The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Essay

Introduction, the kite runner: summary of the novel, the main characters and themes of the narrative, personal opinion about the composition.

The Kite Runner is a novel written by an Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. When Hosseini was a child, his family moved from Afghanistan to France, and then to the USA. This experience is partially reflected in the narrative of the author. Hosseini has written three novels, and The Kite Runner “has sold millions of copies worldwide and been classified as one of a classic” (Khadawardi 2017, 88). In this essay, the summary of the story, information on the main characters and themes, as well as a personal opinion about the composition will be presented.

The story revolves around the life of a young boy from Kabul, Amir. He lives with his father, Baba, a wealthy man who never has time to spend with his son. Amir feels jealous when he notices Baba’s cordial treatment of his friend, Hasan, the son of their servant. To deserve his father’s love, Amir decides to take part in the kite competition with Hassan. Even though the two boys could keep their kite in the sky for a long time and won the first part of the competition, the event ended tragically. Hassan runs away, trying to find a place where the kite fell. After waiting for him for a long time, Amir decides to follow his friend and becomes a witness to the rape of Hassan by his enemy Assef. Amir is scared to interfere and help his friend and decides to go away and pretend he did not see anything. Feeling guilty for what he did, Amir stops talking to Hassan and does not want to be his friend anymore. He blames him for being a thief, and Hassan and his father leave their home.

Soon, the Soviet Union troops intervene in Afghanistan. To save their lives, Amir and his father immigrate to the USA. Many years later, after his parent’s death, Amir receives a letter from a family friend. From this letter, he learns that Hassan was his brother and that he knew about Amir’s betrayal but still loved him until the end of his life. Unfortunately, Hassan died with his wife during demonstrations in their country, but their little son, Sohrab, managed to survive. He was sent to an orphanage, and the author of the letter asks Amir to save the child and take him to the USA. Amir decides to go to Afghanistan and finds his nephew there. Even though it turns out to be difficult for Amir to adopt him, he promises Sohrab never to send him to an orphanage again. One day, when Sohrab notices that Amir is about to break his promise, he tries to commit suicide. Even though the boy survives, he starts to keep to himself being silent most of the time. One day, Amir buys a kite for Sohrab, and, for the first time, he sees a smile on his face. Thus, it is not entirely clear if the story has a happy ending or not. Even the protagonist of the story mentions that he does not know for sure if the story of Hassan and his nephew, Sohrab, ends happily (Hosseini 2013). However, the author gives readers the hope that the characters of the story will eventually find peace and harmony.

The protagonist of the story is Amir, a young boy who was born in a wealthy Afghan family. It is not possible to tell if the personage of Amir is positive or negative. On the one hand, his sneaky nature allows him to betray his best friend. On the other hand, he is capable of feeling guilty and admitting his mistakes. Trying to make amends, Amir uses “a chance to put to rest his tortured past” ( Summary and Analysis of The Kite Runner 2016, 8). He puts much effort into taking Sohrab to the USA and giving him a better life.

Baba, the father of Amir and Hassan, also feels guilty for his affair with a servant’s wife. He considers it the worst sin he ever committed, and, in his desire to redeem himself, helps other people until the last days of his life. In contrast to his son Amir, Baba is a very independent and decisive person. However, it turned out that he was not brave enough to tell Amir and Hassan that they were brothers.

It is evident that Hassan and Amir have many differences. Even being unaware of the fact that Amir was his brother, he loved him and considered his best friend. He forgave Amir for his betrayals and was always ready to spend time with him. Amir, on the contrary, “never displayed his feelings toward Hassan” (Hosseini and Zohdi 2016, 37). It remains unclear if it is caused by the lack of Amir’s love for Hassan or by peculiarities of his personality. Being a very kind person, Hassan also forgave his mother, who left him when he was a child and sheltered her at his house during the war in the 1970s.

The main themes of the book are forgiveness and friendship. The author shows that for friendship, it does not matter if people have or do not have much in common. Hassan and Amir are two boys from two different worlds. Amir belongs to the aristocratic part of the society, while Hassan is from a low-income family of servants. Baba is a handsome man, and Hassan’s father is miserable and limp. Hassan has an ugly harelip, while the deformity of Amir is not noticeable from the outside. Despite all these differences, the two boys become soul mates and real friends. Unfortunately, Amir’s weakness and villainy trigger the end of their friendship. However, nothing can make Hassan stop communicating with his friend, even Amir’s betrayal. Being aware of every harmful deed done by Amir, Hassan is still looking up to Amir, ready to forgive him for everything. Thus, the author shows that forgiveness is the main element of people’s lives that helps individuals to build happiness.

The Kite Runner is one of the rare novels that invite readers to feel all the mental experience of the protagonist. This novel evokes a strong emotional response of readers and teaches them to be braver in some situations to avoid regrets in the future. It also shows that sometimes people neglect those who are sincere with them, and when they realize that they made a mistake, it is sometimes too late. This book shows the weaknesses and vices of human nature and makes readers think about their behavior.

It can be concluded that the novel The Kite Runner contains many significant ideas about people’s relationships. It teaches how important it is to forgive betrayals, love despite all, and bring goodness to this world. It also makes readers think about protagonists’ emotions and feelings and involves them in the process of reflections on their life. The author created an engaging narrative that should be read by both youth and adults because it raises questions that are always topical for all generations.

Hosseini, Akram, and Esmaeil Zohdi. 2016. “ The Kite Runner and the Problem of Racism and Ethnicity.” International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, vol. 74, 33-40.

Hosseini, Khaled. 2013. The Kite Runner. 10th ed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.

Khadawardi, Hesham. 2017. “Superego Guilt, Redemption and Atonement in Khaled Hosseini’s the Kite Runner .” International Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education 4 (2): 88-99.

Summary and Analysis of the Kite Runner: Based on the Book by Khaled Hosseini. 2016. New York: Worth Books.

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The Kite Runner

Introduction of the kite runner.

The Kite Runner is based on the childhood memories of Khaled Hosseini of his homeland, Afghanistan. It was published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, and immediately created ripples on the US shelves. The unusual appearance of the story seems to present the Afghan background, culture, and ethnic tensions in the city of Kabul and the country on a wider scale. Though it also encompasses the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Afghan cultural erosion, and Pakistan’s support of the refugees . The story revolves around the character of Amir and his friend Hassan in the same backdrop.

Summary of The Kite Runner

The storyline starts with Amir recalling 26-year old Afghanistan and picturing himself as a boy, living at a luxurious home with  Baba,  his father. Two servants, the father and the son, Ali, and Hassan from the Hazara community of northern Afghanistan are serving both of them. Even though Hassan was a servant boy, Baba would always let Hassan sit on his lap leaving no room for affection for Amir. Amir always wanted to win Baba’s validation since he was always condemned by him for being feminine because he was more interested in writing. Then he recalls, Rahim Khan, a friend of his Baba, who often visits them who Amir considered as a father figure as he felt more appreciated by him. Meanwhile, Assef the kid from the neighborhood who was half Pashtun himself who has a German mother always picked on Hassan because of his Hazara community.

The story, then, moves to the kiteflying tournament in which the boys participate using different tactics on the kite strings to cut off the kites of the opponents. The boys running after the cut-off kites are the kite runners. When Amir cuts off a kite, Hassan runs to catch it but finds himself trapped in a blind alley when Assef sodomizes him, and Amir pretends as nothing has happened as he feared his father’s anger for showing the act of cowardice. Later, he tries to get Hassan and Ali expelled by Baba by orchestrating the money stealing issue as he puts some money under the pillow of Hassan as he couldn’t live with the guilt. This incident makes them move away from each other.

It happens in 1981, then, when Baba and Amir are leaving Kabul after the USSR invasion. They reach Pakistan from where they leave for Fremont where Baba starts working and educating Amir who attends a college. With the passage of time, they meet other such immigrants among which General Taheri is important whose daughter Soraya also visits them. Both of them start meeting but their elders tell them that they would decide the issue of their marriage which is settled amicably. Although they start wedding preparations, Baba’s health suddenly deteriorates due to terminal cancer. Shortly, after the wedding, Baba dies. Amir and Soraya, then, face another misfortune of not able to bear children.

