Objective Summary In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the readers start off following Amir in 1970s Afghanistan. Amir is a rich child who lives with his father and their servants. Their servants are Ali and his son Hassan. Hassan and Amir are best friends. One day, the two boys run into the town bully Assef. Assef threatens them because Hassan is a Hazara which is basically a second class citizen. Hassan then threatens Assef with a slingshot pointed at his eye and he escapes with Amir. Amir has a inadequate relationship with his father, Baba. Baba and Amir do not share the same interests. For instance, Amir writes a story and tries to show it to his father. Instead of reading the story, Baba’s friend Rahim Khan reads it and praises Aamir …show more content…
Amir wins the kite contest and Baba’s praise, and Hassan goes to catch the second place kite so they can keep it as a souvenir. When Amir goes to find Hassan he ends up seeing him cornered in an alley by Assef and his friends. While Amir hides and watches, Hassan is beaten up, pinned to the ground, and sexually assaulted by Assef. Subsequently, Ali and Hassan choose to leave the house after Amir frames Hassan for stealing his belongings. Suddenly, the book jumps to 1981 and war has started in Afghanistan. Baba and Amir fled to America where Baba worked at a gas station and Amir attended high school. Amir graduated graduated, met a girl named Soraya and went to college. At the same time, Baba was diagnosed with a lethal cancer, but he chose not to go through treatment. Before Baba died, Amir and Soraya had their …show more content…
Now about five years older, Amir and Hassan have a problem in their relationship due to Amir feeling guilt over Hassan’s rape. Amir did not step in and save Hassan when he was being sexually assaulted, so Amir tries to avoid Hassan and the guilt that comes with him. They talk under the pomegranate tree and Amir pelted Hassan with pomegranates asking Hassan to hit him back. Hosseini writes, “I don't know how many times I hit him. All I know is that, when I finally stopped, exhausted and panting, Hassan was smeared in red like he'd been shot by a firing squad. I fell to my knees, tired, spent, frustrated. Then Hassan did pick up a pomegranate. He walked toward me. He opened it and crushed it against his own forehead. ‘There,’ he croaked, red dripping down his face like blood. ‘Are you satisfied? Do you feel better?’ He turned around and started down the hill”(Hosseini, 2003, p. 93). Amir throwing the pomegranates at Hassan represented their relationship because Amir was only throwing them to get Hassan to punish him not only for the pomegranates, but for letting him get sexually assaulted. Hassan hitting himself over the head shows the audience that Hassan does not blame Amir for letting it happen. The tree was a place that showed a nurturing, beautiful, and innocent relationship to the audience, but now it is a place that shows guilt, anger, and hatred between the
-War soon strikes Afghanistan. So Baba and Ali escape to Pakistan. They then leave for America.
Amir’s mother, Sofia, dies in childbirth; Amir inherits her love of literature and probably her looks to some extent, but, her being dead, never receives any motherly love or guidance, which could have helped him out of the cowardly hole he later digs himself into. Amir’s father’s best friend and business partner, Rahim Khan, tries to give Amir the motherly love he clearly needs, fostering Amir’s love of writing and steadfastly standing up for him when Amir’s father, Baba, criticizes him, but Rahim Khan does not do enough to instill honesty, courage, and strength of conviction in young Amir. Amir’s best friend, Hassan, a servant a year younger than Amir, is everything Amir is not: athletic, brave, loyal, honest, and kind, inciting jealousy in Amir. Assef, a local bully, poses a real threat to Amir, hating Amir for the crime of befriending a Hazara (oppressed ethnic minority), but Amir is protected by Hassan, allowing young Amir to freeze and not stand up for himself in Assef’s presence. Last, but most importantly, is Amir’s father, Baba, and his views on Amir: he blames Amir for Sofia’s death,
This is just the beginnings of his guilt. We leave Amirs childhood memories and return to the summer of 2001, where Amir and Baba, Amir's father, have moved to America (191). Amir
After he nearly convinces himself Hassan is “not [his] friend,” Amir is ashamed for neglecting his best friend in pursuit of his own safety. By portraying Amir’s guilt, the author displays Amir’s conflicted feelings for Hassan—the person who he has always treated “like a brother”—thus highlighting his inability to be decisive. Hosseini seems to believe that, although humans make mistakes, the following guilt can strengthen a person’s relationships in the long-term, provided they avoid making similar mistakes in the future. Later in the story, Amir and Hassan have a second encounter with Assef when Hassan is raped, but Amir simply watches the scene as a bystander, traumatized and scared to stand up for his friend. Amir continues to carry the burden of guilt for the rest of the novel and expresses his frustration by attempting to cut ties with Hassan. In chapter 9, Amir frames Hassan for stealing by placing his birthday money and his watch under Hassan’s mattress. When Baba finds out that Hassan had “stolen” from Amir—as Amir had planned— Hassan shockingly admits to stealing the watch and money, even though he was not responsible. However, Baba forgives Hassan, leaving Amir in a
Amir decided to study English and major in it. Baba considers it petty and not an actual job.
In the novel ,The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the main character Amir is a coward. Amir lives in Kabul, Afghanistan. His best friend Hassan lives with him and is his best friend. In reality Amir is Hassan’s owner. Baba adopted Hassan when he was a baby and he became their servant. Amir becomes very jealous of him and then becomes a coward.
