The Kite Runner Analysis

When Khaled Hosseini wrote The Kite Runner, he made several important choices involving narration. He chose to write the story in first person from a limited point of view. This is a very fitting decision because, writing in the first person adds a sense of intimacy that is crucial to this story; writing from a limited perspective allows the reader to make their own conclusions about what the characters are thinking. The way Hosseini writes The Kite Runner makes it very intimate, and feels like a person telling their life story. If The Kite Runner had been written in third person, or omnisciently, the story would not have impacted readers as much, and would have been too cold and impersonal to create emotional connections with the reader.

Although Amir thinks his father, Baba, is angry at him for not living up to his family’s beliefs, Baba does not hate Amir. Baba just wants Amir to be a proud man, so Baba can relate to him and further extend their relationship, but Amir does not live up to his father’s specific expectations. When Baba sees that Amir is not growing up like he did he becomes disappointed in Amir. Baba does not agree with Amir’s love and passion for reading poetry and writing stories, because he believes it shows a lack of courage and this does help their relationship. Amir simply wants to make his father happy and try and live in his footsteps. In the book I believe this relationship is part of the reason why Amir didn’t help Hassan when he was being raped, because he wanted to please his father with the victory kite of the contest. If he were to help Hassan the kite would be taken by Assef, but in actual fact I believe Baba would be happier if he stood up for his friend rather than winning the tournament. Amir could have also left Hassan because he is jealous of his father and Hassan friendship.

Firstly, Baba is not a good father because he often disregards his son, Amir, due to him not being like his father. The night when Baba and Amir comes home from watching the Buzkashi tournament, Amir sees

Baba would always tell Amir how lying was a sin yet Amir eventually finds out that Baba had lied to him about Hassan being his brother. Baba said, "There is only one sin. And that is theft... When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth."(pg.237) By him lying, he completely went against what he said was right. Baba had not only lied to Amir, but to Hassan and others as well. Baba had been doing something he knew was wrong, but he had still chosen to go against his own beliefs and do it anyway. The theme addressed here is simply betrayal. Baba is consistently hypocritical throughout the novel. For example, Baba is immensely ashamed of 11 year-old Amir for crying when he saw a man murdered in the street, but later in the novel when Ali and Hassan leave for good, Baba is full of tears. This reveals the bias and corrupt personality Baba possesses. Baba is not a great father and only shows his affection for Amir when great successes occur such as the kite competition victory. Baba betrays many characters in the novel, however he does most of an injustice to Amir, his son. Baba never informing him of his sibling relationship with Hassan appears as stupidity and selfishness. Baba does not wish to provide joy for his sons at the cost of revealing that he had slept with Ali’s wife and produced Hassan. Baba is really just a coward. The lying demonstrated by Baba contributes to the main idea of forgiveness. Baba does a poor job as a father for the most part of his life and on his deathbed he receives the forgiveness from Amir for all of the pain he has caused Amir throughout his

The Kite Runner is the first novel of Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. It tells the story of Amir, a boy from Kabul, Afghanistan, whose closest friend is Hassan, a young Hazara servant. Novel turns around these two characters and Baba, Amir’s father, by telling their tragic stories, guilt and redemption that are woven throughout the novel. Even in the difficult moments, characters build up to their guilt and later on to their redemption. Their sins and faults alter the lives of innocent people. First, Amir and Baba fail to take action on the path to justice for Ali and Hassan. Moreover, Amir and Baba continue to build up their guilt due to their decisions and actions. Although Amir builds up more guilt than Baba throughout the novel, he eventually succeeds in the road to redemption unlike his father. After all, Amir and Baba have many chances to fix their atonements but Baba chooses not to and Amir does. Baba uses his wealth to cover up his sins but never atone himself while Amir decides to stand up and save Sohrab and finally finds peace. Amir and Baba’s reaction to sins essentially indicate their peace of mind and how they react to guilt and injustice.

