BOOK OF THE MOMENT: The Kite Runner

Written by Khaled Hosseini

The Existential Father- It is a wonderful journey through the exotic terrains of Afghanistan. It accounts pre-war Afghanistan to the present age. It is both a cultural and historical journey and the thing with this book is that it offers a mix of emotions after reading it. It is not a typical read as I remember reading this book months ago; I didn’t study for my Economics finals just because of this book but it was well worth it.
Basically the story is set in Afghanistan but I wouldn’t tell you too much detail for the sake of those who haven’t read the book yet. It’s a good read so I’m not spoiling you (although I’m used to being hated for being a spoiler). The main character is Amir who happens to be the novel’s narrator as well. So to start it, he has a relationship with this father whom he calls Baba who is a bit indifferent to him. He has always felt bad about this and only in the latter part of the novel he finds out why.

Well putting into discussion what I have always thought about Baba. He was one character I truly adored in this story. All along, Amir always felt that his father always gave him the cold shoulder and that he wasn’t really there to guide him in every step. As many of us would associate parents or in this regard as a guardian. The typical perception of a good father is that he is always there for you but now that we are in the postmodern age, I don’t think so. We have attached to words several meanings that most of us have chosen not to limit something with a sole definition so as parenthood. From how I see Baba, I think this is the kind of parenting that actually nurtures your kids. I lift an excerpt from the story said by Amir’s uncle, Rahim Khan who once told Baba that: “children are not coloring books, you could not put the colors you desire on them.” It then occurred to me, that existential phrase, existence precedes essence. A father should never impose his own reality on his own child like this is how you should act and this is what you should do. There is that distance he must maintain because you do not want them to be weak; you want them to be strong and in doing so you have to keep distance. This approach does not tell a parent to ignore his child but simply let them find certain meanings in life by themselves. Children are born into the world and therefore they exist. As they go on living and growing up, they learn about life through a parent’s guidance. You do not give them predefined meanings of things so that in the latter they would think of it that way. Take for example, I am a father and I tell my children about love like in fairy tales wherein there is that one person who is right for you like a soul mate; your destined one. Looking at this, it is thus very idealistic. The problem with this is that your children might think of love as something like that in the future and say for example you have a daughter and in fairy tales princesses wait for their prince charming. So your daughter waits. After being taught that, your children might be harmed later on upon facing the real world as things do not always go with an ideal ending as in these stories. The thing with being a parent is that you should also know the consequences of your choices regarding what you tell your kids and how you raise them because in the end; everything is going to interfere with how they experience life. As for Baba, he was a good father for he let Amir experience things and find his own meaning of life which is more sensible and correct as it gives more room for an individual to grow, choose his own fate, make his own decisions, and pursue his own individuality rather than live in the confines of a pre-ordained or dictated reality.

As for me…a bookworm it’s just too bad that I wasn’t able to do a paper on this one. It is one of my best-reads for 2005 and until now, the story continues to move me and après The Kite Runner, I have adapted this saying in Farsi “zendagi mizgara”; life goes on. I bid you salut for now and buy the book!!!

(NOTE: Photo taken from http://www.nsnews.com)