Time passes by quickly. It happens that Rahim Khan, after getting sick, calls Amir to visit him when he is in Pakistan. He tells him about the situation in Kabul. The departure of the Soviets and arrival of the Taliban has further played havoc with the city and life in general, he tells him adding when they left Kabul, he coaxes Hassan to come with his wife, Farzana live in Baba and Amir’s house and be a caretaker but the Taliban shot him and his wife dead in front of the whole street when he tried to stop them from confiscating the house. They left a baby Sohrab behind. Now Rahim wants Amir to bring Sohrab to Pakistan and who will be taken care of by a couple. He also reveals that Hassan was his half-brother, as he was Baba’s son from a Hazara lady, though Baba handed him over to Ali to bring him up, living close to him, to keep the issue under the carpet. Amir soon leaves for Afghanistan but finds nothing as he runs from pillar to post to find Sohrab after watching a gruesome scene of stoning a woman to death. The next day, he meets an official who takes him to meet Sohrab who appears feminine after having suffered several sexual attacks. Suddenly Amir senses that the official is Assef who starts beating Amir, while Sohrab shoots him with his slingshot in his eye. Meanwhile, they flee from the scene and reach Pakistan where he finds out that after all there was no one to take care of Sohrab.

Finally, Sohrab becomes their adopted son as Soraya and Amir take him in their fold. However, before taking him to the United States, they would have had to prepare papers for him. . When Amir tells Sohrab he’s going to put him briefly in an orphanage, Sohrab tries to commit suicide. When they take him to California after finally becoming successful in getting a visa for him, they visit a park where Sohrab who is his old mate Hassan’s son is now his son. flies a kite and starts a kite-cutting contest where he runs the kite for him saying, ‘For you, thousand times over.

Major Themes in The Kite Runner

  • Homeland: Love for one’s homeland is the major theme of the novel as Amir shows that though they live in luxury in Fermont in California, he longs to return to his land, Kabul, where he spent his childhood despite living and enjoying the freedom and open-minded society for having a choice. However, pangs of nostalgia force him to respond to the calls of Rahim from Pakistan and return to get Sohrab back to the United States. Amir later adopts him as a son. He does it wholeheartedly to compensate for the cruelty he demonstrated toward Hassan during his childhood – his own flesh and blood. Both Soraya, his wife, and he become quite happy and satisfied after making Sohrab a part of their family and teach him to fly a kite in California. At that moment, he finds that he feels at home after visiting his homeland.
  • Betrayal: The Kite Runner shows the thematic strand of betrayal through the characters of Baba, Amir, and Hassan. Baba betrays his wife from the Hazra community, and then leaves his son Hassan with Ali to fend off themselves. Amir betrays Hassan by leaving him in the cul de sac to fend off himself, though, Hassan has always stood by him through thick and thin. Unfortunately, Hassan dies leaving his son Sohrab to take care of himself. Although it is not a betrayal in that sense, yet Sohrab is left alone in the world.
  • Guilt and Redemption: The theme of guilt and its redemption occurs through the character of Baba who has a wife and a child in the city, living with him yet he does not dare own them publicly. However, later, he tries to redeem it by demonstrating his love for Hassan, yet that, too, does not prove fruitful, or of any use to him. It rather causes jealousy to Amir which he later redeems by taking Hassan’s son, Sohrab, out of Kabul to California.
  • Familial Relationships: The novel allows the readers to discover twisted familial relations through Baba, Hassan, Amir, and Sohrab. Baba has two sons, but he could only claim Amir and not Hassan who is from the mother , having considered lowly ethnic background. Therefore, Hassan becomes an outcast in the Kabul society despiting the son of an aristocrat, while Amir leaves for California with Baba. Later, when Amir and Soraya do not have their own children, Amir comes to take Sohrab back after the latter loses his father in the war-torn Kabul. These familial relations and their interaction become another theme of the novel.
  • Memory and Nostalgia: When Amir remembers Kabul while living in California, America , Baba narrates to him about Kabul and Afghan stories. Baba recollects those memories that keep haunting the old man and his son in the United States. The nostalgia forces Amir later to seek immediate flight to Pakistan, meet Rahim in Peshawar and pick up Sohrab in a daredevil feat. Even the taking of Sohrab to California is an action of effort to forget the nostalgia of leaving Kabul.
  • Kite Flying: The game of kite flying shows human effort, growth, aspirations, and love for each other. When Amir loves flying kites, Hassan stands by him in the flying contest and runs after kites for him. However, when it comes to Amir, he abandons Hassan with fear and hurry. Later, he redeems by rescuing Sohrab, Hassan’s son, when he takes him to California adopting him as his son.
  • Politics: The novel shows global politics at work due to its references to Communism, jihad , departure of Baba, and Amir to the United States and the free society of California. It tries to portray the United States as a paradise that extends refuge to people like Baba and Amir, from the war-torn Afghanistan, where even generals are roaming around. It also shows the ethnic fissures between the Pashtun, Hazara, and sectarian issues of Shia and Sunni that have led to the devastation of Afghanistan.
  • Racial Discrimination: Racial and ethnic discriminations continue to destroy the social fabric of Kabul and Afghanistan. Although Baba is quite liberal and possesses good fortune, he cannot dare to own Hassan as his son from a Hazara lady due to the reprisals from the Pashtuns. He can only extend his love. However, Amir does not fear taking Sohrab who is from Hazara ethnicity and brings him to live in the United States.
  • Marginalization of Femininity: The novel shows the marginality of the ethnicity and minority through the character of Hassan and Sanaubar. Hassan represents the ethnicity of Hazara and its significance in the Afghan social structure, while Sanaubar’s role and her story show the marginality of femininity.

 Major Characters in The Kite Runner

  • Amir: The main character and protagonist of The Kite Runner , Amir is Baba’s representative of the elite structure of Kabul having all the luxuries and privileges. Despite this, he feels detached from the existing realities and does not show bravery which Baba desires him to show when it comes to human contests. For example, he does not extend protection to Hassan or protects Hassan when others violate his honor, while Baba does not express pleasure over this betrayal. His attempt of insulting Hassan, though, emerges from his jealousy of Baba’s love for Hassan. Later, Amir repents and realizes his flaw, when he comes to meet Rahim in Peshawar to redeem himself from this guilt. Hence, he redeems himself when he takes Sohrab with him to California and plays kite flying with him in a park.
  • Hassan: Despite being subservient to Amir, Hassan’s character does not seem subdued by the circumstances. Belonging to a marginal ethnicity rather makes him a favorite character in the novel as he grows up under the shadow of Amir yet makes him seek Hassan’s support where he does not think himself fit to fight others. Even the end of the novel makes him repent over his prejudicial attitude toward Hassan, who is not present, yet his son Sohrab wins love from Amir as his adopted son.
  • Baba: Baba is a highly esoteric character in those several aspects of his personality emerge on the scene after his death. Amir comes to learn that Hassan was his son too, and he cannot reconcile with this idea. He wonders why he had never expressed the truth or treated him on equal footing with Amir as a son. However, he senses that his love for Hassan must have a cause behind it that he sees himself. Amir later learns that the old aristocrat from Kabul, perhaps, failed to adapt himself to the urban setup of Kabul where prejudice and malice still existed at that time. However, Baba might have seen that California would dispel these negative emotions from Amir and it proves right when Amir comes back to take Hassan’s son.
  • Rahim Khan: Rahim Khan’s character is also an important one. He asks Amir to visit Peshawar as he has some important news for him. He utilizes his old business terms with Baba and when Amir comes to meet him, he tells him the whole story behind Hassan and Baba’s relation and tries to make him understand the significance of Sohrab and his safety.
  • Sohrab: Hassan’s son Sohrab becomes significant in the novel in that Amir considers him his own son instead of just the son of his stepbrother, Hassan. Therefore, he does not leave any stone unturned to save him from the clutches of Assef when he visits Afghanistan for this very purpose at the request of Rahim Khan. Later, he provides Soraya and Amir a chance to win happiness.
  • Assef: Despite belonging to double ethnicities, Assef becomes a bully as well as a villain of The Kite Runner. His brass knuckles and his bullying makes him the bad character who demonstrates his anti-Hazara sentiments whenever an opportunity arises. He sexually molests Hassan, however, proves dear to him when it comes to Sohrab who is timely saved by Amir. In fact, he shows the unpleasant and dangerous side of life among the good characters of Amir, Soraya, and others.
  • Soraya: The significance of Soraya lies in that despite being a daughter of an ex-general, she happily marries Amir and agrees to adopt Sohrab when she knows that she can never bear a child. This kind act of the lady wins the heart of the readers by the end.
  • Ali: Despite being a secondary character, Ali has two drawbacks that force Baba to show his humane character. Not only is he limped, but also is a Hazara, and to top all this, he is a Shia. Almost all of these drawbacks make him a target during the melee following the chaos after the USSR invasion. However, he wins the love of Baba which reveals its cause later when Amir comes to take Sohrab to California.
  • Sanaubar and Farid: Sanaubar, though, appears for a brief period, is significant. She is Hassan’s mother and belongs to the Hazara community after marrying secretly to Baba, while the significance of Farid lies in his assistance extended to Amir when he comes to take Sohrab.