One major theme that is evident in The Kite Runner is that scars are reminders of life’s pain and regret, and, though you can ease the regret and the scars will fade, neither will completely go away. We all have regrets and always will, but though it will be a long hard process we can lessen them through redemption. The majority of The Kite Runner is about the narrator and protagonist, Amir. Almost all of the characters in The Kite Runner have scars, whether they are physical or emotional. Baba has scars all down his back from fighting a bear, but he also has emotional scars from not being able to admit that Hassan was also his son. Hassan is born with a cleft lip, but for his birthday Baba pays for it to be fixed, which left a small scar above his mouth. Hassan also has emotional scars from being raped. The reader is probably shown the emotional scars of Amir the most. Amir has emotional scars because he feels that he killed his mother, and also because his father emotionally neglects him. In the end of the novel, Amir receives many physical scars from getting beaten up by Assef, when rescuing Sohrab. Though scars will never go away and are a reminder of the past, not all scars are bad.

Despite Ali and Hassan’s loyalty they are still betrayed by their masters. Baba’s betrayal is much worse than what Amir did to Hassan. Baba intentionally betrayed Ali who he claimed to be his friend. Baba even said that he felt Ali was like a brother to him. But Baba caused what happened and directly harmed Ali because of what he did. Amir didn’t directly harm Hassan and he also didn’t cause what happened to his friend like Baba did. But Amir didn’t do anything about what was happening to Hassan either. Baba broke his own rule; he robbed Amir and Hassan of their brotherhood by not telling them they were related. He robbed Ali of his honor by sleeping with Sanaubar. And he robbed his own wife of the truth by cheating on her while she was pregnant. He also robbed Amir of his innocence because while trying to make Baba proud he became guilty for what happened to Hassan. Amir could have run home to tell Baba what was happening to Hassan but he hid and waited so that his kite would be brought to him. Not only that but Amir goes to great lengths to try and get rid of Hassan so that his guilt can leave with Hassan. Both masters betray their best friends and “brothers;” but later on in life they try to compensate for it by doing good deeds. Baba builds an

Baba raised his son alone after Amir’s mom died in childbirth and Baba also helped raise Hassan. Early in the novel Hassan and Amir were best friends and did everything, including taking trips together. Baba was loyal to Hassan and never forgot either one of the boy’s birthdays. Baba gave Hassan the amazing gift of having Hassan’s hair lip repaired. “It’s an unusual present, I know,” Baba said. “And probably not what you had in mind, but this present will last you forever.” (Hosseini 67). Family loyalty taught us that you should always respect your family and do the right thing. It is not until late in The Kite Runner that we found out, and Amir found out, that Hassan was really Baba’s son. This was so important in the story because Amir realizes he betrayed his own brother, he was jealous of all the times Baba gave attention to Hassan, and he was the one responsible for making Hassan and Ali leave their home. Amir betrayed Hassan when they played as kids and Amir egged him on to use his slingshot. When the boys would get into trouble Hassan always took the blame even though it was Amir who initiated the trouble. The worst time Amir betrayed Hassan was when Assef assaulted Hassan. Amir did nothing to stop it, nor did he acknowledge that it happened, he ignored Hassan and tried to get him to leave their home so he would not be reminded of his betrayal. Amir betrayed Hassan by placing money and a watch under Hassan’s mattress so Baba would think Hassan and Ali were thieves. “He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time” (Hosseini 132). Hassan continued to protect Amir, and in his own way he showed his family loyalty, no matter how Amir betrayed him. Hassan was the loyal friend and brother. Amir could never get over his guilt for betraying Hassan and that is why it was so important for Amir to

Baba is a giving man; he will try to help friends and poor beggars. Baba’s guilt comes from the fact that he cannot show the same affection to Hassan that he shows Amir. He cannot be a father to Hassan because of the affair he had with Sanubar, she is a Hazara making Hassan a Hazara. If others knew of Baba’s affair then it would ruin his reputation. As said in Rahim Khan’s letter to Amir: “But your father was a man torn between two halves, Amir jan: you and Hassan. He loved you both, but he could not love Hassan the way he longed to, openly, and as a father” (Housseini 301). The inevitable fact that Baba

