Wounded Soil, Wounded Souls: Environmental and Emotional Aftermath in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner

Abstract

In this paper, we provide an ecocritical analysis of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, and examine the combined effects of war, displacement, and environmental degradation in the post-9/11 context. While scholars approach the novel in the context of trauma and redemption, we have analysed its environmental dimension. The novel, set within the landscape of a war-ravaged Afghanistan, illustrates the shift from fertile ground to desolate ruin, where nature absorbs the scars of geopolitical violence. Amir’s return to a ruined Kabul reveals how ecological damage parallels emotional collapse. The imagery used in the novel —burnt pomegranate trees, streets covered in dust, and withered gardens—serves as a form of environmental memory that preserves the pain of both land and self. We also investigate exile as a form of ecological separation, where figures like Baba and Sohrab lose connection to the environments that once sustained them. Through this study, we uncover the environmental costs of war and displacement. Hosseini’s novel constructs a vision of trauma that links human suffering to ecological ruin, and offers a narrative framework that confronts the lasting consequences of global conflict.