Kite Runner

• Women- In the book women are basically second class citizens in the Islamic world. They have to cover their faces and wear long clothing that is very conservative. They are subject to their husbands wants. This is completely opposite from women in America who have every right that the men have; this is a hard habit to break for the Afghani refugees who still follow the customs of the place of their birth.
• Betrayal- Amir and Hassan are as close as brothers in the early part of the story, but they are of different classes and that makes the relationship awkward in public and other situations. Amir’s betrayal of Hassan by not helping him in his time of need seems to stem from the fact that Hassan seems to be Baba’s favorite and Amir just wants the attention he deems that he deserves. Amir feels horrible for not helping Hassan, but deep inside he feels that Hassan deserved what he got as a sort of retribution. When Amir gets older and wiser he realizes the error of his ways and wishes more than anything that he could go back and change is action.
• Brothers- This story has an interesting view of brothers because for the majority of the story Amir and Hassan do not know they are brothers and Hassan never knows. Amir, when he learns the truth, feels horrible for putting Hassan down and treating him badly when Hassan treated Amir as a brother and loved him more than any other. The story takes a note from the story of Cain and Able who were brothers and their strife for the praise of their father causes the death of one of the brothers. Amir doesn’t directly kill Hassan, but he feels that through his actions he could have stopped his death. The story of brothers is one that has been told with many different variations throughout time and the story in Kite Runner is completely dependent on Hassan and Amir being brothers.
• Guilt- hidden vs. open- Hidden guilt eats away at you and causes you to second guess all of your decisions. Open guilt makes you feel relieved to not have to carry the burden, but a powerful secret that is out in the open can cause major pain to all the parties involved. Amir hides the guilt he feels when he allows Hassan to be sexually assaulted, but every time thereafter he can barely stand to see Hassan. Once the secret is out though it causes the breaking up of a family, in this case Ali and Hassan leave the household of Baba and Amir when Ali learns of what happened to Hassan. This takes a weight off of Amir’s shoulders, but it adds the weight of remorse at what he has caused.
• Redemption- When Amir learns of Hassan’s death from Rahim Khan he sets out on a mission to relinquish himself of the guilt he feels at Hassan’s death. Sohrab is Hassan’s orphaned son and Amir learns that he is still in Kabul so he sets out to help the manifestation of his guilt so as to ease his pain. When Amir goes through the long process of bringing Sohrab to live with him in America he sets his conscience free in his mind because he helped his dead half-brother’s son to have a new life in a new land with new opportunities.
• Exodus- With the arrival of the Russians many families seek shelter in other countries so as to escape the persecution and control of the Communists. Then when the Russians leave and the Taliban take over everyone believe that Afghanistan will go back to normal and this is not the case. Baba and Amir leave when the Russians move in; they take an oil tanker to a neighboring country where they then leave for America. This is a hard thing to do because leaving your country of birth is like leaving your identity. Amir and Baba have to start over in a new and strange land; Baba’s wealth is almost nonexistent in America and their large home is Kabul is tiny compared to the mansions in their new city. They leave their identity in Kabul and when Amir goes back he feels suddenly whole again, as if a piece of him suddenly found its way back into his being.
• Fathers & Sons- Amir and Baba’s relationship is one of constant tension. Amir wants the attention that he can’t get from Baba because he isn’t the son that Baba had dreamed he would have. Amir strives his whole life to make Baba like him and this is one of the causes of his slight dislike of Hassan because Baba seems to like Hassan much better and has to include him in everything they do. The patriarchal society is a common type of society where the father is the main bread winner and he is the boss, what he says goes. The conflict of Amir stopping at nothing to gain his father’s approval is one of the underlying conflicts throughout the story culminating with Amir winning the kite battle.
• Class distinction- Hassan and Ali were Hazaras and Baba and Amir were Pashtuns; this was a master servant relationship in the outside, but on the inside they were all close friends. Many Pashtuns outside of this relationship looked down on the Hazaras and viewed them as second class citizens; this leads to many of the conflicts in the story, mainly the conflicts between Ossef, Amir, and Hassan. Ossef believes he is better than Hassan because Ossef is a Pashtun and Hassan is not. Ossef also sees Amir consorting with a Hazara and views this as punishable by any means he deems necessary. The underlying hatred the classes show for each other is an old world stigma that is part of their culture and is the cause of many genocides and wars.