Writing Style of The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini adopted the personal and direct style in his novel, The Kite Runner. The main character, Amir, brings recollections out of his sunken memory presented as long flashbacks , bordering hyperbolic use of personal memories. As Khaled is an ESL speaker , his diction is mostly formal, though, occasionally he has resorted to shaping English to demonstrate the true Afghani cultural nuances in the globalized American value structure. However, the self-translation of one cultural construct might have hampered his abilities. Therefore, the novel mostly seems written in formal language though somewhat broken and choppy dialogs of Assef and other characters living in the vicinity of Kabul shows Khaled Hosseini’s real intention in writing personal memories in the global language. Therefore, this style of writing in formal English suits his requirements.

Analysis of Literary Devices in The Kite Runner  

  • Action: The main action of the novel comprises Amir’s migration to California with Baba and then return to Kabul through Peshawar to take Sohrab, Hassan’s son with him. The rising action occurs when Amir sees that Hassan becoming the victim of bullying, yet he does not come to help him. The falling action occurs when Baba and Amir leave Kabul for the United States.
  • Anaphora : The Kite Runner shows the use of anaphora . For example, i. I looked up at those twin kites. I thought about Hassan. Thought about Baba. Ali. Kabul. I thought of the life I had lived until the winter of 1975 came along and changed everything. (One) The sentence shows the repetitious use of “I thought.”
  • Antagonist : The Kite Runner shows the character of Assef, Russian soldiers, and the Kabul elite as the main antagonists on account of their bad behavior toward Baba, Hassan, and the ethnic Hazra community.
  • Allusion : There are a good number of examples of allusions in the novel. i. After I hung up, I went for a walk along Spreckels Lake on the northern edge of Golden Gate Park. (One) ii. … can still see Hassan up on that tree, sunlight flickering through the leaves on his almost perfectly round face, a face like a Chinese doll chiseled from hardwood: his flat, broad nose and slanting, narrow eyes like bamboo leaves, eyes that looked, depending on the light, gold, green, even sapphire. (Two) iii. Gold-stitched tapestries, which Baba had bought in Calcutta, lined the walls; a crystal chandelier hung from the vaulted ceiling. (Two) iv. I remember the day before the orphanage opened, Baba took me to Ghargha Lake, a few miles north of Kabul. (Three) v. He told us one day that Islam considered drinking a terrible sin; those who drank would answer for their sin on the day of Qiyamat, Judgment Day. (Three) vi. We saw Rio Bravo three times, but we saw our favorite Western, The  Magnificent Seven, thirteen times. With each viewing, we cried at the end when the Mexican kids buried Charles Bronson—who, as it turned out, wasn’t Iranian either. (Three) The first two allusions are related to geographical points, while the third and fourth are related to Indian and Afghan landmarks and the last one is related to the theological concept of Islam. However, the last one shows cross -cultural allusions; American, Mexican, and Iranians.
  • Conflict : The are two types of conflicts in the novel . The first one is the external conflict that is going on between the local Afghan elite society and the foreign conspirators. Another conflict is in the mind of Amir about his position as a boy, his gentlemanly learning, and his behavior toward Hassan, his half-brother.
  • Characters: The Kite Runner presents both static as well as dynamic characters. The young man, Amir, is a dynamic character as he faces a huge transformation during his growth and migration from Afghanistan to the United States. However, the rest of the characters do not see any change in their behavior, as they are static characters like Sanauber, Ali, Rahim Khan, Baba, and even Hassan.
  • Climax : The climax takes place when Amir returns to Kabul to take Sohrab, son of Hassan, his half-brother, to the United States.
  • Foreshadowing : The novel shows the following examples of foreshadowing . i. I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. (One) ii. When we were children, Hassan and I used to climb the poplar trees in the driveway of my father’s house and annoy our neighbors by reflecting sunlight into their homes with a shard of mirror. (Two) iii. It was Rahim Khan who first referred to him as what eventually became Baba’s famous nickname, Toophan agha, or “Mr. Hurricane.”. (Three) These quotes from The Kite Runner foreshadow the coming events.
  • Hyperbole : Hyperbole or exaggeration occurs in the novel at various places. For example, i. At parties, when all six- foot -five of him thundered into the room, attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun. (Three) ii. The generation of Afghan children whose ears would know nothing but the sounds of bombs and gunfire was not yet born. (Five) These sentences are hyperboles. The first one shows how Baba’s figure has been exaggerated by comparing him with the sun, while the second shows exaggeration about the Afghan nation.
  • Imagery : Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, i. Sitting cross-legged, sunlight and shadows of pomegranate leaves dancing on his face, Hassan absently plucked blades of grass from the ground as I read him stories he couldn’t read for himself. (Three). ii. Something roared like thunder. The earth shook a little and we heard the rat-a-tat-tat of gunfire. “Father!” Hassan cried. We sprung to our feet and raced out of the living room. We found Ali hobbling frantically across the foyer. (Four) iii. The streets glistened with fresh snow and the sky was a blameless blue. Snow blanketed every rooftop and weighed on the branches of the stunted mulberry trees that lined our street. Overnight, snow had nudged its way into every crack and gutter.(Seven) The imagery shows the use of images of sound, color, and nature.
  • Metaphor : The Kite Runner shows good use of various metaphors such as, i. My father was a force of nature, a towering Pashtun specimen with a thick beard, a wayward crop of curly brown hair as unruly as the man himself. (Three) ii. Just before sunrise, Baba’s car peeled into the driveway. (Five) iii. Outside the walls of that house, there was a war raging. (Sixteen) The first example shows the father compared to a model, the second sun to a knife, and the third war to a furious person or bull.
  • Mood : The novel shows various moods in the beginning; nostalgic, neutral, and indifferent, but it turns out tragic and at times darkly humorous when the tragic tale of Farzana, Hassan, and Sanauber are told, and when Rahim calls Amir to save Sohrab from abuse.
  • Motif : Most important motifs of the novel are pomegranate, kite, kite contestants, migration, and seasons.
  • Narrator : The novel is narrated from the first-person point of view , Amir.
  • Protagonist : Amir is the protagonist of the novel. The novel starts with his entry, reminiscing about Kabul and his life in that city and ends with his memories of the same thing after looking at Sohrab flying his kite.
  • Parallelism : The novel shows parallelism in the following examples, In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing. (Four).
  • Rhetorical Questions : The novel shows good use of rhetorical questions at several places such as, i. She had a large purple bruise on her leg for days but what could I do except stand and watch my wife get beaten? If I fought, that dog would have surely put a bullet in me, and gladly! Then what would happen to my Sohrab? (Seventeen) ii. How could I have been so blind? The signs had been there for me to see all along; they came flying back at me now:  (Eighteen) iii. In his rearview mirror, I saw something flash in his eyes. “You want to know?” he sneered. “Let me imagine, Agha sahib. You probably lived in a big two- or three-story house with a nice backyard that your gardener filled with flowers and fruit trees.  (Nineteen) This example shows the use of rhetorical questions posed but different characters not to elicit answers but to stress upon the underlined idea.
  • Setting : The setting of the novel spread over three countries; Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States.
  • Simile : The novel shows good use of various similes. For example, i. So I read him unchallenging things, like the misadventures of the bumbling Mullah Nasruddin and his donkey. (Four) ii. Something roared like thunder. (Five) iii. Flanked by his obeying friends, he walked the neighborhood like a Khan strolling through his land with his eager-to-please entourage. (Six). These are similes as the use of the word “like” shows the comparison between different things.

