The Kite Runner

The pomegranate tree located on the northern hill of Baba's property is where Amir and Hassan would meet, play, and read books as children. Amir even recalls carving, "Amir and Hassan, the sultans...

Rahim Khan essentially means that there is a way for Amir to atone for his past sins and redeem himself by telling him that there is a way to be good again. Rahim Khan knows that Amir witnessed...

In The Kite Runner, Amir and Hassan are close friends who come from different classes. As children, Hassan lives in Amir's family's house—his father is a family servant. However, he shares a deep...

Baba and Amir have a strained relationship in their homeland. Baba is extremely successful and is condescending towards Amir's interests, wishing him to be more practical and enterprising. Things...

Self-conscious-Amir struggles to live up to his father's expectations as a child. He wishes to please his father by joining the soccer team and acting masculine, but cannot seem to win his father's...

Sanaubar is Ali's wife and Hassan's mother who abandoned her family shortly after she gave birth to Hassan. Sanaubar is not a righteous person like Ali, and is known throughout Kabul as a whore. In...

At the end of Chapter 3, Amir overhears his father speaking about him to Rahim Khan. Baba tells Rahim Khan that he was not like Amir growing up and notices how the other neighborhood boys push him...

BETRAYAL IN THE KITE RUNNER Amir. Amir twice betrays his loyal servant, Hassan, while they are still boys in Kabul: First, Amir fails to come to Hassan's aid when he is sodomized by Assef shortly...

Farid serves as Amir’s driver and guides him when he goes on a trip to rescue Sohrab from the war-torn country. Farid tells Amir that he has always been a tourist because he was not properly...

The story opens with Amir talking to Rahim Khan, who is in Pakistan. The story then shifts to Amir and Hassan playing as children in Afghanistan. The opening talked about the close bond between...

There is also a class and ethic dynamic in The Kite Runner that I believe is reflected in the use of this statement, first by Hassan to Amir and then later by Amir to Sohrab. Amir and Hassan are...

Chapter 22 of Kite Runner contains many "full circle" endings. Returning to the country under Taliban control is dangerous, which Amir recognizes. Nevertheless, he is determined to get Sohrab. He...

As was mentioned in the previous post, kite flying in Afghanistan is very popular. Throughout the novel, Amir and Hassan join and win Kabul's kite-fighting tournament. Hassan, Amir's best friend...

A metaphor is a comparison that does not use the words "like" or "as." In one use of a metaphor, Amir likens the past to an object you can bury. An object that is buried is easily forgotten because...

The ending of The Kite Runner shows Amir running a kite for Sorhab, his former best friend Hassam's son, whom he has adopted. The heartbreaking story has come all the way around, because Amir and...

The best place to start is to go into the text and examine the words of Amir. As words from the Koran reverberated through the room, I thought of the old story of Baba wrestling a black bear in...

We cannot pinpoint with accuracy why Khaled Hosseini wrote the novel. He even says that the story was imaginary. But we can take a few educated guesses. First, Khaled Hosseini grew up in Kabul,...

In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Amir, the narrator, opens the book by saying, I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.1 remember the...

Amir sees emigrating to the United States as a way of escaping his troubled past. So long as he remains in Afghanistan, he will forever be wracked by guilt over his betrayal of Hassan. Upping...

Amir and Baba's relationship seems to grow distant after they move to the United States. It seems like Baba is a broken man, having lost his wealth and lifestyle from when they lived in the Middle...

Amir and his father became much closer after fleeing Afghanistan. They had lived through terrible danger together and had survived to make a new life in a land that was equally foreign to both of...

I will focus on Hassan and Amir to provide examples of courage from The Kite Runner. You will notice that early in the book there are examples of Hassan's courage and that it is not until later in...

Hosseini relies heavily on flashback not only to build suspense but also to support his theme of the past's immense effect upon the present. At the beginning, Hosseini begins the novel in present...

Sanaubar was known as a promiscuous woman and was ashamed to have Ali as her husband. Sanaubar had eloped with a band of singers and dancers in 1964 and left behind her husband and newborn infant,...

In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, grown-up Amir’s overwhelming sense of guilt can be traced back to his treatment of his childhood friend, Hassan. Amir was a silent bystander to Hassan’s rape...

