The Kite Runner Rhetorical Analysis

The first character Assef stayed in Afghanistan and some how adapted to the new political reality, which was actually quite suitable for his aggressive and sadistic-like character to develop. As a consequence Assef grew up from a bully of younger kids into a cruel and despotic member of the regime and continued to ruin lives of other people/

One day Asseff rapes Hassan as an act of power, and Amir witnesses the actions but acts in a cowardly matter and simply avoids the matter by ignoring it. Amir then proceeds to cut off the relationships between himself and Hassan, “I actually aspired to cowardice, but the real reason I was running, was that Asseff was right. Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba. Was it a fair price? The answer floated to my conscious mind before I could thwart it: He was just a Hazara. Wasn’t he?” Amir did it because the traditional and historical beliefs were more important than friendship. This action displays how being born in a different social class can outweigh all feelings of love and friendship with one of a different social group.

As a child, Amir constantly wants to impress Baba because he shows so little interest in him. Before the kite-fighting tournament, Baba tells Amir to win, which puts “a seed in my head...I was going to win. There was no other viable option.... Then maybe my life as a ghost in this house would finally be over”(Hosseini 56). Here, Baba has put at stake all Amir’s hopes of affection on winning the tournament. After Assef rapes Hassan, Amir decides that “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.” (77). Instead of stopping Assef from raping Hassan, he lets it happen so afterwards he can get the kite and earn Baba’s respect. This would not have happened if Baba had not pinned all Amir’s hopes for his affection on winning the tournament. Therefore, Baba is a bad father because by not showing affection to Amir, he caused Amir to have misguided morals.

This shows the sacrifices his father made for Amir although he also did not agree with the life path Amir had chosen but still stuck through. Additionally, Baba succeeds in protecting Amir as he gets into a fight with Assef, this is the central climax where he finally stands up to his lifelong tormenting bully who has been a threat to him and his half-brother, Hassan for far too long. In the novel, Amir states, “I DON 'T KNOW if I gave Assef a good fight. I don 't think I did. How could I have? That was the first time I 'd fought anyone” (Hosseini 136). Assef, the antagonist, had always been a threat to Amir, physically, mentally and emotionally. Amir is successful in defending himself for the fate of Sohrab against the threats in society. Amir says, in a way he welcomes the beating. It is the punishment he deserved for his actions toward Hassan, but which he never received. It is the reason he feels relief and a sense of healing as Assef beats him, and why he begins laughing. For Amir, the situation means he can now intervene in Hassan’s rape, at least symbolically, by saving Sohrab from further sexual abuse. Amir is left with a scar on his lip, which symbolizes the hare lip Hassan had that had to be repaired.  Amir has finally faced his fears and lets go of his guilt and shame. Baba’s upbringing of Amir is finally proven successful in

He has never been stable or happy, so he looks to destroy everyone else’s happiness. Two of the people who are the most responsible are his parents. “He led them toward us, like he had brought them here. Like he was the parent, and they his children” (Hosseini 95). Assef had become so evil that even his parents were terrified of him. They never punished him, therefore he got away with everything as a child. This led him to think that he was entitled to whatever he wanted. So if he was ever humiliated he wanted revenge. Assef’s parents made Assef into the person he was. They wanted to avoid conflict with him but in return they unintentionally made him an evil person who looked to harm anyone who even looked at him wrong. Now it was too late for them to do anything so instead they simply conformed and let Assef take over. This conformity is what Assef was used to so when Hassan defied him, Hassan payed the price. “‘I’ve changed my mind,’ Assef said. ‘ I’m letting you keep the kite, Hazara. I’ll let you keep it so it will always remind you of what I’m about to do’” (Hosseini 73). Assef thinks critically about how he can hurt someone the most. He realizes that taking Hassan’s childhood and innocence would be much more harmful than simply taking the kite. Assef wanted to hurt people because he gets pleasure out of it. It didn't matter that everyone around him told him that it was a sine and a bad

Amir’s character represents a development of the human spirit. He is inherently good in his thoughts and actions early on in the story, but the reader can see him begin to evolve. The actions of others, more specifically his father and Hassan cause him to become plagued with aforementioned themes of evil. He sees himself largely influenced by greed and an ability to abuse his power over Hassan. The evil metamorphoses Amir into a character driven by self interest at the deprivation of others. Amir feels challenged for his father’s love by Hassan and uses his social status and educated ability to impose himself over Hassan when they read together. This abuse of power shows the corruption within Amir that develops into greed as Baba continues to distance himself from Amir. This selfishness climaxes when Hassan is defiled by Assef and Amir says

Though not the main character, Assef influences the characters and events in an impactful way. At a very young age, Assef rapes Hassan, this trend of sexual assault manages to continue later on in the story. He is the ultimate antagonist. Assef’s character does not change at all from his teens to adulthood, an unrealistic characterization because few people exist in the world who never change. Assef is very cruel and displays his cruelty many times in the book. “Because to [Assef], you're nothing but an ugly pet. Something he can play with when he's bored" Assef is very opinionated and is clearly not willing to change his views/thoughts for anyone.