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the kite runner introduction essay

The Kite Runner

Khaled hosseini, everything you need for every book you read..

The narrator, Amir , grows up in a luxurious home in Kabul, Afghanistan, with his father Baba . They have two Hazara (an ethnic minority) servants, Ali and his son Hassan , who is Amir’s closest playmate. Amir feels he is a disappointing son to Baba, but he is close to Baba’s friend Rahim Khan . Amir and Hassan fly kites and read stories together, though Hassan does chores while Amir goes to school. One day three boys named Assef , Wali , and Kamal threaten Amir, but Hassan scares them away with his slingshot.

In the winter there is a big kite-fighting tournament where boys try to cut each other’s kites with glass-covered strings, and then “kite runners” chase after the fallen kites. Amir wins the tournament, and then Hassan goes to retrieve the losing kite. When Amir goes after Hassan he finds him in an alley, trapped by Assef, Wali, and Kamal. Amir watches as Kamal and Wali hold Hassan down and Assef rapes him. Amir runs away, and later both he and Hassan pretend nothing has happened.

Amir and Hassan soon drift apart. Amir is tormented by guilt, and he decides to make Hassan leave the house. He hides some money under Hassan’s mattress and tells Baba that he stole it, and Hassan doesn’t deny it. Baba forgives Hassan, but Ali and Hassan leave the household.

In 1981, Baba and Amir flee Kabul, which has been invaded by the Soviets. They eventually make it to Pakistan, and months later move to Fremont, California. Baba works at a gas station and Amir finishes high school and then studies writing at college. Baba and Amir sell things at a flea market, where Amir starts noticing Soraya , the daughter of Baba’s friend General Taheri . After much delaying, Amir starts courting her. Soon afterward Baba is diagnosed with lung cancer. Amir asks Baba if he will ask General Taheri to let him marry Soraya. General Taheri accepts, and Amir and Soraya get married soon after. Baba is pleased with Amir’s marriage, and he dies a month later. Amir gets his first book published and he and Soraya start trying, unsuccessfully, to conceive. Meanwhile, the Soviets are driven out of Afghanistan.

One day Amir gets a call from Rahim Khan, who is dying and asks Amir to come to Pakistan. Once Amir arrives, Rahim Khan tells him about the horrors of the Taliban regime and war-torn Kabul. Rahim Khan says he had been watching Baba’s house for a while, but then found Hassan and convinced him and his wife Farzana to come back to Kabul. Later Farzana had a boy, Sohrab . After Rahim Khan went to Pakistan he learned that Hassan and Farzana were executed by the Taliban, and Sohrab was sent to an orphanage.

Rahim Khan asks Amir to go to Kabul and find Sohrab, saying this is Amir’s chance to “be good again.” He also reveals that Baba was Hassan’s true father. Amir agrees to go, and he finds the orphanage where Sohrab was supposed to be, but learns that a Taliban official took him away a month earlier. Amir (and his companion Farid ) go to a soccer game, where at halftime the official they are looking for executes a man and woman.

Amir meets the official and the man calls in Sohrab, who has clearly been sexually abused. The official then reveals himself as Assef, and he beats Amir with his brass knuckles until Sohrab shoots him in the eye with his slingshot. Amir and Sohrab escape and Amir recovers in Pakistan. Amir then asks Sohrab to come back to the U.S. with him, and Sohrab hesitantly accepts.

Amir discovers it will be almost impossible for him to adopt Sohrab, and he tells him he might have to go back to an orphanage. Soraya figures out how to get Sohrab an American visa, but then Amir finds Sohrab has tried to kill himself. Sohrab survives, but stops speaking altogether. Amir brings Sohrab to California, but he remains silent and withdrawn. One day they are at a park and some Afghans are flying kites. Amir buys one, and he and Sohrab fight another kite and cut it. Sohrab smiles, and Amir goes to run the kite for him.

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The Kite Runner

By khaled hosseini.

  • The Kite Runner Summary

The story is narrated from the year 2002. Amir , who is thus far a nameless protagonist, tells us that an event in the winter of 1975 changed his life forever. We do not know anything about this event except that it still haunts him and that it involves something he did to Hassan , whom he calls "the harelipped kite runner." Amir takes us back to his childhood, in the final decades of the monarchy in Afghanistan. His father, Baba , was one of the wealthiest and most charitable Pashtun men in Kabul, where they lived in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood. His mother died in childbirth. Amir's closest friend, the harelipped Hassan, was also his servant and a Hazara. He was very close to his father, Ali , who was Baba's servant.

Despite their differences, Amir and Hassan were inseparable. Hassan would have done anything for Amir; his first word was even "Amir." Baba was aloof and did not pay Amir much attention. He was a huge and imposing man who was rumored to have wrestled a bear. Baba did not subscribe to popular belief, preferring to cast his own opinions about issues. Baba wished Amir was athletic and brave like him instead of cowardly and bookish.

Amir explains how Ali and Baba knew each other. Baba's father took Ali into his house after Ali's parents were killed in an accident. Ali and Baba grew up together just like Hassan and Amir. In each generation, the boys could never truly consider themselves friends because of their class differences. One big difference divider was literacy. Amir was proud of his literacy and lorded it over the unsuspecting, illiterate Hassan. Yet when Amir wrote his first short story and read it to Hassan, it was the latter who found the plot hole in the story.

That same night, July 17, 1973, there was a coup d'etat in Afghanistan, changing it from a monarchy to a republic. Unbeknownst to the boys or anyone else, it was the first of many political changes that would eventually ruin Afghanistan as they knew it. One day, Amir and Hassan got into a confrontation with a boy named Assef and his two friends. Assef idolized Hitler and hated Hazaras. As usual, Hassan stood up for Amir; he got Assef to leave by aiming his slingshot at Assef's eye. That same year, Baba got Hassan surgery to fix his harelip.

In the winter, schools were closed in Kabul and the boys spent much time kite fighting. When defeated kites fell out of the sky, boys chased them to try to bring them home as trophies. They were called "kite runners." Amir usually flew a kite while Hassan ran kites for him. Hassan was the best kite runner anyone had ever seen. He had an innate sense of where a kite would land.

In the winter of 1975, there was a massive kite tournament. Amazingly, Amir won, and Hassan went to run the last kite for him. Before he chased it, he shouted, "For you, a thousand times over." When Hassan did not come home, Amir went out looking for him. He found Hassan confronting Assef and his two friends in an alley. Amir did nothing to help Hassan as Assef raped him. Later he found Hassan walking home, kite in hand, with blood dripping from his pants. He pretended not to know what happened and did not tell Ali the truth when he asked.

After the kite tournament, Amir's relationship with his father improved because Baba was so proud of him. His relationship with Hassan degraded. Amir was too ashamed of what he had done to face Hassan and avoided him at all costs. One day he even suggested to Baba that they get new servants. To his surprise, Baba was furious and threatened to hit Amir for the first time. He said that Ali and Hassan were their family. Amir tried to resolve his guilt by teaching Hassan not to be so loyal to him. He took Hassan up to the hill and pelted him with pomegranates. No matter how much he begged, Hassan would not hit him back. Hassan smashed a pomegranate into his own forehead and asked Amir if he felt better.

Amir's guilt intensified at the lavish thirteenth birthday party that Baba threw for him. He knew Baba never would have given him such a great party had he not won the tournament, which was inseparable in his mind from Hassan's rape. Assef came to the party and gave Amir a book about Hitler. Amir was disgusted to see him teasing Hassan during the party. Baba gave Amir a wristwatch. Rahim Khan gave him the only present he could bear to use, which was a blank notebook for his stories. He also received a good deal of money. To his chagrin, Ali and Hassan gave him a copy of his and Hassan's favorite book. After the party, Amir decided to betray Hassan a second time and frame him as a thief. He hid his wristwatch and money under Hassan and Ali's mattress. The next morning, he accused Hassan, who took the blame as usual. Baba forgave him immediately, but Hassan and Ali were too humiliated to stay. As they left, Amir saw Baba weep for the first time. They never saw Ali or Hassan again.

