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@article{206708,
        author = {Karthika K},
        title = {The Kite Runner through the Lens of Postcolonial Theory: Identity, Power, and Redemption in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {2},
        pages = {2778-2788},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=206708},
        abstract = {Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner (2003) is one of the most celebrated contemporary novels that examines the complex relationship between personal guilt and national history through the lives of two childhood friends, Amir and Hassan. Set against the backdrop of Afghanistan's turbulent political landscape, the novel traces the transformation of the country from a peaceful monarchy to a nation devastated by foreign invasion, civil war, Taliban rule, and mass displacement. While the novel is often interpreted as a story of friendship, betrayal, and redemption, it also offers significant insights into issues of identity, ethnicity, power, migration, and social inequality. These concerns make the novel particularly relevant for analysis through the framework of Postcolonial Theory. Postcolonial criticism seeks to understand how colonialism and its aftermath shape societies, identities, and cultural relationships. Although Afghanistan was never colonized in the same manner as many Asian and African nations, the country has experienced repeated foreign interventions and internal systems of domination that resemble colonial structures. In The Kite Runner, Hosseini portrays ethnic discrimination between Pashtuns and Hazaras, political oppression under various regimes, and the psychological trauma experienced by displaced individuals. These elements reveal how power operates not only through external imperialism but also through internal hierarchies and social exclusion. This article applies the postcolonial theories of Edward Said, Homi K. Bhabha, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and Frantz Fanon to examine the novel's exploration of identity, otherness, cultural hybridity, subaltern voices, and redemption. Edward Said's concept of Orientalism helps explain how identities are constructed through systems of representation and exclusion. Homi Bhabha's theory of hybridity provides insight into Amir's experience as an immigrant negotiating multiple cultural identities. Spivak's notion of the subaltern highlights the marginalization of Hassan and the Hazara community, while Fanon's analysis of psychological oppression illuminates the lasting effects of violence, guilt, and historical trauma.},
        keywords = {Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner, Postcolonial Theory, Edward Said.},
        month = {July},
        }