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The Kite Runner
Hassan's favorite book growing up is the Shahnama, which is the tenth-century Persian epic. Of the many tales in the Shahnama, Hassan's favorite story is that of "Rostam and Sohrab." In the story,...
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The Kite Runner
I think the most important place to start would be the difference in social status of the two boys. Hassan is Hazara, which makes him of lower class than Amir. There should be a quotation right...
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The Kite Runner
At the beginning of the story, Amir mentions that he received a phone call from Rahim Khan last summer. During their conversation, Rahim asked Amir to come visit him in Pakistan. Just before Rahim...
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The Kite Runner
Amir becomes more Americanized, while Baba loses the power he enjoyed in Afghanistan. The characters both must adapt to the new culture so Baba relies more on Amir while still clinging to his...
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The Kite Runner
Baba and Amir are Pashtuns, the majority ethnic group in Afghanistan; Ali and Hassan are Hazaras, a minority group and the most persecuted ethnic people of Afghanistan. Although Baba has grown up...
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The Kite Runner
Amir is the protagonist and narrator of the story. He is a Pashtun, who enjoys a privileged childhood in Baba's home. Despite his wealth and opportunities, Amir desperately desires his father's...
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The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini's debut novel The Kite Runner certainly proves the statement "the personal is always political." I see the novel doing so in two significant ways: first, in the way Hosseini...
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The Kite Runner
The story is set against the backdrop of Afghanistan's changing social and political landscape: the main character witnesses the Soviet invasion, the refugee crisis, and the rise of the Taliban...
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The Kite Runner
The Soviet-Afghan War (1979–1989) featured the Soviet invasion of Pakistan, the home country of Baba, Amir, and Hassan. The conflict triggered widespread violence and political instability,...
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The Kite Runner
In this novel, Amir seems to stand out as the tragic protagonist. Tragic protagonists are often good people with flaws that cause pain to both themselves and others. Amir's almost holy dedication...
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The Kite Runner
Briefly, the Persian legend of "Rostam and Sohrab" describes a father's (Rostam) search for his long-lost son. He unknowingly meets his son in battle and mortally wounds him just as he discovers...
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The Kite Runner
Amir and his father Baba are alike in that they show a certain egocentricity and insensitivity to others. They both blunder around in life, acting out of impulse, which in turns hurts those around...
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The Kite Runner
The story spans three decades and follows the turbulent history of Afghanistan from the 1970s to 2002. In the early 1970s, Amir grew up under King Zahir Shah's monarchy and enjoyed a peaceful...
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The Kite Runner
Baba does not want Amir to pursue a career in writing, he wants Amir to pursue a career in law or medicine. He wants Amir to be rich and successful and for once a son he can feel proud of. Amir...
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The Kite Runner
Assef is the story's antagonist who ends up raping Hassan and permanently ruining Amir's relationship with him. Amir and Hassan tried their best to avoid Assef, but he continued to bully and...
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The Kite Runner
In my copy of the novel, this scene occurs on page 29, but basically this is a description of Amir reading the story of Rostam and Sohrab to Hassan, who has been denied an education and so is...
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The Kite Runner
Amir sacrificed his soul for what he believed was the son Baba wanted. Amir betrayed his best friend, Hassan, because of his jealousy and always thought he could never life up to his father's...
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The Kite Runner
This is a good question. Back home Baba was an important figure. More than that he had friends and things were familiar. People knew him, knew his family; he shared a common culture and ancestry...
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The Kite Runner
The changes that Amir undergoes through the course of the novel have multiple causes. Some of them simply come about through his growing into an adult and having experienced losses, such as his...
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The Kite Runner
The physical geography is a huge influence on the novel because it gives the reader the historical context needed to understand Afghanistan's political unrest and the warring that takes place. The...
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The Kite Runner
While Amir and Hassan grow up as close as brothers, differences in ethnic group, religious belief, and economic status cause rifts between them. Their relationship is preceded by that of their...
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The Kite Runner
For me, the theme of friendship and loyalty is a vital one from Hosseini's work. I think that I see this theme in a couple of other works and contrasting the views presented on this theme could be...
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The Kite Runner
These quotes, coming from the final page of The Kite Runner, detail the breaking of the ice between Amir and his nephew, Sohrab. Sohrab, who refuses to speak and never smiles after returning with...
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The Kite Runner
Both of the two fathers in The Kite Runner were high-powered, important men in Afghanistan: Baba was a rich, important businessman, while General Taheri was an important military leader. They both...
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The Kite Runner
The contrast between social classes is seen in Amir and his friend Hassan. Amir is the son of Baba, a wealthy businessman and a Sunni Muslim. They live a life of privilege and comfort in a fine...
