William Blake's "A Poison Tree" links well to The Kite Runner. The poem describes what happens when we hold on to anger and allow it to fester rather than dealing with it openly and honestly. In the poem, the speaker holds on to his anger and finds that it grows and grows until it becomes a tree and bears "an apple bright" and poisonous. The poisonous apple is then eaten by an intruder, and the intruder dies beneath the tree.
In The Kite Runner, Amir feels angry towards Hassan because his father seems to love Hassan more than him. He allows this anger to fester and grow until it becomes jealousy and cowardice. In this way, Amir's anger is linked to his decision not to intervene when he sees Hassan being raped. He wants to take the kite back to his father, and he hopes that when his father sees him with the winning kite he will love him more. He knows that if he intervenes in Hassan's rape, Assef and his gang will take the kite, and so he chooses to do nothing. His anger has made him jealous and cowardl, to the point that he chooses to do nothing while Hassan is raped.
This decision poisons the young Amir, and this poison almost kills him, just as it kills the intruder in Blake's poem.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45952/a-poison-tree
Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem "The Debt" examines themes of grief, regret, and sorrow, which are similarly explored throughout Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner. Paul Laurence Dunbar writes,
This is the debt I pay Just for one riotous day, Years of regret and grief, Sorrow without relief.
Pay it I will to the end — Until the grave, my friend, Gives me a true release — Gives me the clasp of peace.
Slight was the thing I bought, Small was the debt I thought, Poor was the loan at best— God! but the interest!.
Throughout Dunbar's three stanzas written in rhyming couplets, the speaker describes the years of grief and sorrow he experiences for making a regrettable decision. The speaker does not elaborate on the details of his regrettable action but does describe the years of "sorrow without relief" that will follow him to his grave. The results of the "riotous day" negatively alter the trajectory of the speaker's life and fill him with remorse.
In his poem, Dunbar describes melancholy emotions and unfortunate consequences; in his novel The Kite Runner, Hosseini depicts the results of Amir's regrettable decision and explores the themes of grief, sorrow, anxiety, and regret.
Towards the beginning of the novel, Amir desperately attempts to gain his father's attention and affection but is unable to do so until he wins the kite-fighting tournament. Unfortunately, Amir runs after his friend only to witness Hassan surrounded by Assef and two other boys. Instead of attempting to rescue his friend by intervening, Amir watches from a distance as Assef proceeds to rape Hassan. Following the traumatic event, Amir is filled with guilt and sorrow. Amir is disgusted with himself and can no longer be around Hassan. The two friends stop talking, and Amir even attempts to make it seem like Hassan stole his presents in order to get Hassan kicked out of Baba's home.
Fortunately for Amir, Baba takes him to America, where Amir has a new start to life. Despite Amir's success in America, he still carries with him the burden of watching Hassan being raped and not intervening. Amir's repressed emotions haunt him as an adult, and he becomes an insomniac with a dark secret. Unlike the speaker in Dunbar's poem, Amir is given an opportunity to atone for his past sins and seeks redemption by traveling back to Afghanistan to save Hassan's son, Sohrab. Echoing the "interest" the speaker references in Dunbar's poem, Amir atones for his past sins by taking a severe beating from Assef. Amir almost loses his life in the brawl but finally feels emotional relief following the fight. While Dunbar's poem does not comprehensively apply to Amir's plight, the themes of sorrow, grief, and regret directly correlate to Amir's life and are explored throughout the novel.
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