Amir redeems himself at the end of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini when he adopts Hassan’s son Sohrab. Amir goes back to the Middle East to get Sohrab and bring him to the United States. He...

In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Hassan and Amir are best friends. While there are similarities between the two, there are also significant differences. Their personalities, faiths, social...

I would argue Baba and Amir were forced to move out of Afghanistan because of the prevailing dangerous conditions. The Afghan community was divided and civil liberties were restricted. People who...

Kamal is Assef’s friend, and they mostly spend time together. Kamal’s first appearance in the story occurs when Assef meets Amir and Hassan as they are walking up the hill to the pomegranate tree....

Amir carries a lasting guilt over his treatment of Hassan, his childhood best friend. Hassan was a devoted and loyal friend, and Amir let him get sexually assaulted in order to win a kite to...

During Amir’s birthday, his father gave him two presents, a brand new Schwinn Stingray bicycle, and a wrist watch. According to Amir, he did not feel worthy of his father’s efforts to organize the...

In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, Kamal is one of two cowardly, obsequious “lieutenants” to Assef, a sadistic bully who torments weaker boys, and who rapes Hassan while Amir looks on helplessly...

This quote expresses the truth that Baba loves the idea of America but "living" in America gives Baba an ulcer. Hosseini includes this quote not only to portray the difficulty that many immigrants...

The relationship between Amir and Hassan is crucial to the themes of this novel because it is this friendship and the changes it undergoes that illustrate betrayal, regret (guilt) and forgiveness....

Hassan's normal smile is ironic for two reasons. He was born smiling, but even that was not enough for his mother not to abandon him. When he comes out of the surgery that Baba pays for, he...

In Chapter 4, Amir recalls the times that he and Hassan would read underneath the pomegranate tree and mentions that Hassan's favorite story was the Shahnamah. The Shahnamah was a tenth-century...

Amir's desire to become a writer dates back to his childhood. Baba was never supportive of his son's chosen career path despite it being Amir's passion. Baba's best friend and business partner...

This quote is spoken by Rahim Khan on the day of Amir's birthday party. During this particular scene, Rahim is narrating to Amir the story of his first love. When he was eighteen years old, he had...

In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, there are significant differences between best friends Hassan and Amir, including their personalities, faiths, social status, and even experiences. In terms...

As was mentioned in the previous post, Amir comments on the use of clichés when he visits Rahim Khan in Chapter 15. As soon as Rahim Khan opens the door, Amir recalls what his creative writing...

Aside from the fact that Amir never saw his mother and that he feels the guilt of causing her death during childbirth--and believes that Baba blames him as well--Amir knows very little about his...

At this point in the story, at the end of chapter 12, Soraya has revealed her secret to Amir. Amir envies Soraya because he still has a secret that he is tormented by and which he hasn't yet found...

In The Kite Runner, Ali probably knows that Hassan is not his son, but it is never stated and it also does not matter. For all intents and purposes, Hassan is his son. Ali loves Hassan as if he...

As mentioned previously, Baba is Hassan's father, making Amir Hassan's half-brother. As a child, Amir is jealous of Baba's affection toward Hassan. Unaware that Hassan is his half-brother, Amir...

You are being asked to do two related tasks, and your ability to discern the themes of the novel will help you think critically about how Hosseini crafts his opening chapter to help the reader see...

Khaled Hosseini raises numerous issues throughout The Kite Runner regarding ethnicity, prejudice, religion, political unrest, friendship, guilt, violence, and redemption. Hosseini examines the...

Baba is a strong character in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, a man who is not likely to admit that he has any faults or frailties. In fact, however, to some extent he is to blame for many of...

Amir is selfish at the beginning of the novel, but as he matures, he becomes more selfless. When he is young, is selfish for his father's love, and he resents his father's attentions towards...

There are several ironies in Amir’s first story and his telling of it to Hassan. The story is a dark little tale about a man who found a magic cup and learned that if he wept into the cup, his...

This quote from The Kite Runner occurs in the pivotal chapter of the novel, chapter 7, in which Amir and Hassan have just won the kite-fighting tournament and Hassan goes to run the second-place...