side, make shadow animals on the wall, even sit on the balcony in the dark, a blanket wrapped around me. I felt like a soldier trying to sleep in the trenches the night before a major battle. And that wasn't so far off. In Kabul, fighting kites was a little like going to war (Hosseini 40).

In addition to Amir comparing his sleepless nights to a soldier attempting to get some rest in the uncomfortable trenches the night before a major battle, he also compares purchasing and examining his kite to the way that a soldier inspects his gear before a battle. Amir draws another similarity between kite-fighting and going to war by saying,

As with any war, you had to ready yourself for battle (Hosseini 40).

Amir then proceeds to explain how he and Hassan used to save their money, buy their own materials, and make their own kites, which they would use in the tournament. However, their homemade kites were not as sturdy or swift as they wanted them to be, and Baba ends up buying them kites from an expert craftsman named Saifo. Similar to a soldier cleaning his weapon and inspecting his gear before entering a battle, Amir and Hassan carefully examine their kites and make sure that their equipment is working properly before the tournament begins.

It is in chapter six that this analogy is drawn between kite flying and war. Note how Amir describes himself the night before the competition:

I felt like a solder trying to sleeep in the trenches the night before a major battle. And that wasn't so far off. In Kabul, fighting kites was a little like going to war.

As we understand more about the cultural significance of fighting kites, we see Amir's point of view. Fighting kites was a savage competition, where only the merciless and resolute triumph. It was also a way to gain honour and kudos by defeating your opponents. Remember how Amir hopes to win the favour of his father by triumphing in this competition. Reputations are gained and lost, and during the battle, great sacrifice is needed to ensure that you triumph. Note how Hassan's hands bleed with handling the cord. This analogy is not stretched very far at all.

Kite flying is the simple act of flying your kite around, whether it is with other folks flying their kites or on your own.  It doesn't involve anything except you, the wind, and your kite.

Kite fighting is actually a game where you try to bring down someone else's kite by manuevering your kite in such a way as to cut their string, thus making it impossible for your opponent to keep their kite in the air.  This is what Amir was doing and was so darn good at.

Kite running is actually running to retrieve the opponent's downed kite.  This was Hassan's job in the novel, the one that got him into such a terrible situation.  He would track the fall of the kite and then run to get it as it was a great prize, especially in the case of Amir's great victory in the city-wide contest.

In The Kite Runner, the kite is both a positive and negative symbol. As such, kite flying and kite fighting simultaneously trace the themes of betrayal, generational conflict, and redemption as the story progresses.

Amir, ever cognizant of his fragile relationship with Baba, takes up kite-flying in his childhood years; it is the one activity that allows him to relate to Baba on a personal level. As a former champion kite fighter, Baba is partial to the sport; Amir sees it as the only means by which he can redeem himself in his father's eyes for his lack of prowess in other, more tactile sports.

Baba and I lived in the same house, but in different spheres of existence. Kites were the one paper thin slice of intersection between those spheres.

Preparation for each year's kite-fighting competition can be surprisingly brutal on young hands. Amir relates how "by the time the snow melted and the rains of spring swept in, every boy in Kabul bore telltale horizontal gashes on his fingers from a whole winter of fighting kites." As a warring sport, kite-fighting also symbolizes the inner conflicts in Amir's life. For example, the blue kite represents Amir's abandonment and subsequent betrayal of Hassan (it is while acting as Amir's kite runner that Hassan falls into Assef's hands and is brutally raped). Later, Amir basks in Baba's applause and admiration rather than admit his winning kite is tainted by Hassan's blood and pain.

The kite also develops the theme of Amir's redemption. By the time he flies the kite with Sohrab at the end of the book, Amir has redeemed himself. He has retrieved Sohrab (Hassan's son) from the orphanage, and, however clumsily, done his part in freeing Sohrab from Assef's cruel custody. In teaching Sohrab the principles of kite-fighting, Amir is gifting Sohrab with Hassan's legacy of selflessness and courage and redeeming himself of his past sins.

I did it perfectly. After all these years. The old lift and dive trap. I loosened my grip and tugged on the string, dipping and dodging the green kite. A series of quick sidearm jerks and our kite shot up counterclockwise, in a half-circle. . . "Do you want me to run that kite for you?" His Adam's apple rose and fell as he swallowed. The wind lifted his hair. I thought I saw him nod. "For you, a thousand times over," I heard myself say.