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The Kite Runner
An example of irony that occurs in chapter ten is the fact that Ali, a man who has always been wealthy and successful, is now stripped of all his material possessions and is traveling with members...
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The Kite Runner
Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem "The Debt" examines themes of grief, regret, and sorrow, which are similarly explored throughout Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner. Paul Laurence Dunbar writes,...
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The Kite Runner
Soraya is the young woman Amir and his father met at the Afghan flea market in California; as Amir, she was in the habit of going there with her father to help him trade goods at his stand. Soraya...
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The Kite Runner
Throughout the novel, several characters act immorally and selfishly and are forced to make sacrifices in order to atone for their sins, while others characters are pure of heart and selflessly...
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The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner revolves around the sins and guilt of its protagonist, Amir. In his childhood, and at the beginning of the text, Amir witnesses the rape of his friend Hassan...
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The Kite Runner
Assef's rape of Hassan was not an act of courage, not in any way. It was an act of sadistic brutality and violence, an assertion of his power. Assef is an arrogant bully, born of privilege, who...
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The Kite Runner
This is a great question. The title is about the most important incident in Amir's life. He witnesses the rape of Hassan as Hassan was going to look for the second place kite in a kite tournament....
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The Kite Runner
Chapter 19 of The Kite Runner details Amir's journey from Pakistan back into Taliban-held Afghanistan. Amir is suffering from culture shock, seeing his homeland for the first time in more than 25...
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The Kite Runner
In the novel, "The Kite Runner," we meet Amir as a young boy who is starving for the attention of his father. We see that he is a product of his upbringing. Hassan and his family were of the...
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The Kite Runner
Sanuabar is Ali's wife and Hassan's mother. Aside from her beauty, she is the polar opposite of Amir's late mother, Sofia Akrami. While Amir's mother was of royal heritage, a university professor...
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The Kite Runner
One way that The Kite Runner is relevant to modern times is in its depiction of Afghanistan's complex reality. Afghanistan's involved history is a significant part of The Kite Runner. Reviewer...
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The Kite Runner
Farid is clearly from a poor family and has had a very hard life. He fought against the Soviets and has lost his youngest two daughters in a land mine explosion, as well as some toes from his feet...
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The Kite Runner
In The Kite Runner, Amir sees his friend Hassan get raped. Unable to deal with his guilt at doing nothing to help Hassan, Amir frames him for theft, causing his father to take him away out of...
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The Kite Runner
Most of the changes are positive (at least from Amir's perspective). In America, Amir is able to escape his guilt regarding Hassan (for a while), and he does not have to compete for Baba's...
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The Kite Runner
In the winter of 1975 Hassam and Amir won the kite tournament in Kabul. This was the closest they would ever be and just a few minutes later they would begin to be torn apart by the violence of...
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The Kite Runner
The theme of redemption carries through The Kite Runner. Amir must make amends for his earlier mistreatment of Hassan. The primary way he does this is by adopting his nephew, Sohrab. The first step...
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The Kite Runner
At first, it seems like Baba, Amir's father, is acting in an altruistic manner by allowing Hassan and his father Ali to live as his servants. Amir notes that Baba is very loving towards Hassan, and...
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The Kite Runner
As boys, Amir and Hassan were separated by social class, but they were united by the fact that they were young and the only two children in Baba's house. They played as children play, exploring...
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The Kite Runner
There are quite a few organizations applicable to the issues featured in The Kite Runner. There are also many organizations involved specifically in the ongoing war in Afghanistan, which began in...
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The Kite Runner
Amir was shocked about hearing of his father's secret, and became very irate, even storming out on his longtime friend Rahim Khan, who was dying. Amir refers to an old cliche a writing teacher...
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The Kite Runner
Towards the beginning of the novel, Amir is a timid adolescent boy who witnesses his best friend, Hassan, get raped by Assef and does not intervene. After witnessing the incident, Amir is filled...
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The Kite Runner
Given the reader is aware of the ongoing War in Afghanistan following the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the presence of the Taliban is not...
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The Kite Runner
Scars and kites are two of the primary motifs in The Kite Runner. Nearly everyone has scars in the story--either physical or psychological. They represent the savagery and horrors of the various...
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The Kite Runner
In Chapter 1 of The Kite Runner, the author gives the reader an amazing amount of information, quickly and succinctly. In just three short paragraphs, he establishes the setting, gives an overview...
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The Kite Runner
There are a number of reasons why Amir can never fully accept Hassan as a true friend, and not just as a playmate during his hours away from school. First, Hassan and Ali are both Hazara, the...