2.

• Parallelism- In the book the author puts Amir and Hassan’s relationship on a parallel to the invasion of Afghanistan by the Russians. Their country is going towards demise the whole time that they are growing up and when their relationship culminates with Hassan and Ali leaving not long afterwards their country is invaded by the Russians. When you get in-depth in the story you focus on the personal struggle, but you forget the bigger picture even though it is there; Hosseini brings you back to the world wide view and then back to the personal level with precision.
• Character Foils- Khaled Hosseini uses contrasting characters to show the major differences in each and to show how their differences are needed by the story to make it flow. Amir and Hassan are complete opposites; Amir is rich and haughtier whereas Hassan is poor and very congenial, the author plays them off of one another to show how their differences when they are together create a storyline that is really complex emotionally.
• Foreshadowing- Throughout the story the running of the kites is talked about; it is a big accomplishment to win it and Amir wishes to win it to makes his dad proud. It doesn’t occur to you until it happens that maybe this event will be the best day for Amir and the worst for Hassan. When the Amir cuts the last kite and Hassan runs off promising to bring back the kite you get a feeling of unease as a long time goes by without Hassan’s return. Then the turning point of the novel occurs and somehow you felt something bad was coming before it actually did.
• Flashback- Amir continuously has flashbacks of him and Hassan walking with the last kite and blood dripping off of Hassan’s pants into the snow. This is a powerful flashback because the author uses it to show how guilty Amir feels about that moment when he could have helped Hassan, but instead he did nothing. Khaled Hosseini uses flashbacks to recall us to particular instances throughout the story where major events happened that will continue to influence the story until its end.
• Positives and Negative aspects of the writing- The author had a clear idea in mind and he followed it to create a great novel. It is a flowing story of brotherhood and the relationships between sons and their fathers. The story follows the invasion of Afghanistan by Russia and its eventual control by the Taliban so that the reader could have an idea of the time period when this story takes place. Negatively I think that the novel was slightly more graphic than it needed to be, but it is all opinion because I assume that the author deemed everything in the novel as necessary for him to be able to tell his story.

3.
• Settings- Kabul, Afghanistan, 1970’s/ Fremont, California, 1980’s- Kabul vs. Fremont, Pashtun vs. Hazara, Afghanistan vs. Palestine, Women in America vs. Women in Afghanistan, Afghanis who stayed vs. Afghanis who left.

4.
• Minor characters- Farid was Amir’s transport when he went back to Afghanistan and they learned to like each other one Farid learned of Amir’s plan to rescue to his half brothers child from an orphanage. Soraya is Amir’s wife and she brings stability to his life and a love that he has missed since Hassan had left his life. She encourages him to bring Sohrab to live with them in the United States and she actually sets up the transfer of Sohrab to America. General Taheri is Soraya’s father and he allows the marriage to happen even though he saw Amir talking to his daughter directly which is against Afghani custom. Rahim Khan is Baba’s best friend and Amir’s mentor. He calls Amir to Afghanistan to come seek out Sohrab and he is also the person who tells Amir that Hassan is dead and also that Hassan was his half brother. Ali was married to Hassan’s mother; however he was not Hassan’s father. He was the servant in Baba’s house and he looked after Hassan and Amir when they were younger. He takes Hassan and leave Baba’s house when he learns what had happened to Hassan in the alley.

5.
• Symbols- Shah Faisal Mosque was to Sohrab a symbol of purity and it comforted him. Flying of the Kites signifies Amir’s desire to be free of his guilt and to gain his father’s praise. Slingshot used by Sohrab to partially blind Ossef, it was also used by Hassan to threaten Ossef when Amir and him were kids. It was a symbol of Hassan and Amir’s bond that was permanent and lived on through Sohrab. Baba’s Black Mustang was a physical representation of how Amir saw his father; the strong man that everyone respected and some feared. The oil tanker signified how the Afghanis felt leaving their county, they felt smothered almost like they couldn’t breather as in the drum of the tanker.