Five years later, during the Soviet occupation, Amir and Baba fled Afghanistan in a truck full of refugees. When they reached a checkpoint, a Russian soldier demanded to sleep with one of them, a married woman. Baba stood up for her even though the soldier was armed. They were allowed to pass. After hiding in a basement in Jalalabad, they departed for Peshawar, Pakistan in the filthy tank of a fuel truck. Among the refugees were Amir's schoolmate, Kamal, and his father. When they arrived, they discovered that Kamal was dead. Kamal's father put a gun in his mouth and shot himself. Luckily, Amir and Baba managed to emigrate to the San Francisco area.

Baba and Amir's life in Fremont, California was very different from their life in Wazir Akbar Khan. Baba worked long hours at a gas station and even though he loved "the idea of America," had trouble adjusting to its everyday realities. For Amir, America represented a fresh beginning, free of all his haunting memories of Hassan. He graduated high school at the age of twenty and planned to enroll in junior college. His graduation gave Baba a reason to celebrate, but he said he wished Hassan were with them. Eventually, Baba and Amir started selling used goods at a local flea market. They found it to be a miniature Afghan haven, filled with people they knew from Kabul.

At the flea market, Amir fell in love with a young woman named Soraya Taheri. Around the same time, Baba got sick. A doctor diagnosed Baba with terminal cancer and Baba refused palliative treatments. Then one day Baba collapsed with seizures in the flea market; the cancer had spread to his brain and he did not have long to live. Very soon after, Amir asked Baba to go khastegari, to ask for Soraya's hand in marriage. The Taheris accepted happily. Over the phone, Soraya told Amir her shameful secret. She had once run away with an Afghan man. When General Taheri finally forced her to come home, she had to cut off all her hair in shame. Amir told Soraya he still wanted to marry her. He felt ashamed that he could not bring himself to tell her his secret in return.

After khastegari came lafz, "the ceremony of giving word." Because Baba was so ill, Soraya and Amir decided to forgo the Shirini-kori, the traditional engagement party, as well as the engagement period. Baba spent almost all his money on the awroussi, the wedding ceremony. Soraya moved in with Amir and Baba so they could spend his last days together. She took care of him until the night he died peacefully in his sleep.

Many people attended Baba's funeral, each with a story of how Baba had helped them in Afghanistan. Suddenly, Amir realized that he had formed his identity around being "Baba's son." Amir and Soraya moved into their own apartment and worked towards their college degrees. In 1988, Amir published his first novel. Around the same time, the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, but new conflicts erupted. Soon after, the Cold War ended, the Berlin Wall fell, and the riots occurred in Tiananmen Square. In San Francisco, Amir and Soraya bought a house and discovered they were infertile. There was no medical explanation for the infertility, so Amir privately blamed it on his own shameful past.

One day, Amir received a call from Rahim Khan. He was seriously ill and was living in Peshawar. He told Amir, "There is a way to be good again." Amir flew to Peshawar to see Rahim Khan, who told him that he was dying. He explained that the Taliban had destroyed Afghanistan as they knew it and the people there were in grave danger. For a chapter, Rahim Khan becomes the narrator and tells Amir about what happened to Hassan. For a long time, Rahim Khan had lived in Baba's house alone, but he became weak and lonely. In 1986 he went looking for Hassan and found him living in a small village with his pregnant wife, Farzana. Hassan did not want to come to Wazir Akbar Khan until Rahim Khan told him about Baba's death. Hassan cried all night and in the morning, he and Farzana moved in with Rahim Khan.

Hassan and Farzana insisted on staying in the servants' hut and doing housework. Farzana's first baby was stillborn. One day, Sanaubar collapsed at the gate of the house. She had traveled a long way to finally make peace with Hassan, who accepted her with open arms. Sanaubar delivered Hassan and Farzana's son, Sohrab and played a large part in raising him. She died when he was four. Hassan made sure that Sohrab was loved, literate, and great with a slingshot. When the Taliban took over in 1996, people celebrated, but Hassan predicted that things would get worse, as they did. In 198, the Taliban massacred the Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharif.

Rahim Khan gave Amir a letter that Hassan had written six months earlier along with a snapshot of him and Sohrab. In the letter, Hassan described the terror of living under the Taliban. He said he hoped Amir would return to Afghanistan and that they would reunite. Then Rahim Khan devastated Amir with the news that Hassan was dead. After Rahim Khan left to seek medical treatment in Pakistan, the Taliban showed up at Baba's house. They demanded that Hassan relinquish the house to them. When he refused, they took him to the street, made him kneel, and shot him in the back of the head. They shot Farzana too when she ran out of the house in a rage.

Rahim Khan asked Amir to go to Kabul and bring Sohrab back to Peshawar. He said that a nice American couple, the Caldwells, had a goodwill organization and would take care of him there. When Amir refused, Rahim Khan told him a life-changing secret: he and Hassan were half-brothers. Baba had shamed Ali by sleeping with Sanaubar, and because Ali was infertile, Hassan had to be Baba's son. Amir flew into a rage and ran out of Rahim Khan's apartment. After thinking things over at a café, he returned and said he would bring Sohrab to Peshawar.

A driver named Farid drove Amir from Peshawar. He looked down on Amir for leaving Afghanistan because he had stayed to fight the Soviets and suffered along with his country. He even told Amir that he had never been a real Afghan because he grew up with so many privileges. Amir did feel like a foreigner because he had to wear a fake beard and was dressed in traditional Afghan clothing for the first time. He barely recognized the landscape around him because it was so ravaged by war. They spent the night with Farid's brother, Wahid . Wahid's boys were malnourished and later that night, Amir heard one of his two wives complaining that he had given all the food to their guests. The next morning, Amir hid money under Wahid's mattress before they left.

The devastation in Kabul took Amir's breath away. Children and mothers begged on every street corner, and there were few men to be seen because so many had died fighting. Amir met an old beggar who was once a professor at the university alongside Amir's mother. Amir learns only a few random facts about his mother from the man, but this is still more than Baba ever told him. At the orphanage in Karteh-Seh, Farid and Amir discovered that a Talib official who was a pedophile had taken Sohrab a month before. Farid was so enranged at the man that he tried to strangle him to death, but Amir intervened. The man told them they could find the Talib at Ghazi Stadium. Farid drove Amir to Baba's house, which had become decrepit and was occupied by the Taliban. He and Farid spent the night in a run-down hotel.

Farid and Amir went to a soccer game at Ghazi Stadium. At halftime, the Talibs brought two accused adulterers out to the field and made them stand in pits in the ground. Then the Talib official came out and stoned them to death. Amir managed to make an appointment with this Talib for the same day. Farid drove him there, but Amir went in alone. The Talib had his men rip off Amir's fake beard. Then he called in Sohrab and made him dance for them. Sohrab looked terrified. Amir was horrified to discover that the Talib was Assef. Assef explained that he was on a mission to kill all the Hazaras in Afghanistan. Then he announced that he and Amir would fight to the death and none of his guards were to intervene. Sohrab was made to watch as Assef beat Amir nearly to death. As Assef straddled Amir, preparing to punch him again, Sohrab aimed his slingshot at Assef's eye and begged him to stop. When he did not, Sohrab put out his eye. Farid drove them away and Amir passed out.

Amir flitted in and out of consciousness in the Pakistani hospital where Farid took him. He dreamed about Baba fighting the bear, and realized that he was Baba. When he finally came to, he found out that he had almost died of a ruptured spleen. He had broken his ribs and a bone in his face and he had a punctured lung, among other injuries. Most poignantly, Amir's lip had split open to make him resemble Hassan. Sohrab visited Amir in the hospital but did not talk much. Farid brought a letter and a key from Rahim Khan. In the letter, Rahim urged Amir to forgive himself for what he did to Hassan. He had left Amir money in a safety deposit box, which the key would open.

Amir had to leave the hospital early in order to avoid being found and killed by Taliban sympathizers. He and Sohrab stayed at a hotel in Islamabad. The first night, Amir woke up to find Sohrab gone. After hours of searching he found him staring up at the city's big Shah Faisal mosque. Sohrab revealed that he was afraid God would punish him for what he did to Assef. He felt dirty and sinful from being abused. Amir tried to reassure him and promised to take him to America. He also promised Sohrab that he would never have to go to another orphanage. That night, Amir spoke to Soraya. After all their years of marriage, he finally told her what he did to Hassan. Then he told her he was bringing Sohrab home. Soraya was very supportive and promised to call her cousin Sharif, who worked for the INS.