Hassan and his wife Farzana have passed recently because of the invasion of Taliban’s, the result of this is that Sohrab is left in an orphanage. Assef recognizes that Sohrab is Hassan’s child and takes him “captive” for say and takes advantage of the him the same way he had done to his father. This helps show he needs this to feel in charge and in power. He robs the happiness of Sohrab too, but Amir stands up for him and saves him and he no longer has to suffer through Assef’s cowardness.

When life becomes complicated, naturally the easy way out is typically the most desirable option, even if this choice may harm others. Both Amir and I have demonstrated a proclivity for the selfish side of life. When Assef rapes Hassan, Amir behaves as a mere bystander and later even pretends to have never witnessed such a horror, “I pretended I hadn't seen the dark stain in the seat of his pants. Or those tiny drops that fell from between his legs and stained the snow black” (77). Amir fears Assef and the possibilities of what could become of himself if he were to interfere in this act of extreme immorality, “I was afraid of getting hurt. That's what I told myself as I

Amir the narrator and protagonist of the story.Amir had a good life based on where he lived, unless you view it from Amir’s view. Amir would always feel neglected by his father and never felt like he was living up to who he was supposed to be. The moment that makes the possibility of Amir becoming static and a round character is when he sees Hassan getting raped by Assef. This gives him the chance to redeem himself later on in the story because Amir backs down from helping Hassan and it later leads Amir to trying to get rid of Hassan. Amir finally gets rid of him. “ I caught one final blurry glimpse of Hassan slumped in the back seat...I stepped back and all i saw was rain through windowpanes that looked like melting silver” (Hosseini 109). Go into the future where Amir is living in America and he gets the call from Rahim saying “ There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 2). Amir goes back to Afghanistan to find out the Hassan is dead, but he had a child and is his name is Sohrab. Amir needs to go to the orphanage and save him and take him somewhere safe. Sohrab is being held by Assef and is being abused sexually which kind of relates to Hassan being raped. Amir is getting hit and kicked until he's bleeding and he finally feels relief after what he let happen to Hassan. Amir feels a sense of relief since Hassan never wanted to pelt him with the pomegranates.

Amir was beat badly by Assef, but his courage gave Sohrab time to fire his slingshot and hit Assef in the eye. Returning to the idea that the rapes show the development of Amir’s character, the violence proceeded Amir’s character towards what the audience believes to be a better person.

I no longer wished to hear the news of the events of last night, so I went with Hassan to our tree. I encountered the neighbourhood bully, Assef, “the Ear Eater”. Assef was not a nice boy, he tormented Ali because of his disabilities and called Hassan “flat-nose”. He talked to us about the new republic and he bragged how his father was close to Daoud Khan, close

The raping of Hassan, done of Assef, mentally took away his pride, dignity, and spirit as when the Taliban metaphorically raped Afghanistan. When Assef raped Hassan, because the marks he could have left on Hassan from his brass knuckles would eventually go away. Raping Hassan took away Hassan's sense of self, and when Amir saw Hassan getting raped it made Amir a coward. "Hassan dragged his sleeve across his face, wiped snot and tears... He began to say something and his voice cracked, " (Hosseini, 78). Assef always knew that he was hurting those around him, and he enjoyed him, making it no surprise that he was apart of the Taliban that took over and ruined Afghanistan.

Quite the antithesis of Baba, an outspoken liberal, is Assef, best described in Hosseini’s eyes as a local radical. Radical not in his strict obedience to Islamic jurisprudence, but ironically in his dedication to the perversion of it, being a part of the Taliban that “reigned over years of theft, rape, murder and torture under the pretense of abiding by Islamic Law” (Sandstrom 2). He uses religion as nothing more than a pretext for the pathological cruelty he shows to others he deems more inferior, despising minorities like

Amir is a selfish, self-centered individual and is not accepted for who he is but more judged by his actions/interest. He thrives for acceptance from his father, Baba who likes Hassan better. Amir’s best friend, Hassan is always there for him whether it be helping him or standing up for him. However, Amir is jealous due to Hassan’s qualities: nice, courageous and brave. He uses his advantages towards Hassan who is illiterate when reading. Amir says “Imbecile. It means smart, intelligent. I’ll use it in a sentence for you. When it comes to words, Hassan is an imbecile” (Hosseini 29). Instead of being a true friend and telling Hassan the correct definition of the word ‘imbecile’, Amir lies. After Amir wins the kite flying tournament in the winter, Hassan runs to retrieve the last fallen kite of the tournament (trophy of honor) for Amir. On the way, Hassan approaches Assef; He is beaten up and raped in the alley. As this is happening, Amir’s weakness starts to appear. Amir has two choices: either he can go home and let Hassan get raped while fighting for the blue winning kite from Assef which is his ticket to Baba’s acceptance or stand up for Hassan like Hassan stands up for him. This choice changes Amir intensely, changes his character. Throughout the novel, the readers can infer that Amir is a dynamic character.