The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

Amir lets his best friend Hassan get raped by Assef. This will cause Amir guilt that makes him feel anguish. Amirs mindset before his turning point made him a bystander in the situation. Hassan ran to get the kite that Amir cut down in the annual kite tournament. Drastically

People are different in many ways. Ranging from colour of their skin to their ethnic backgrounds. How society copes with these differences is what defines prejudice and discrimination. Racism, social class and ethnicity have become a never ending cycle that begins to shape the opinions of how people treat one another. The novel The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini revolves around a society constructed around two socially diverse ethnic groups the Pashtuns who practice Sunni Islam and the Hazaras who follow Shia Islam. Throughout the novel The Kite Runner, a variety of characters have made decisions that affect the overall outcome of the novel which base around ethnicity, race and social class.

As a foreword, the story of The Kite Runner focuses on a man named Amir. In his childhood, he enjoyed a high-class life in Kabul, Afghanistan, living with his father Baba. They have two servants, Ali and his son Hassan. They are Hazaras, a lower class ethnic minority in Afghanistan. In one Winter of their childhood, Amir and Hassan participate in a kite-fighting tournament; the goal is to be the last kite flying. When a kite is cut, boys chase after it as a

-Hassan goes and chases after the losing kite. Amir goes looking for Hassan and finds him in an Alley being pinned down and raped by Assef and his friends. Amir fails to speak up. He instead runs away.

The novel The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, is the story of a young, upper class boy by the name of Amir and his friend, a lower class boy named Hassan. While Amir is a Pashtun and a Sunni Muslim, Hassan is a Hazara and a Shi’a muslim, which causes the main conflict between the two. Amir and Hassan learn more and more about their social status, as well as their personal friendships and problems as they grow up in Afghanistan.

The boys tells him to hands over the kite, but Hassan refuses. Hassan is beating up with no help from his best friend Amir, Amir is totally only watchs, “I realized I still hadn’t breathed out. I exhaled, slowly, quietly, i felt paralyzed. I watched them close in on the boy i’d grown up with, the boy whose harelipped face had been my first memory” (Hosseini 71). Hassan has always stands up for Amir, but Amir do not return the favor when Hassan needs him. Amir remember that he and Hassan are more than a friends they were fed from the same breast. Later on Hassan comes to Amir and he is bleeding he gives Amir the kite without saying a word, Amir either does not say anything “I opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had. But I didn’t. I just watched” (Hosseini 79). From day to another Amir realizes his guilt for not standing for his loyal friend. ِAssef do not feels sorry for what he’s done and he says Hassan deserve it because he is a Hazara.

Conforming to society's standards causes children to have close-minded ideas, often limiting their opportunities. The discrimination of Hazaras in Afghan society results in Amir never fully accepting Hassan as a friend. Assef brings this thought to the limelight when he taunts Hassan before raping him: "Have you ever

The two boys are almost always together and spend much of their free time in the outdoors. They encounter the main antagonist, Assef, who threatens to fight Amir. Hassan aims a slingshot to Assef’s eye and forces Assef to surrender. However, Assef assures the boys that they are not off the hook. Amir and Hassan continue to fly and run kites in preparation of the kite fights. To earn his father’s love and prove that he is good enough, Amir sets out to win a kite-fighting tournament. Hassan and Amir team up to win the winter kite-fighting tournament. Amir successfully cuts down the other kite and awaits for Hassan to chase down the kite. When Hassan seizes the kite finally, he runs into the unexpected enemy: Assef. Amir arrives to Hassan, and to his horror, witnesses Assef raping Hassan. Amir is too cowardly to say anything or stand up for

Hassan was both mentally and physically stronger than Amir. Amir never stood up for himself. The day when Hassan stood up to Assef for Amir and himself was the day that changed the course of their lives forever. Hassan may have had his slingshot at the time, but Assef swore on revenge. One of the next major events after this was the day of the Kite flying competition. This cold winter day would be the day that changed the relationship of Amir and Hassan forever. As Amir cut down the last kite, Hassan ran to get the kite that he promised he would come home with for Amir. There was only one problem, Hassan never came home. Amir went to look for Hassan and made a horrifying discovery. “I opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had. But I did not. I just watched paralyzed” (Hosseini 73). Amir walked through the streets of his home town, searching for Hassan, as he looked and asked others if they saw a Hazara running with a blue kite. Amir heard voices and followed them to the alleyway where he found Hassan. Amir saw the blue

As he leaps after the kite, he yells, “For you a thousand times over!” over his shoulder (Hosseini 67). While chasing down the kite, Hassan runs into Assef. Assef demands the kite as payment for previous embarrassments, but after Hassan refuses, Assef decides he will take something even more precious from him. At this point, Amir comes looking for his best friend and his trophy. He witnesses Hassan getting raped and quietly slinks away, not brave enough to protect his protector. Worse, Amir never acknowledges the incident, wounding Hassan deeper than any physical abuse. Ashamed of himself and his cowardice, Amir decides that the best way to be rid of his guilt is to make Hassan leave. He plants money and his watch under Hassan’s mattress with the hope that Baba will throw the thief out. Baba forgives Hassan, but Hassan and his father decide to leave anyway.

One triumphant day, Amir won the local kite fighting tournament and finally earned Baba’s praise. Hassan ran to retrieve the losing kite, which was considered a trophy, and told Amir “For you, a thousand times over”. When Hassan finally obtained the kite, he was cornered by Assef and his friends. Assef was the neighborhood bully and had tortured Amir and Hassan for years. When Hassan refused to give up the kite, Assef beat and raped him. Amir watched the whole thing but didn’t interfe because he didn’t want to lose the respect of his father. The guilt ate Amir alive. “That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.” Soon after the incident, Amir tried to distance himself from Hassan and Hassan and his father eventually leave. A couple years later, Amir and Baba flee to America to escape the war in Afghanistan. Amir graduates and gets married but even after all those years;

Amir finds him in an alleyway, with three other boys. Assef (the antagonist), starts raping Hassan, while the other two pin him down. Amir still wants the kite Hassan has, so he can make Baba proud. Amir runs back to his house, awaiting Hassan’s arrival. When Hassan arrives, Amir is filled with guilt, as Hassan is scarred.

Plot summary: Amir flashbacks to when he was twelve years old in Afghanistan. He lives with his father, Baba, and has two servants, Ali and Hassan, who are also a father and son duo. The latter two are Hazaras, Afghan’s minority, and as such, are subjected to racial slurs and cruelty. Amir and Hassan are playing when Assef, Kamal, and

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).

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, follows the maturation of Amir, a boy from Afghanistan, as he discovers what it means to stand up for what he believes in. His quest to redeem himself after betraying his friend and brother, Hassan, makes up the heart of the novel. When Amir hears that his father’s old business partner, Rahim Khan, is sick and dying, he travels to Pakistan to say his goodbyes. Rahim Khan tells Amir about Hassan’s life and eventual death; the Taliban murdered Hassan while he was living in Amir’s childhood home. As his dying wish, Rahim Khan asks Amir to rescue Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from an orphanage in Afghanistan. Although Amir refuses at first, he thinks about what Rahim Khan had always told him: “There is a way to be