of it.

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 Assef against Hassam. When Amir wins the tournament, Hassam tells him that he will run the kite for him.  Amir tells him to bring the kite back to him.  Hassan, "cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, " For you, a thousand times over."  Now years later and thousands of miles away in California Amir cuts a kite and turns to Sohrab, Hassan's son, and asks,

"Do you want me to run that kite for you?"  I thought I saw hin nod. "For you a thousand times over, " I heard myself say.  Then I turned and ran. 

This scene is significant because Amir's life has now come full circle.  He is now running the kite, not just for Sohrab, but for Hassam, and for himself and the history that they shared.

In the opening scene of the novel, Amir mentions that his life changed on a cold winter day in 1975. He then says that twenty-six years later, Rahim Khan gave him a call from Pakistan with a chance to atone for his past sins. Amir then walks down to the Golden Gate Park and imagines Hassan's voice whispering, "For you, a thousand times over." That night, Amir thinks about that cold day in 1975 that made him who he was today.

This scene is significant because it foreshadows the main events in the novel. Although Amir does not reveal what happened on the cold day in 1975, the reader understands something took place that dramatically affected Amir's life. The reader also gains insight into Amir's quest for redemption by returning to Pakistan after speaking with Rahim Khan. Throughout the novel, we learn that Amir does not intervene when he sees his best friend getting raped. Amir's actions haunt him for the rest of his life until Rahim Khan presents him with a chance to atone for his sins. Amir's main quest throughout the story is his search for atonement. 

The central character, Amir, gets right to the heart of the matter in the opening scene in "The Kite Runner". He describes his memory of "crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek". The scene he is remembering is where the defining moment of his life took place. It was in that alley that his loyal childhood friend Hassan was viciously raped while trying to retrieve a kite for Amir's benefit. Amir, a witness to the atrocity, kept himself hidden, and allowed his friend to be victimized without coming to his aid. That moment "changed everything" in Amir's life, and "made (him) what (he) (is) today" - a man who sees himself as being without courage or integrity, a man without honor who would heartlessly betray a friend.

Everything that happens in the narrative is connected to the opening scene described. Amir cannot forget what he did there, and because his sin is hidden, his whole life after that incident is a lie. The phone call he receives from Rahim Khan offers Amir a chance to atone for his transgression, and sets the stage for the central theme of the book. Amir is offered an opportunity for redemption; "a way to be good again" (Chapter 1).

I think author Khaled Hosseini comes up with a magnificent title to his novel of life in wartorn Afghanistan. It represents the single most memorable event in the lives of both Amir and Hassan--the day of Kabul's annual kite flying tournament--and the repercussions of both Amir's victory and the horrors that occur to both boys afterward. Kite flying represents both pleasure and terror to the boys: Amir and Hassan never experience greater comaraderie during their time together, Amir flying the kites and Hassan running them down for his master. Hassan's own uncanny mastery of knowing just where the defeated kites will fall makes him the greatest kite runner in Kabul, but it also leads to misery. Hassan is raped by Assef and his young thugs when he refuses to hand over the defeated prized blue kite, and it leads to a life of guilt for Amir whem he fails to summon the courage to aid his friend. Kite running defines Hassan, and it becomes a source of bad memories and nightmares for Amir. The kite, a symbol of freedom which is later banned by the Taliban, returns at the end of the novel when Amir finally makes a connection with Sohrab; and Amir volunteers to run the kite for his troubled young nephew, breaking the ice between them and allowing Amir to feel a sense of redemption for his past sins against Hassan. He is thrilled to run the kite "a thousand times over" for Sohrab, just as Hassan had done for him. The cover of the novel (my version is a large paperback from 2005) showing a kite flying freely over the ancient buildings of Kabul seems appropriate: Though Amir migrates to America, he can never escape the past he leaves behind in Afghanistan. And, though the nation is often controlled by the stifling influences of the Russians and Taliban, the single kite flying high above the city signifies the freedom that Afghan people will always seek.

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. Amir sees the action, but he does not do anything to help his faithful friend. 

This cowardice of Amir shapes his life. And he can never forget it. He feels an overwhelming sense of guilt, because he knows that Hassan would die for him. Eventually he falsely accuses Hassan and he is sent away. This, too, defines him in a negative way. 

As an adult, Amir is able to redeem himself. He finds out that Hassan had a son and that Hassan was killed by the Taliban. In light of this, Amir goes to get Hassan's son and in the end adopts him. 

In short, Amir never forgot his friend, the best kite runner in the world. 

The Kite Runner is both a powerful story about redemption and family, and a catharsis for author Khaled Hosseini, who lived through some of the historical events detailed within. Amir, the protagonist, is guilty of betraying his friend (and half-brother) Hassan, and must redeem himself by saving Hassan's son. Through his actions, he discovers that family ties are more powerful than guilt and anger. Hosseini lived a similar life to Amir, although less dramatic, and included his own childhood friendships, displacement from Afghanistan, and settling in California; this allowed him to show non-Afghans some of the traumas and hardships that his people went through during the Soviet invasion.