Comparing the Kite Runner and Unlighted Lamps
By
Jasmine Chung
The short story Unlighted Lamps by Sherwood Anderson begins with Dr. Cochran’s eighteen-year-old-daughter, Mary Cochran, who is struggling to fit in her society with a single dad who is lacking in communication. She is confused with her father’s serious health conditions, and she is afraid to think about herself and her future life. She is going through a difficult time when she needs to expose herself to the public and to pursue a satisfying career. The novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a powerful novel which describes the unsettled relationship between Amir and his dad. Amir was once the son of a rich business man but when Civil war begins to rage in Afghanistan, Amir and his dad flee to the United States. The author describes the changes in the relationship between Amir and his dad as time elapses. Also, Amir determines to win the kite contest in order to build a stronger relationship with his dad. These two stories are similar in terms of the relationship between the children and the father, the personalities of the children and the symbolism.
The relationship between Mary and Dr. Cochran and Amir and his father are both unsettled. In Unlighted Lamps, Mary describes her father as a cold and quiet man. “The habitual silence” of her dad and the confusion about her mother’s past have affected her attitude and made her life a lonely one. “She doesn't want to be seen walking with me”, her father told himself. Mary is embarrassed of her dad and always keeps a distance from him. Since she grew up with a single dad, the family was not as close and loving because Mary thought of him as a cold man. In the story, there is no communication between Mary and her father. She is confused because she cannot identify who she is and also know about her mother. The people around her knew who she was better than herself, and she was not comfortable talking to her father, given the rumors about her mother. The lack of communication is isolating and drifting the two characters further apart. Especially at this stage of Mary’s life, she needed a mother who could support her future, and her dad was not willing to be a good mother at the same time. Similarly, Amir has doubts with the same situation because he is uncertain about how he feels about his dad. His father was a rich, talented businessman who expected too much from his son. Since they were different, they also lacked in communication similar to Mary and Dr. Cochran. Amir has never felt the love from “Baba” which caused him to become weak and uncertain. Like Mary, Amir has never met his mother before but has adapted the values and attitudes of his mother.
The short story Unlighted Lamps by Sherwood Anderson begins with Dr. Cochran’s eighteen-year-old-daughter, Mary Cochran, who is struggling to fit in her society with a single dad who is lacking in communication. She is confused with her father’s serious health conditions, and she is afraid to think about herself and her future life. She is going through a difficult time when she needs to expose herself to the public and to pursue a satisfying career. The novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a powerful novel which describes the unsettled relationship between Amir and his dad. Amir was once the son of a rich business man but when Civil war begins to rage in Afghanistan, Amir and his dad flee to the United States. The author describes the changes in the relationship between Amir and his dad as time elapses. Also, Amir determines to win the kite contest in order to build a stronger relationship with his dad. These two stories are similar in terms of the relationship between the children and the father, the personalities of the children and the symbolism.
The relationship between Mary and Dr. Cochran and Amir and his father are both unsettled. In Unlighted Lamps, Mary describes her father as a cold and quiet man. “The habitual silence” of her dad and the confusion about her mother’s past have affected her attitude and made her life a lonely one. “She doesn't want to be seen walking with me”, her father told himself. Mary is embarrassed of her dad and always keeps a distance from him. Since she grew up with a single dad, the family was not as close and loving because Mary thought of him as a cold man. In the story, there is no communication between Mary and her father. She is confused because she cannot identify who she is and also know about her mother. The people around her knew who she was better than herself, and she was not comfortable talking to her father, given the rumors about her mother. The lack of communication is isolating and drifting the two characters further apart. Especially at this stage of Mary’s life, she needed a mother who could support her future, and her dad was not willing to be a good mother at the same time. Similarly, Amir has doubts with the same situation because he is uncertain about how he feels about his dad. His father was a rich, talented businessman who expected too much from his son. Since they were different, they also lacked in communication similar to Mary and Dr. Cochran. Amir has never felt the love from “Baba” which caused him to become weak and uncertain. Like Mary, Amir has never met his mother before but has adapted the values and attitudes of his mother.
Amir and Mary are similar personality wise. Both characters are trying to obtain freedom and to break free from the confusion in their family. Unlighted lamp describes how Mary is not sure of her identity. She is living an oblivious life and hears stories about her mother’s past. She is unsure if they are true; therefore, she needs to pursue her life into the real world and to get away from silence. The story explains how much Mary likes the noisy and big cities. Cities symbolize distraction. Mary wants to live in cities because they attract her so much that she can forget about her dad and be comfortable. She also thinks it is a good chance to discover her identity. The kite runner explains the significance of the kite contest. Amir was desperate to win and to prove to his dad that he could be confident too. The kite flying high is a symbol of freedom. “The wind was perfect… blowing just hard enough to give me some lift, making the sweeps easier.” The kite was blowing just perfectly, and freedom is the right to do whatever one wants to do without restriction. Amir can relate to the kite because he keeps his sorrows to himself but he needs to express his feelings without any contradiction, for example, his father.
Lastly, the two titles: The Unlighted Lamp and The Kite Runner are similar due to the symbolism. The purpose of the two titles are that the characters are in search of communication and spark. The Unlighted Lamps symbolizes the darkness preventing the love between Mary and his father as well as misunderstanding each other. Darkness symbolizes ignorance between them because Mary always avoided her father by spending time in the city by herself, and Dr. Cochran never made any effort to communicate with his daughter. The symbolic meaning of darkness may be the unhappiness due to lack of self-motivation, and the courage to show love and affection to one another. From Dr. Cochran’s view, the burnt out cigarette may represent Dr. Cochran’s wasted life in which he failed to express his feelings towards Mary. As for The Kite Runner, the title symbolizes Amir who wants to expose himself as a famous writer; however, his father denies him and pulls him back. Even though the kite symbolizes freedom, it can also symbolize disagreements. The kite is flying freely in air; however, it is controlled by the string which is Amir’s father, and the kite symbolizes Amir. He knows what he wants to do with his life, but he fails to do so because of his father. Amir’s father is forcing him to become someone he is not. In reality, if the controller of the kite pulls the string, the kite is forced to fly low; instead, if the strings are loosened, the wind will pick up the kite, and it can fly higher in air.
As a result, both families do not understand each other, and they do not maintain balanced relationships. The two families in the story share the same pain because of the lack of communication and the need to pursue one’s dream. The atmosphere of the stories both begin with feelings of uncertainty and darkness. Unlighted Lamps by Sherwood Anderson and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini can be related in various ways such as the meaning of its titles, themes and the character’s personalities. Through this book, the readers can easily learn how much it means to say “I love you” to someone you love.
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