How does Khaled Hosseini create the rising action in The Kite Runner?

The rising action in The Kite Runner begins when Amir receives the ominous phone call from Baba's old friend, Rahim Khan, who is now living in Pakistan.

There is a way to be good again

Rahim tells Amir. So, Amir begins his long journey back to Afghanistan, with stops in Pakistan along the way. Author Khaled Hosseini has withheld from the reader several important bits of information about Baba's past that helps create the rising action. When Rahim tells Amir that Ali, Hassan's father, was sterile, Amir doesn't immediately understand the implications. But it soon becomes clear. Baba had impregnated Ali's wife, Sanaubar: Hassan was actually Baba's son--and Amir's half-brother. But Rahim has more secrets to share. Hassan and his wife have been murdered by the Taliban, and their son, Sohrab--Amir's nephew--is somewhere in Afghanistan. It is this unexpected information that sets Amir off to find Sohrab and tangle with an old enemy--now a Taliban official--along the way.

Hosseini builds suspense throughout Amir's journey, showing the horrors of Taliban terror: the destroyed neighborhoods, the orphaned children, the murders in the soccer stadium and, finally, the unexpected meeting with Assef. Even after Amir manages to escape Assef with Sohrab's help, there are many more obstacles--both mental and physical--for both of them to overcome.

What are two significant incidents that depict a rising action or conflict in The Kite Runner?

AMIR'S MEETING WITH ASSEF.  Certainly, Amir's return to Afghanistan and his reunion with the Taliban who turns out to be Assef fits your description. The rising action would be Amir's search at the orphanage and visit to the stadium before returning to Baba's old home, now a Taliban headquarters. The climax of this section comes during the fight (conflict) between Assef and Amir, culminating with Sohrab's accurately aimed projectile from his slingshot.

HASSAN'S ASSAULT BY ASSEF.  Another example would be on the day of Amir's victory in the kite-flying contest. The contest itself serves as the rising action, followed by Hassan's attempted retrieval of Amir's winning kite. The climax of this scene comes when Hassan is attacked and sodomized (the conflict) by Assef as Amir watches in silence from a distance.

In The Kite Runner, what two incidents show significant character development?

Both Amir and his nephew, Sohrab, change significantly following their confrontation with Assef in Chapter Twenty-Two of The Kite Runner. Though Amir has changed drastically following his arrival in America, he is still haunted by the guilt he feels after his betrayal of Hassan. He knows that returning to Afghanistan and finding Hassan's son, Sohrab, will be the only way he can ease his conscience and retain his nang and namoos. Amir's personal courage reaches its height when he faces off with Assef. Instead of cowering as he did in the past, he insults Assef and demands that he release Sohrab to him. The beating Amir takes at the hands of Assef only makes him laugh, and the pain--and the knowledge that he had stood up to his demons at last--is what cleanses his conscience. Amir has finally become a man.

Sohrab, too, changes in this same room where his father often visited Baba and Amir. Long a sexual play toy of the Taliban, Sohrab makes a stand against them when he pulls his slingshot to defend Amir (who he does not realize is his blood relation). He only recognizes that someone at last is willing to stand up for him and take him away from his horrible existence. When he lets fly, and the brass ball replaces the eye that once belonged to Assef, Sohrab, too, frees himself of his tormenters--if not of the memories which haunt him as well.

What two events show significant theme development in The Kite Runner?

Since I think that one of the most important themes in the novel is the idea of sacrifice and taking action, I think that the rape in Chapter 7 and the confrontation in Chapter 22 are probably two of the most important events in the novel.  When Assef and his buddies sodomize Hassan with Amir watching, it forms the crux of the novel.  The need to "become good again" arises from this instant of cowardice.  Amir's inability to demonstrate loyalty and support of his friend in the most painful time of need is something that ends up haunting their friendship.  It is the pinnacle moment that Amir goes back to time and time again.  It acquires even greater significance when Amir has to fight Assef for Sohrab.  The same situation is played out, only this time, Amir has the courage to set right what was wronged years ago in being able to rescue Amir's son from Assef's cruelty.  It makes sense that while Amir is being brutally beaten he starts to laugh.  This is the moment when Amir recognizes the opportunity to "become good again" and also embraces both the sins of his own past as well as the potential for redemption in the future.