的三个不同阶段-风筝的飘扬、坠落、再到飘扬来分析风筝中隐含的深层含义，其二是横向，由个体、民族、全人类三个精神层面出发解析风筝的寓意。
    
关键词: 《追风筝的人》；风筝；意象；象征；胡塞尼

Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Introduction to Khaled Hosseini
Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan-born American, is a writer as well as a doctor who lives in California, US now. In 1965, he was born in an Intellectual family with his father a diplomatist and his mother a teacher. Before the year of 1973, Hosseini’s childhood was happy and joyful. However, after then, lots of invasions broke the peace of Afghanistan, which directly led to the end of Hosseini’s happy childhood. In 1976, his father found a job in Paris and moved there together with his family. Then in 1980, because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, they immigrated to the United States. In another word, he has lived in America since he was fifteen-year old. As people can see from his work—The Kite Runner, there is much reflection of his racial background and life experience in Afghanistan.