Amir and Baba eventually leave Afghanistan as well, forced out by the Russian invasion of their beloved country. Everything he does at this point proves that he truly loves Amir; he sacrifices his wealth, business, and life to bring Amir to the safety of the United States. In response to this new country, filled with new people and languages, Amir and Baba’s relationship drastically transforms. Before, Baba was all powerful and knowledgeable, but now, Amir guides his father in the American way. Nowhere is this more evident than when Baba vandalizes the Nguyen’s store after they ask
Assef bullies Hassan to show him his place as a Hazara. Assef shows many forming of bullying. At first Assef is very verbally aggressive towards Hassan. Assef tells Hassan that he is loyal to Amir who would show him no loyalty. Assef makes a bold statement describing Hassan as “A loyal Hazara, loyal as a dog.” (Hosseini 77) Assef explains to Hassan that as a Hazara he is loyal to someone that would not show the same loyalty to him in return. While Hassan is cornered by the three bullies, Amir is just watching without any plan of stepping in. Amir wants to retrieve the kite to bring it back Baba to impress Baba. He
Amir had many interactions that shaped him to be who he was by the end of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Through life lessons, Amir could have walked a path of despair but each positive influence pushed him to hope and happiness. Although Amir’s father, Baba, didn’t provide positive influences, or receive maternal or paternal support, Amir is able to receive fatherly advice from Rahim Khan; love and maternal support from his wife, Soraya; and childhood dreaming and confidence from Hassan.
“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.” (Hosseini 1-2) Khaled Hosseini published the book The Kite Runner in 2003. This book includes the characters Amir, Hassan, Baba, Rahim Khan and many more. This book is mainly about Amir’s childhood in Kabul, his move with baba to California, and lastly his return to Kabul. Amir is also someone who falls in the shadow. He doesn't really know who he is because of the things that happened to him in the past. In this book he also gives the reader an understanding of what
The desire to feel loved and wanted by your parents can drive a person to go to extreme limits to get that love. One boy that goes to these extreme limits is Amir. All Amir wants is to have a good, strong relationship with his father. He feels the death of his mother was his fault, and he needed to make it up to his father. In doing so, Amir let’s horrible things happen to his friend Hassan. Many many years later, after fleeing to America, Amir returns to Afghanistan in search of redemption of his actions all those years ago. The theme of The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini is redemption. Through Amir’s life, that’s what he’s been doing to himself, trying to redeem himself from his acts that have brought pain
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).
Amir pelts pomegranates at his best friend Hassan. Amirs mindset in this scene begins to foreshadow his turning point later in the novel. Amir starts pelting Pomegranates at Hassan, also asking him to throw them back at him. While Amir tells Hassan to hit him back with a pomegranate, he wishes”he would. I wished he'd give me the punishment I craved, so maybe I’d finally sleep at night.”( 92 Hosseini). Amir is now feeling guilt because he let something terrible happend to Hassan. The main character craves redemption, wich is why he wanted Hassan to pelt a pomegranate at him. Amir begins to show signs that further in the book his mindset will shift. Amir begins to take care of Hassan's son Sohrab at the end of the novel. This is after Amir's psychological turning point. After Amir traumatized Sohrab with the news that he might have to go to an orphanage, Sohrab tries to kill himself, and goes mute, Amir feels bad and takes
Throughout the novel, Amir endeavors to be approved by his father, Baba, who is admired by people in Kabul. Unfortunately, Baba believes that Amir, unlike him, is very unmanly “and [that he] never fights back. He just... drops his head ” (Hosseini 24). Since Baba wishes for a son who would stand up for himself, he can’t help but observe that Amir’s friend Hassan, as the guy who “steps in and fends the [bullies] off” (Hosseini 24) is his idea of the ideal son. Though aware of his father’s expectations, Amir is unable to change himself and instead envies Hassan and the fact that Baba treats him like his own son by“[patting]Hassan on the back. [and even putting] his arm around his shoulder [like a fatherly figure]”(Hosseini 15). Despite the manifestation of this hatred in Amir, he continues to recognize the bond that he shares with Hassan, “ brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast” (Hosseini 11) which is because both their mothers died during birth. The confusing emotions he feels for Hassan has Amir face a situation in which he acts inappropriately and allows the guilt to manifest upon him. After winning a very important kite tournament for the first time and “seeing Baba on that roof, proud of [him] at last” (Hosseini 71) Amir begins to search for Hassan who had gone to run his kite earlier. Finally, Amir finds him in a dark alley and as he “peeks around the corner” (Hosseini 75) he witnesses a sight that eradicated not only his relationship with Hassan but also Baba’s brotherly relationship with Ali, Hassan’s father. Peeking through the corner of the alley, like a bystander, he watches his one and only friend getting raped. The guilt that came upon him was for two reason; one, his lack of courage to stand up to
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a historical fiction novel set mostly in Kabul, Afghanistan and Fremont, California. The novel spans the time periods before, during, and after the reign of the Russians (1979-1989) and the Taliban’s takeover (1996) of Afghanistan. It is told through the first person perspective of Amir alongside his father, Baba, his half-brother, Hassan, and Baba’s companions Ali and Rahim Khan. Growing up, Amir and Hassan are practically inseparable, as they are always playing games, reading poetry, or simply spending time together. Hassan’s mother, Sanaubar, is never present during the children’s youthful years, but they both have Baba as a shared father figure in their lives. The themes of betrayal and redemption