At the American Embassy, an official named Raymond Andrews told Amir that it would be near impossible to get Sohrab a visa. To Amir's disgust, he told him to give up. Then a kind lawyer named Omar Faisal told Amir that he might have a chance of adopting Sohrab if he put him in an orphanage temporarily. When Amir told Sohrab about the orphanage, the boy was devastated. Amir rocked him to sleep and fell asleep as well. Soraya's call woke Amir. She explained that Sharif would be able to get Sohrab a visa. Realizing Sohrab was in the bath, Amir went in to tell him the good news. He found him dying in the bathtub, having slit his wrists.

In the hospital waiting for news about Sohrab, Amir prayed for the first time in fifteen years. He begged God to let Sohrab live because he did not want his blood on his hands. Eventually, he received the good news that Sohrab was alive.

The story jumps to the present year, 2002. Sohrab and Amir were able to come back to America safely. It had now been a year since they arrived and Sohrab had not spoken once. He barely seemed to have a will to live. Amir kept Sohrab's past secret from the Taheris until General Taheri called him a "Hazara boy." Amir was furious; he told the general never to refer to Amir that way again. Then he explained that Sohrab was his illegitimate half-nephew. General Taheri stopped asking questions after that. After September 11, General Taheri was called back to Afghanistan. In the wake of what happened, Amir found it strange to hear people on the news and on the street talking about the cities of his childhood. It saddened him to know that his country was still beind devastated after so many decades of violence. Then one day, a miracle happened.

At a rainy Afghan picnic, Amir noticed kites flying in the sky. He bought one and went over to Sohrab, who had secluded himself as usual. He told Sohrab that Hassan was the best kite runner he had ever known and asked Sohrab if he wanted to fly the kite. Sohrab was shy, but he followed Amir as he launched the kite into the air. Soon after, they noticed a green kite closing in on theirs. Amir used Hassan's favorite "lift-and-dive" move to cut the kite. Amir noticed the smallest hint of a smile on Sohrab's face. He offered to run the kite for Sohrab and as he ran off, he shouted, "For you, a thousand times over."

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The Kite Runner Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Kite Runner is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini chapter 2&3

I'm not sure what your question is here.

Baba gets lung cancer. What has Baba been trying to teach Amir?

He wants to teach Amir how to be on his own.

What must grooms do before they ask a girl to wed?

Grooms must ask the father's (of the bride) permission first.

Study Guide for The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner study guide contains a biography of Khaled Hosseini, 100 quiz questions, a list of major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

  • About The Kite Runner
  • Character List

Essays for The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

  • Amir’s Quest for Salvation in The Kite Runner
  • A Journey for Redemption in The Kite Runner
  • Redemption in Kahled Hosseini's The Kite Runner
  • Assef: Why Is He the Way He Is?
  • Emotional Intertextuality Between Death of a Salesman and The Kite Runner

Lesson Plan for The Kite Runner

  • About the Author
  • Study Objectives
  • Common Core Standards
  • Introduction to The Kite Runner
  • Relationship to Other Books
  • Bringing in Technology
  • Notes to the Teacher
  • Related Links
  • The Kite Runner Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Kite Runner

  • Introduction
  • Composition and publication
  • Plot summary

the kite runner introduction essay

The Kite Runner

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91 pages • 3 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-13

Chapters 14-17

Chapters 18-19

Chapters 20-23

Chapters 24-25

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

Khaled Hosseini’s debut novel, The Kite Runner , was published in 2003, two years after the events of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the US invasion of Afghanistan. Hosseini, the son of a diplomat for the Afghan Foreign Ministry, was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and relocated to France as a child. When Afghanistan was thrown into turmoil by the Soviet occupation at the height of the Cold War, Hosseini’s family was granted asylum in the United States and settled in San Jose, California. Decades later, upon reading that the Taliban had outlawed kite fighting in Afghanistan, Hosseini penned a short story he later expanded into the novel The Kite Runner . This study guide is based on the 2020 Kindle edition of the book.

In The Kite Runner , Hosseini uses his intimate knowledge of the culture, its customs, and its people to break down stereotypical depictions of Afghanistan in Western media. Framed as a story of fathers and sons, the novel explores the region’s turbulent history of ground wars following the fall of the monarchy through to the Taliban control, illustrating and defining the lives of Afghani people interrupted by war.

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Plot Summary

The narrative follows two friends, Amir—who narrates in the first person—and Hassan . Although they do not know it when the narrative begins, Amir and Hassan are half-brothers by the same father, Baba , who lied to hide a secret affair he had with his servant’s wife. Hassan is an ethnic Hazara and a Shi’a Muslim, while Amir, the protagonist , is Pashtun. Although they exist in separate strata of society, the two are inseparable. When Amir runs afoul of Assef , a blond, blue-eyed Pashtun, Hassan appears from behind Amir with his slingshot and threatens to take Assef’s left eye if he does not leave them alone. This encounter begins a cycle of violence that cascades through the novel, spanning out into their adult lives.

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In the wintertime in Kabul, neighborhood children compete in a kite fighting tournament wherein kite fighters position their glass string to cut rival kites out of the sky. Kite runners chase the last kite of a tournament, a coveted trophy. When Amir wins the kite fighting tournament in the winter of 1975, Amir and Hassan are briefly separated in the frenzy of celebration. Amir finds Hassan cornered in a blind alley by Assef, having run the last kite. Assef pins and rapes Hassan, but Amir never intervenes and never tells anyone, consumed by his want of the kite—in his eyes , a token through which he can gain Baba’s affection.

Unable to cope with his secret guilt, Amir distances himself from Hassan. However, Hassan and his father, Ali , are a constant presence as they tend the grounds of Baba’s home. As Amir’s guilt intensifies, he frames Hassan for theft—a sin Baba has told him is the worst of all sins. When Baba confronts Ali and Hassan about the stolen contraband, Amir is shocked to hear Hassan confess to the theft. Hassan’s false confession is his final act of loyalty to Amir. Despite Baba’s immediate forgiveness, Ali says that living in Baba’s home has become impossible. Although Baba begs them to stay, Baba and Amir never see Ali or Hassan alive again. 

Amir and Baba flee Afghanistan following a destructive Russian invasion in the 1980s, relocating in California. In 2001, Amir learns from Baba’s friend and business partner that Hassan returned to Baba’s house in the late 1980s but was executed by the Taliban, orphaning his young son, Sohrab . When Rahim Khan tells Amir that Hassan was his half-brother, Amir decides he has no other recourse but to journey back to Kabul to retrieve his nephew. 

Amir returns to Kabul and finds that the Afghanistan of his childhood has been battered into a dangerous war zone patrolled by vicious Taliban extremists. He learns Sohrab has been sold into sexual slavery, purchased by a brutal Taliban official who regularly preys on children at a dilapidated warehouse converted into an orphanage. Amir’s guide arranges a meeting with the Taliban official, bringing Amir face to face with an old nemesis, Assef, who believes he has been chosen by God to ethnically purify Afghanistan. Amir offers to pay for Sohrab, but Assef means to make good on his threat to meet Amir in combat, stating that he can leave with Sohrab only after they fight to the death. In the struggle, Amir is gravely wounded, but Sohrab saves him with a slingshot that he fires into Assef’s left eye. 

After Amir recovers in a hospital, he promises Sohrab he will not allow him to go back to an orphanage. However, the legal path to bringing Sohrab to the United States is murky. After a meeting with an immigration lawyer, Amir decides his best chance at leaving Afghanistan with Sohrab is to place him in an orphanage and file a petition. Sohrab is frantic at the news. Soon, however, Amir learns that he can petition Sohrab’s visa after the boy arrives in America. Overjoyed, Amir rushes to tell Sohrab the good news but finds Sohrab has cut his wrists.

