The question at the center of The Kite Rider's plot structure is about human life and its meaning. The first half of the novel has the same narrative arc that Hamlet does. This means that we're answering the Oedipal question, to be Freudian about it. What does it mean to step into your father's shoes? To prevent your mother from becoming tainted by a marriage to the evil man? These are alternative versions of the basic question: What is my destiny?
However, the plot shows that the answer was ironically connected to the act of being resilient. For Haoyou, to come to terms with the tragic death of his father, the rise of the bad guy, the loneliness of his mother—all parts of life that each person must face. For Haoyou, the answer seems to be to perform his duty. By performing his dutiful replication of his father's behavior, facing the storm head on, so to speak, he also qualifies himself to become an object of admiration by his community—he even garners the praise of Kublai Khan himself.
And in the end, he does the loving thing of trying to send resources back home to his fractured family, but his Uncle gambles and drinks away the money. Ultimately, Haoyou's ethical behavior is not enough to spare him from a difficult, tragic life, nor is he allowed to share his meaningful life with the people who matter most. This is a Sisyphus-type situation, which leaves the reader puzzled: What benefit is his good life if he has to start at the beginning all the time, and he can't move up in life? The answer is implied: Duty is honorable, and although life is meaningless, it's still valuable. They escape from the hand of evil.
