8. Chapter 7: The Rape of Hassan

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we read through the seventh chapter of the novel, focusing in particular on: (i) the prevalence of another kind of narrative – dreams – in the novel; (ii) the theme of trust, and the extent to which we can trust Amir; (iii) the rape scene as the turning-point in the entire novel; (iv) the connection between submissiveness and the Islamic faith (islām = ‘submission’ in Arabic), and the extent to which this plays into our perception of the characters of Hassan and Amir; (v) the connection between the festival of “Eid Al-Adha, or Eid-e-Qorban, as Afghan call it” (p. 71), in which a sheep is sacrificed, and the immediately preceding narrative; (vi) the extent to which Amir’s relationship with his father impacts his treatment of Hassan; and (vii) the viciously ironic final words of the chapter – “And that was good.”

Course

In this course, Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) explores Khalid Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. We begin with a broad introduction to the historical, political and literary context of the novel, before going through the whole novel chapter-by-chapter, providing close reading and detailed analysis, with commentary on character, plot, themes, motifs, language, symbolism and more.

Lecturer

John McRae is Special Professor of Language in Literature Studies and Teaching Associate in the School of English at Nottingham University, and holds Visiting Professorships in China, Malaysia, Spain and the USA. He is co-author of The Routledge History of Literature in English with Ron Carter, and also wrote The Language of Poetry, Literature with a Small 'l' and the first critical edition of Teleny by Oscar Wilde and others.