In the hospital, Sohrab recovers, but he is stricken with the various traumas of his life and will no longer speak. In America, Amir and his wife, Soraya, adopt Sohrab, but Sohrab is despondent. Amir brings Sohrab on a family outing to join fellow Afghans for a communal cookout to play Afghan music and fly kites following the events of September 11, 2001. A small tournament of kite fighters has formed, and Amir buys a kite for Sohrab. Sohrab is cautious at first but obviously intrigued. When they cut a kite down together, Amir asks Sohrab if he would like him to run it for him, prompting Sohrab to fleetingly smile—a sign of hope in a novel about childhoods disrupted by violence and trauma.

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“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini Book Report

Introduction.

Betrayal is a universal human experience that we don’t typically think about, but that permeates the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Although we are all likely to experience betrayal at some point in our lives, Hosseini also provides us with a means of defeating it through loyalty and love. This is what quality literature is supposed to do as it explores universal truths of the human experience by focusing on a particular character or set of characters that are placed in a setting conducive to relating the author’s ideas. In other words, by telling the story of a particular character, the author is able to pull out elements of the story that are experienced by many people around the world. In helping his character find peace and direction, the author allows the reader to make their own personal identification with the character so, as the main character finally reaches the happy conclusion, the reader may be able to also find pathways to the kind of peace and direction they have been seeking. In realizing some of the mistakes and foolish thinking found in the character, the reader is able to identify some of these same traits in themselves and thus be more able to make positive changes. Whether the author does this intentionally or not, this tends to be the case if the human condition of the character is fully explored as it is in Housseini’s book. In many ways, the culture and heritage of the author are also reflected as the important issues to the culture become the important issues to the author because they have an effect on how the author, and the other people who share his world, experience life.

When this literature makes it into the hands of people who do not share this same culture, either because the passage of time has served to shift people’s perspectives or the crossing of borders has introduced new thoughts, the reader is able to gain a closer understanding of how others might see the world differently. As a result of this seemingly contradictory combination of foreign importance and shared experience, a new understanding seems to blossom in which the terrifying aspects of the foreign melt away into the common experience of being simply human. Just like the reader, the character and others of his or her culture are seen to be attempting to discover clear definition in a world that is constantly changing and in which there are no clear lines. This is the impression received when one reads a book such as this one. A summary of the story and a quick investigation of the history of the region reveal that betrayal played a significant role in the national and personal lives of Afghanistan. At the same time, a more in-depth look at the betrayal found within the story demonstrates how love and loyalty can defeat the pain betrayal leaves behind. The experience of the story on the typical English-speaking reader, as they are first introduced to a mostly foreign culture in the pages of the book, also serves to demonstrate the way in which love and persistence can bridge the gap of many misunderstandings. The Kite Runner explores the culture and history of Afghanistan through the eyes of its central character, showing how the pain of betrayal has long arms but the love of loyalty can save.

The story begins when the narrator, Amir, is supposedly 38 years old and the tale he tells is essentially a flashback over the events of his life that have brought him to this point. Amir reveals the affluent lifestyle he lived as a child in a sprawling mansion with just his father who was served by a Hazara servant named Ali. Amir’s mother had died giving birth to him and he always felt his father held that somewhat against him although it was never explicitly stated. The infant nursed on the breast of a servant woman who was also hired a year later to nurse Ali’s son Hassan and the two boys, who had fed from the same breast, grew up together on Baba’s property. Although life was sweet, it had its darker elements, such as the near-slave status of the Hazara people, including Hassan, and the cruelty that lurked in the hearts of schoolmates of Amir’s such as Assef. It is Assef who brings about the life-changing event just as Amir is about to win his father’s approval for winning the kite fight. Hassan, as the kite runner, goes to collect the winning kite but is detained by Assef and his friends. Amir finds his friend cornered in an alley just before Assef decides to rape him. Although Hassan had once stood up for Amir in this type of situation, Amir hides behind the wall and then pretends he was unaware of what happened. Because of his guilt and shame, Amir contrives to get rid of Hassan by framing him for robbery. Although this doesn’t cause Baba to send Hassan away, Ali takes Hassan away anyway and Amir is left alone with his guilt.

After setting up these important foundational elements of his life, Amir relates how his life was turned upside down again when the Russians invade Afghanistan. Baba and Amir manage to escape the country by traveling to Pakistan and then on to America. They settle in a run-down apartment in California and take up a subsistence style lifestyle. Amir attends junior college while Baba works at a convenience store. They haunt garage sales on Saturdays and attempt to sell trash things on Sundays at a swap meet. This is where Amir meets Soraya, the daughter of another prominent Afghan citizen made poor by the war. As Amir begins his writing career, his father is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. His last significant act before he dies is he asks Soraya’s father for her hand in marriage to Amir. The newlyweds care for the ailing father until he dies and then they spend many happy years together as Amir’s career grows and Soraya works as a schoolteacher. Their one regret is that they are unable to have children. This idyllic existence is brought to a close when Amir receives a phone call from his father’s old friend Rahim Khan. Amir must travel back to Pakistan to learn what the dying Rahim wishes to tell him.

When he arrives, Amir learns that Ali had been killed long ago by a land mine and Hassan had married a woman and moved back to the servant’s hut he lived in as a boy. The couple had a stillborn daughter followed by a healthy son, but Hassan and his wife were killed when they refused to give up Amir’s house to the Taliban. The son, Sohrab, was taken to an orphanage. Rahim charges Amir with the task of recovering Hassan’s son. In the process, Rahim reveals that Hassan was Amir’s half-brother and hints that he knows what happened when the boys were 12. Amir enters Taliban-controlled territory and undergoes a number of trials including being beaten nearly to death to recover the unhappy Sohrab who has been sold into child prostitution to Assef. Eventually Amir succeeds in adopting Sohrab and bringing him back to California. Although Sohrab hasn’t talked for a year, since his last suicide attempt, Amir has finally managed to make a connection with him through the simple process of flying a kite together and is rewarded with a lopsided smile that reminds Amir of Hassan.

History Reveals Core of Betrayal

For a reader unfamiliar with Afghan history, the timeline of what is happening in the greater political realm is difficult to follow as it takes place largely in the background of the main character’s awareness. However, it exists as a macrocosm of the sense of betrayal and need for recovery discovered in the personal story of the two boys. In other words, when the betrayal found in the life of this single family is expanded to incorporate the entire country, the issues found within Afghani history are suggested to be the result. When men betray each other, entire nations are torn apart. This connection would be obvious if the story were to take place in Victorian England, for instance, a period that most readers recognize as being a time of tremendous change and transition into the machine-age. Understanding how these concepts play into the action of a story such as Charles Dickens’ novel Dombey and Son is thus no special trick. However, when these kinds of historical influences are largely unfamiliar to the reader, it is easy to lose track of the fact that Amir’s story occurs in the very recent past instead of centuries ago and that it also reflects the socio-political environment from which it came.

Discovering the history of Afghanistan in the past half century in a concise presentation of facts, though, emphasizes the degree of confusion that impacted the country during Amir’s childhood and the degree to which betrayal played a central role in tearing the country apart. According to the BBC News, “Afghanistan’s descent into conflict and instability in recent times began with the overthrow of the king in 1973” (Afghanistan, 2000). This occurred when Mohammad Daoud deposed his cousin, Zahir Shah, and declared himself president of Afghanistan in 1973. This is mentioned specifically in the novel as being a moment of irrevocable change much like that experienced on the personal level when Amir betrays Hassan by not defending him in the alley at age 12. During his presidency, Daoud was busy putting down the Islamists, but he truly began losing his power when he attempted to reduce the Soviet influence in his country. There is another parallel here as Hosseini presents various failed attempts by Amir to remove Hassan from his life. Things were already tense between the various political factions when the Parchamite leader Mir Akbar Khaiber was murdered on April 17, 1978. It was this murder that sparked the fires that had been threatening. “Whoever killed him, Khaiber’s martyrdom touched off an unprecedented popular upheaval. More than fifteen thousand angry, slogan-shouting mourners turned out for his funeral procession two days later, an extraordinarily large crowd by Afghan standards” (Cordovez & Harrison 24). Hassan’s eventual departure was quiet, but not any less upsetting and is also marked by a form of martyrdom. Daoud’s reaction only served to enflame the situation and the communist party managed to take control in what is called the April Revolution. Infighting in the party led to instability at the top, though, and the Soviet Army took control in 1979. “The Soviet occupation, which lasted until the final withdrawal of the Red Army in 1989, was a disaster for Afghanistan. About a million Afghans lost their lives as the Red Army tried to impose control for its puppet Afghan government. Millions more fled abroad as refugees” (Afghanistan, 2000). It was as part of this great flight that Amir and his father leave Afghanistan.

