Soon afterward Baba is diagnosed with lung cancer. After much delaying, Amir starts courting her. Baba and Amir sell things at a flea market, where Amir starts noticing Soraya, the daughter of Baba’s friend General Taheri. ![]() Baba works at a gas station and Amir finishes high school and then studies writing at college. They eventually make it to Pakistan, and months later move to Fremont, California. In 1981, Baba and Amir flee Kabul, which has been invaded by the Soviets. Baba forgives Hassan, but Ali and Hassan leave the household. He hides some money under Hassan’s mattress and tells Baba that he stole it, and Hassan doesn’t deny it. ![]() Amir is tormented by guilt, and he decides to make Hassan leave the house. Amir runs away, and later both he and Hassan pretend nothing has happened.Īmir and Hassan soon drift apart. Amir watches as Kamal and Wali hold Hassan down and Assef rapes him. When Amir goes after Hassan he finds him in an alley, trapped by Assef, Wali, and Kamal. Amir wins the tournament, and then Hassan goes to retrieve the losing kite. 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. One day three boys named Assef, Wali, and Kamal threaten Amir, but Hassan scares them away with his slingshot. Amir and Hassan fly kites and read stories together, though Hassan does chores while Amir goes to school. Amir feels he is a disappointing son to Baba, but he is close to Baba’s friend Rahim Khan. They have two Hazara (an ethnic minority) servants, Ali and his son Hassan, who is Amir’s closest playmate. Ultimately, The Kite Runner is a novel about relationships - specifically the relationships between Amir and Hassan, Baba, Rahim Khan, Soraya, and Sohrab - and how the complex relationships in our lives overlap and connect to make us the people we are.The narrator, Amir, grows up in a luxurious home in Kabul, Afghanistan, with his father Baba. When it rears its ugly head, Amir is forced to return to his homeland to face the demons and decisions of his youth, with only a slim hope to make amends. Amir views coming to America as an opportunity to leave his past behind.Īlthough Amir and Baba toil to create a new life for themselves in the United States, the past is unable to stay buried. Eventually, because of the changing political climate, Amir and his father are forced to flee Afghanistan. ![]() During a crucial episode, which takes place during an important kite flying tournament, Amir decides not to act - he decides not to confront bullies and aggressors when he has the chance - and this conscious choice of inaction sets off a chain reaction that leads to guilt, lies, and betrayals. ![]() In addition to the issues affecting his personal life, Amir must also contend with the instability of the Afghan political system in the 1970s. Many of the ruling-class elite in Afghanistan view the world as black and white, yet Amir identifies many shades of gray. And Amir's father, Baba, who does not consistently adhere to the tenets of his culture, confuses rather than clarifies things for young Amir. Hassan and his father, Ali, are servants, yet at times, Amir's relationship with them is more like that of family members. One of the biggest struggles for Amir is learning to navigate the complex socioeconomic culture he faces, growing up in Afghanistan as a member of the privileged class yet not feeling like a privileged member of his own family. Along the way, readers are able to experience growing up in Afghanistan in a single-parent home, a situation that bears remarkable similarities to many contemporary households. In addition to typical childhood experiences, Amir struggles with forging a closer relationship with his father, Baba with determining the exact nature of his relationship with Hassan, his Shi'a Muslim servant and eventually with finding a way to atone for pre-adolescent decisions that have lasting repercussions. An adult Amir opens the novel in the present-day United States with a vague reference to one of these events, and then the novel flashes back to Amir's childhood in Afghanistan. The Kite Runner is the story of Amir, a Sunni Muslim, who struggles to find his place in the world because of the aftereffects and fallout from a series of traumatic childhood events.
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