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"It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn't make everything all right. It didn't make anything all right. Only a smile. A tiny thing" (371). This quote from the last page of book summarizes the true perspective change in the main characters. Something as small as a smile, now, means a lot more to them then it did several months ago. This smile, while changing nothing, shows a change in the character's mindset. Something as simple as a smile is now a positive reassurance that is welcomed with open arms.

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"Like so much else in Kabul, my father's house was the picture of fallen splendor" (262). Right before this quote, in the novel, there is a detailed description of his father's house. The house is falling apart; the paint is chipped, windows are boarded up, and the stairs have crumbled. Along with this detailed description of such a personal recollection, the reader can infer that Kabul, as a whole, was once this beautiful. The devastation that struck the city was a "picture of fallen splendor," which changes the viewpoint of the reader to believe that war and terror damaged the city greatly, in such a way that it is completely different then he remembers.

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"She said, 'I'm so afraid.' And I said, 'Why?,' and she said, 'Because I'm so profoundly happy, Dr. Rasul. Happiness like this is frightening.' I asked her why and she said, 'They only let you be this happy if they're preparing to take something from you'" (250). This quote describes the awful amount of fear in the people of Afghanistan during this time period. Fear becomes a part of their everyday lives, seeing that most feel, as the quote states, like they cannot be so happy, due to the fact that it will more than likely be taken away from them. Whenever the Afghan people feel some peace or happiness, it is taken away from them, changing their views on happiness and what emotions they are capable of feeling.

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"His shoulders hunched and his cheeks sagged like they were too tired to cling to the bone beneath. His father, who'd owned a movie theater in Kabul, was telling Baba how, three months before, a stray bullet had struck his wife in the temple and killed her" (120). Here, there is a sense of an almost trivial lifestyle; he owned a movie there, where live seemed somewhat happy or tolerable. But, tragedy strikes again in the war-torn country of Afghanistan. This horrible loss of his wife creates a pain and a void in the character, which gives him a more somber outlook on life, in general, due to the misfortune of a stray bullet.

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"Kind of like when we used to play insect torture. Except now, he was the ant and I was holding the magnifying glass" (54). A simple game that was once played as children is now something more intense. Instead of a game where ants were being killed and burned with a magnifying glass, this situation has escalated to show that the boys can taunt each other in a more cruel way then taunting the ants. This change shows a direct link from childhood views to more mature outlooks on life, such as the matter of taunting and provoking one another.

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"The generation of Afghan children whose ears would know nothing but the sounds of bombs and gunfire was not yet born. Huddled together in the dining room and waiting for the sun to rise, none of us had any notion that a way of life had ended" (36). Here, the reader can conclude that Amir's way of life is forever changed. Gunshots and bombs detonating is the new "normal." For the generations to come, this constant state of conflict and fighting is all they will know, but for the characters, who were exposed to life before this war, their perspectives are forever changed because they see this new "normal" as their old "normal" ending. In a sense, their lives ended.

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"The problem, of course, was that Baba saw the world in black and white. And he decided what was black and what was white. You can't love a person who lives that way without fearing him too. Maybe even hating him a little" (15). Here, we see how Baba has an older view of the world as this black and white being with no in between, especially regarding love. However, this view is disagreed upon by Amir, seeing that now the world contains many determining factors, also known as the "gray" area. This perspective shows a change in the conflicting nature of Afghanistan, and the views regarding this fighting and constant state of conflict.

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In the Kite Runner, the theme of the ever present difficulties of war and peace changing the view and perspectives of life is crucial to the novel's development.