From Pain to Voice: Trauma, Violence, and Narrative Reconstruction in The Kite Runner

Abstract

This study examines the narrativization of trauma, violence, and cultural identity in Khaled Hosseini’s fiction, particularly The Kite Runner (2003) and A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007). As an Afghan-American novelist, Hosseini integrates personal memory, historical experience, and political consciousness to portray Afghanistan’s sociocultural realities. His works articulate multiple forms of violence—personal, structural, and cultural—while situating these within both national and transnational contexts. Through the lens of trauma and cultural theory, this paper explores how Hosseini fictionalizes the legacy of collective suffering and displacement, foregrounding gender oppression, ethnic discrimination, and patriarchal hegemony as recurring sources of violence. Characters such as Amir, Hassan, Mariam, and Soraya embody psychological and physical scars shaped by familial neglect, ethnic hierarchies, and gendered marginalization. The study highlights how Hosseini transforms fiction into a medium of social critique and moral reconciliation, representing trauma not only as destruction but also as a catalyst for healing. By drawing on Jeffery Alexander’s concept of cultural trauma, the paper rests Hosseini’s narratives within a global discourse on post-war memory, identity, and human rights. Ultimately, Hosseini’s fiction reimagines Afghanistan’s suffering as both a local and universal condition, inviting readers to confront the enduring consequences of violence through empathy and ethical renewal.