What Is The Significance Of The Cleft Lip In The Kite Runner

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Symbols from The Kite Runner: The Cleft-Lip: Hassan from The Kite Runner is born with a cleft lip. Amir frequently highlights this characteristic when describing Hassan. For instance, the third page of the novel has already pointed out this defect, “the cleft lip just left of the midline, where the Chinese doll maker’s instrument may have slipped, or perhaps simply grown tired and careless”, as well as the 27th page, “Sanaubar had taken one glance at the baby in Ali's arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked a bitter laughter”. Numerous other excerpts similarly reference the cleft lip. Hassan’s family being too poor to repair the harelip indicates Hassan’s social standing and separates him from Amir socially. When Baba (Amir’s father) fixes Hassan’s cleft lip for his birthday, we see that…show more content…
Later, Amir’s lip is split in two during the brawl with Assef. Amir is left with a scar resembling Hassan’s. The theme of the novel is Amir’s ability to redeem himself towards Hassan by removing political and religious barriers and fighting for what is right without allowing others to prevent him doing so. The harelip is a symbol of this because, when Amir develops a scar identical to Hassan’s, the confines of social class vanish as Hassan and Amir become equals. Amir’s character develops as he learns to stand up for what is right. He takes Sohrab into his family as a son, religion being no obstacle. At one point Amir says “to me, the face of Afghanistan is that of a boy with a thin-boned frame, a shaved head, and low-set ears, a boy with a Chinese doll face perpetually lit by a hare lipped smile” (pg. 27). This is proof that Amir thinks of Hassan with highest respect and
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