Does This Novel Deserve Literary Merit?

            After completing The Kite Runner, I was able to reflect on the literary merit of the novel.  This novel is worthy of having literary merit and being studied in an AP class due to the stylistic techniques and consistencies throughout the book.  For example, the first part of the novel focused on Amir looking back on his childhood and seeing the mistakes he made.  In this portion, traditional Farsi language was dropped into the dialogue focused the reader’s attention on the culture differences.  The difference that stuck out the most to me when Amir is reflecting on his childhood is the idea of family trust, reliance, and helping the group.  The idea of servants was common at this time in Afghan culture, which is a sharp contrast from how life in America was.  Not only was life with servants different, this novel gave a different perspective on father-son relationships and how they stack up compared to American father-son relationships (which we have previously studied).  These distinct differences between Afghan culture and American culture showed how not only does the author’s unique stylistic approach prove to be worthy of literary merit, but should also be recognized for its cultural merit. 

            The Kite Runner will not only help me think about the world from a different cultural perspective, it will help me in my academics, especially on the AP exam.  This novel would help me on the AP exam because it has straightforward human connections and motifs that are easy to identify and analyze for a free response question.  Although this novel would be extremely helpful for the AP exam this May, I would not suggest this novel to be added to the curriculum.  I would not suggest the novel because compared to other books we have read as part of the curriculum, there wouldn’t be much controversy in discussions.  The author writes the novel at an elevated level, but finding motifs, symbols, and themes of the novel are easy to identify.  Instead of The Kite Runner, I would suggest novels that had more hidden symbolism so that the class could analyze the novel together.  This book is a great free-choice book where a student can analyze the entire book on their own.