Extract from “The Kite Runner”

By Fatema Hashim

Intro

•The extract presents the narrator’s love for winter and the reasons why.

•It is perhaps a recollection of the past.

•Also presents how the cold season juxtaposes with the narrator’s relationship with his/her father.

Paragraph 1•Impact of winter - “Winter.”

•“I smile.” - how the winter makes the narrator feel. Simplicity of this phrase - shows the lasting impact the winter has and how the simple things make them happy.

•“Winter to me was the end... building of snowmen.” - imagery to help the reader imagine the narrator’s view of the winter.

Paragraph 2

•Impact of winter on the narrator’s life.

•Sibilance of “the sky was blue and seamless...” in contrast to alliteration of “cawing of crows.”

•“And kites, of course. Flying kites. And running them.” - fragmented sentences - shows lasting impact of the kites on the narrator.

Paragraph 3•Passage may be a reflection back to

the narrator’s past.

•Use of past participles - “watched,” “loved.”

•“I think.” - shows narrator is perhaps reflecting.

•Child-like activities such as “building snowmen,” - perhaps reflection to the narrator’s childhood.

Paragraph 4•Metaphors to show distance between

narrator and father.

•Juxtaposition of cold season to distance of father and narrator lessening: “As the trees froze and the ice sheathed the roads, the chill between Baba and me thawed a little.”

•“Kites were the one paper thin intersection between those spheres.