Both The Kite Runner and Atonement explore redemption in different ways
Both The Kite Runner and Atonement explore redemption in different ways; the aim of this personal investigation is to compare the ways in which Ian McEwan and Khaled Hosseini explore the concept in their novels. Redemption can be defined as ‘the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil’ and usually is the result of feeling guilty for the sin or error and trying to put what you’ve done right. I aim to critically assess how the language, structure and form in both books explore redemption whilst using my subsidiary texts; Spies by Michael Frayn and The Go-Between by L.P Hartley to emphasize my critique. All the novels are retrospective (looking back at events) and therefore a meditative tone is shared between the novels due to the re-thinking and re-evaluating of past events, I will look at the author’s use of this technique and explore how the power of hindsight affects the theme of redemption whilst investigating their reliability as narrators of their own stories. Being ‘Bildungsroman’ novels they are about the coming of age, loss of innocence, false expectations and ignorance to sex and the “responsibilities of the grown-up world.”