19). Since Amir thought that he had killed his mother, he always believed that his father, Baba, hated him for it. Amir uses this perceived reason as explanation for why Baba stayed distant from him, and never addressed this issue, keeping the shame for something that he should not feel guilty for. Adding on, Amir also felt guilty for allowing Hassan to get attacked by Assef and not saving his best friend. After the attack occurred near the beginning of the book, Hosseini continuously mentions the event and how terrible Amir feels, even years after. This shame motivated Amir to go back to Afghanistan and find Hassan’s son, as well as bringing him back to America (Hosseini, 2003). Finally, Baba also had guilt to bear in the novel. Baba was Hassan’s biological father. “How had Baba brought himself to

Baba never really confronted his mistakes, yet he seemed to live a fairly full and whole life. Amir and his father, Baba have a very distant relationship, they seem to be two very different people. “I always felt like Baba hated me a little. And why not? After all, I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn’t I?”(Pg. 18) In this quote Amir talks about his relationship with his father and how difficult it is. Although, he doesn’t know that the distance between them was because of Hassan, not the death of

Yet, there are certain points in the novel where Baba provides his perspective on life to Amir, demonstrating compassionate, father-like qualities. This is highlighted when Baba states “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 her husband, his children’s right to a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth (19-20). Baba educates Amir about the principles in which he values you to be true about sins. Yet, this is ironic because Baba proves to be a thief himself, which expresses more instances of alienation in Amir’s childhood existence. Baba shows to be hypocritical when he deprives Amir the right to have a father figure. This drives the conflict of the novel. He gives the impression how it is a sin to steal the right to someone. Although not recognizable at first, he clearly goes against his beliefs when analyzed. His disloyalty adds on to alienating Amir. This is because later on in the novel, Amir himself comprehends that Baba was truly a thief. This is expressed when Amir notes, “And now, fifteen years after I'd buried him, I was learning that Baba had been a thief. And a thief of the worst kind, because the things he'd stolen had been sacred” (225).

Social conditions are what shape a country. Over the years, people, not only in Afghanistan, but around the world create norms that define people’s roles in life, their future, and how they should be treated based on their gender and beliefs. Khaled Hosseini’s first novel, The Kite Runner, comments on the social conditions of Afghanistan through telling a story about the lives of two Muslim boys; a privileged Sunni Pashtun, Amir, and his long-time friend and servant, Hassan, a loyal but disadvantaged Shia Hazara. Hosseini expresses Amir’s uncertain feelings toward Hassan which form the decisions he makes throughout the book. These choices result in Amir destroying his relationship with Hassan. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini is a commentary on the social conditions in Afghanistan as shown through the roles of women and men in society and the ideals of Afghan culture. Unfortunately, these problems are still active in most of Afghanistan.

Amir stumbles upon an alley. In the alley, he sees the Hassan trap by three boys named Assef, Kamal, and Wali. All they asked of Hassan is to give up the blue kite. However, Hassan’s loyalty and friendship toward Amir prevented Hassan to give up the kite. As the tension built, Assef lets Hassan have the kite, but in-return he does unthinkable. Assef rapes Hassan as Amir watched unnoticeably from the alley (Hosseini 62-66). This was Amir’s chance to prove his true friendship by stepping in to save Hassan. Instead, Amir ran “because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he could do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt. That’s what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan” (Hosseini 68). According to Amir, “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (Hosseini 68). “He was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” (Hosseini 68).

On a day to day basis, an individual is faced with an obstacle they must overcome, ultimately defining their morals and values. In the literature perspective, the novel The Kite Runner delivers multiple thematic ideas that portray the struggles of characters in their ordinary lives. Khaled Hosseini, author and physician, released his debut novel The Kite Runner in the year of 2003. This novel is written in the first person narration of Amir, a Pashtun boy that lives with his father whom he addresses as “Baba” in a large estate in Kabul, Afghanistan. Hassan and his father, Ali, are servants that works for Amir’s father