Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Both stories are told during changing political leadership and external and internal conflict.  The Afghan king of 40 yrs, King Zahir Shah was overthrown in a bloodless coup in 1973 by his coursin, Daoud Khan. In 1978, a communist coup then overthrew and killed Daoud Khan.  The Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, occupying it and maintaining rule by war until 1989 when they were driven out by the anti-communist Mujahideen (you may remember from Charlie Wilson's War that America was covertly involved in funding and arming the Mujahideen as part of its Cold War policy).  The Mujahideen created civil strife until the Taliban then gained control in 1996. The US and its allies, after the 9-11 attacks in 2001, sought to drive out the Taliban.  In 2004, Afghanistan adopted a new constitution and elected a president and women were allowed to vote.


Questions for the Kite Runner:

·         Compare/contrast Amir and Hassan. What is Amir’s problem? What are Hassan’s strengths? Are they friends?

Amir is part of the wealthy society in Kabul because his father, Baba, is one of the richest and most giving Pashtun men in their Wazir Akbar Khan town; whereas Hassan is a "harelipped Hazara" and he (and his father)  acts as a servant to Amir and his father. Growing up Amir's father and Hassan's father were best friends, which parallels the continued tradition of Amir and Hassan being best friends, despite the different class levels of society. Amir's problem is that he never feels as good as Hassan, thus feels weaker and that he will never live up to his father's expectations. Hassan's strengths are that he is smart, courageous and strong. They are both friends though Amir soon becomes jealous of Hassan.

List the steps in Amir’s redemption. What does he do “to be good again”?

There are many things Amir has guilt about, having Hassan respect him so much to be raped in order to bring him the winning kite, and the fact that he was so cruel to him afterwards. Later on in Amir's life, he receives a phone call from Rahim Khan (a great nurturing figure in his youth) who tells him that Hassan's father, Ali, was killed in a land mine and the Taliban later killed Hassan when he refused to surrender his home to them. He also says that Hassan has a son named Sohrab, which can help Amir "to be good again" if he helps him. Rahim Khan says that it was found that Ali was not Hassan's father, rather Baba was, thus making Hassan and Amir half-brothers; though Amir is angered by the news, Rahim Khan tells him he needs to rescue Sohrab from an orphanage in Kabul. Amir travels back to Kabul and witnesses the destruction that is left and as he goes to the orphanage, he finds that Sohrab is not there, but that he was sold to a man. This man is later found to be Assef, the bully whom tortured and raped Hassan.  Assef beats and rapes Sohrab and even makes him dress in women's clothes as he is forced to be their servant and dance for Assef and his followers. As Amir goes to rescue him, Assef says he would only give him back if he could beat up Amir; he agrees and as the abuse was beginning Sohrab pulls out a slingshot and shoots Assef's left eye. This parallels his father's bravery of standing up to Assef and defending Amir when they were younger. Amir later adopts him as he slowly becomes accustom to his new life and shows happiness only on the day when Amir took him to fly kites, thus completing the circle of the kite runner.

·         One of the issues of the story is the relationship of fathers and sons. Discuss one event that illustrates something about father/son relationships

This is issue is consistent throughout the novel, as seen in Amir and his father, Hassan and his father and even Assef and his father. One specific example is when Amir's father constantly compares Amir to Hassan and even states that Amir needs to be more like Hassan. Also, on Hassan's birthday they go to a kite store and he gets to pick any kite he wants, whereas for Amir's birthday he has a huge celebration at his house that in the end means nothing to Amir, rather it is just to depict their wealth.