Flashbacks

     Throughout the course of The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini relies heavily on the use of flashbacks. By using flashbacks throughout the course of the novel, Hosseini is able to maintains suspense. He is also able to show the theme of how past events in a persons life are prevalent in their current life. At the very beginning of the novel, Hosseini flashes back to Amir's childhood. "I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind the crumbling mud wall, peeking into an alley near frozen creek. That was a long time ago..." (Hosseini, 1). Hosseini's use of flashbacks allows for the reader to have a glimpse into the past life of a particular person. Every flashback that takes place throughout the novel has a meaning. It gives a new characteristic to a character, or explains why things are the way they are in a particular person's life. For example, Hosseini's flashbacks continue to show us how Amir is afraid of his past. By always flashing back to the terrifying days of his childhood, it shows why he is the way that he is. If we did not know about his selfish past, we would not know how and why he became the selfless person that he is at the end of the novel. Flashbacks are literary keys into the past life of characters.