Abstract

The Kite Runner is a typical Growth novel which tells Amir’s six stages of his life: purity, betrayal, suffering, shock, cowardice’s conquer and salvation. Through his life, he grows and also changes his bad character, cowardice. In the thesis, I will analyze his conquer of cowardice from the perspective of Positive Psychology. This thesis consists of three parts. The first part is introduction, which mainly introduces the background, literature review and structure of this thesis. The second part is the body, which includes three chapters. Chapter one makes an analysis of the reasons of Amir’s cowardice from the perspective of positive psychology. The external and internal environment lead to Amir’s cowardice. Chapter two tells about the changes of Amir’s life. Chapter three explores how Amir conquers his cowardice and the salvation of himself. The third part is the conclusion. The thesis is going to tell people two points: firstly, surroundings have great effort in personality’s shape. Parents, teachers and society should try to provide children with healthy environment to shape their healthy personality. Secondly, personality should be view from a positive way. It is stable through one’s life but can be changed through one’s strong willpower toward the good direction that people expect.

Key words:  reasons; changes; conquer cowardice; positive psychology

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

1.1 Background of the Research-1

1.2 Literature Review-2

1.3 The Structure of the Thesis-3

2. The Reasons of Amir’s Cowardice Formation-5

2.1 Internal Factors of Amir-5

2.2 External Factors-5

2.2.1  Amir’s Father’s Influence on Him-5

2.2.2  Contrast between Hassan and Amir-6

3. Changes of Amir’s Life-8

3.1 Amir’s Guilty-8

3.1 American Environment Analysis-8

4. How Amir conquers his Cowardice-10

4.1 Amir’s Development of Strong Ego-10

4.2 Origin of Amir’s Willpower-11

5. Conclusion-12

References-14