Betrayal of the Father

The crime of betrayal, as well as the degree to which it infects the culture and the personal lives of the characters is made clear as Baba tries to instruct his son on the single most important rule to remember when dealing with people or considering religious position. Baba tells Amir, “There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft … When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness” (Hosseini, 2009). With this statement, Baba reveals to some degree the depth of guilt he must have felt as a result of his own betrayal of his lifelong friend, Ali. Within the story, the character Ali has been raised side by side with Baba even though he was Hazara in much the same way that Amir and Hassan are raised together. Although Baba is given modern living quarters and a decent education, Ali has suffered from the effects of oppression and a lack of education, yet he serves Baba like a brother. In spite of their close relationship, though, Baba obviously had no problem stealing Ali’s wife’s affections soon after his own wife died in childbirth as Hassan was born approximately one year after Amir. Although it was well within his power to do so, Baba perpetuates the values of his society by never teaching Ali how to read and never providing him with a more comfortable home than the small shack he shares with Hassan on Baba’s property. There is no evidence that he made any attempt to take Ali and Hassan with them to America or otherwise ever made any effort to make their lives better once they left the house. While they were raised like brothers, Baba ensures that there remains a clear distinction made between himself and the Hazara that is passed down to the next generation.

Baba may not have always been true in his adult relationships with others, but that does not mean he was not understood and loved in spite of his faults. His relationship with Rahim Khan reveals this aspect of the older man’s character as it is often Rahim Khan that smoothes understanding between Amir and his father. As Rahim Khan is dying and sending Amir on his way to rescue Hassan’s son, he gives Amir some insight into his father’s character when he tells him, “I think that everything he did, feeding the poor, giving money to friends in need, it was all a way of redeeming himself. And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good” (Hosseini, 2003). Baba stands in high esteem among his contemporaries in Afghanistan, enough that he is able to retain some of his honor upon transferring himself and Amir to America. It is largely based on Baba’s reputation that Amir is able to win the general’s approval in seeking his wife’s hand in marriage.

Perhaps the most betrayed character in the story is Hassan, who is not only betrayed by Amir, but has first suffered an equally great betrayal by the one man most obligated to protect him. While Hassan’s behavior may seem unrealistic in the western world, the extreme racism and persecution carried throughout the book reveals that only at Baba’s house is Hassan able to experience anything like what we would consider a ‘normal’ childhood. Amir himself points out how his first word was Baba to reflect his adoration of his father, but Hassan’s first word was Amir. While this would seem to indicate that Hassan was the recipient of his father’s protection and love, Baba was careful to keep his true identity hidden from everyone, especially the two boys. This robbed them both of a brother and Hassan of the proper rights and benefits of being his father’s son. However, the guilt of this knowledge drives a wedge between Baba and Amir that Amir is never quite able to understand until Hassan’s lineage is finally made clear.

Betrayal of the Son

Amir as a boy is not seen to work through his internal battles too much as his major conflict through most of his young life is his presumption that his father is disappointed in him – as discussed, the result of Baba’s guilt in having to raise his boys so differently. Despite having a strong desire to discover a connection between himself and his father, there are several ways in which Amir betrays his father. This begins with Amir’s birth in which Baba’s prized Afghan princess is killed in the birthing process, but continues with Amir’s failure to live up to his father’s expectations for a boy. Amir has little interest in the sports his father loves and demonstrates very little in the way of Baba’s ‘machismo’ persona.

Although Baba dreams of his son becoming a powerful man someday, perhaps in business or as a doctor in America, Amir remains true to his desire to become a writer. It is a dream he develops as a child in Afghanistan that he refuses to relinquish just because it is an uncertain career or a risky pursuit. This is not to say that he has a weak or noncompetitive character, however. He proves this as he seemingly seamlessly adjusts to the deprivations of America as compared to his former lifestyle and devotes all his time and effort to helping his father eke out an existence with no complaint yet remains firmly devoted to his goal of becoming a writer.

Betrayal Between Brothers

Hassan is always humble, always loyal and always grateful for what he has, for example. “Young Hassan, I agree, is an idealized figure, but that seems understandable given that the narrator is Amir. Amir’s guilt, and his discovery of a deeper connection to the boy than he had imagined, seems to call for that approach to the character. It is ironic, too, given that Hassan looked up to Amir in a way that went beyond the master/servant relationship” (Champ, 2008).

Childhood rape

“There is nothing that haunts Amir more than the betrayal of Hassan after the kite running competition, as can be seen in Amir’s valiant defense of Hassan’s son in his journey to Kabul” (Wood, 2009).

Framing for robbery

“Amir, instead of facing the cowardice of his decision, simply treats Hassan as the Hazara Afghan history says he is instead of reminding himself of how many times Hassan has defended him” (Wood, 2009).

Amir’s growing ability to hold firm to his convictions is seen as a result of the lingering guilt he still feels regarding his old friend, Hassan. In the last segment of the book, when he is asked to place himself in great danger to rescue Hassan’s son, Amir does not fail to do what’s right, which is now fully in character as a result of his earlier development. “Astoundingly, we read that Amir is also able to transcend his father’s sins that created dysfunctional childhood familial relationships. Amir’s marriage to a beautiful Afghan mirrors that of his father’s marriage, but in that sense only. His refusal to appease his wife’s father, the former Afghan general, by perpetuating an ethnic superiority complex, illustrates a sincere commitment to repent past transgressions” (Wood, 2009).

A surface reading of this book may make many people determine that it has little or no direct application to a modern American life. After all, there is little likelihood that our country will soon undergo the tremendous shifts in power base that was seen in Afghanistan during the time period of this book. However, the underlying themes of development, betrayal and survival are applicable to anyone anywhere. The Kite Runner is a book that offers its readers a great deal of insight into elements of life that we may otherwise be unaware of. This is true in the degree to which the author is able to introduce us into the culture and history of his birth country. Rather than battling with our natural suspicion and avoidance of the subject, Hosseini eases us into the subject by involving us in the intimate lives of two young boys born on opposite sides of a racial divide – something most Americans are still sorely conscious of having occurred in our own south not so long ago. More than just introducing us to his people and the issues they’ve faced as a nation, Hosseini makes this personal to us and begins to introduce us to ourselves in the process. His lengthy digressions into his own impressions serve to show us how it’s done and remind us that it’s something that should be done once in a while as a means of staying true to one’s heart. While his character had a constant guilty reminder to keep him aware of his actions and their consequences, most of us don’t need to think about it so consistently and often let it slip. When we suddenly find ourselves drifting far from our intended course or lost in unfamiliar waters, we have a difficult time adjusting because we are not grounded within ourselves. Ultimately, the book teaches us how to know ourselves through learning about others.

Works Cited

“Afghanistan’s Turbulent History.” BBC News. (2000). Web.

Champ, Bob. “Review: The Kite Runner.” Derkeiler. (2008). Web.

Cordovez, Diego & Selig S. Harrison. Out of Afghanistan: The Inside Story of the Soviet Withdrawal. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead Books, 2003.

Wood, Michael A. “The Kite Runner: Khaled Hosseini’s Tale of Betrayal, Trial and Redemption.” Associated Content. (2009). Web.

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The Kite Runner Symbolism Analysis

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Symbolism of the kite, symbolism of the pomegranate tree, symbolism of the cleft lip.

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    The Kite Runner was published in 2003 by Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan-American writer. The story focuses on Amir, a young boy from Kabul, and Hassan, his closest friend, as they witness a series of events from Afghanistan's turbulent history: the fall of the monarchy, Soviet invasion, refugee exodus, and the rise of the Taliban.

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    Rape is among the most prominent motifs repeated in the novel. It is Hassan's rape that establishes the main drama of the story, and it is later Sohrab's rape by the Taliban that gives Amir the chance to redeem himself. The act of rape in this context carries a great deal of significance. First, it is presented as a form of perversion.

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