always my idea. 

These quotes from Hassan's childhood foreshadow the life Hassan is going to lead as time passes. When Amir needs something, like the blue kite to win his father's approval, Hassan will win it for him--at a terrible and humiliating cost. When Amir feels so much guilt for not standing up to Assef as he was assaulting Hassan, he plants evidence that Hassan stole from him. Amir makes the accusation and Hassan falsely admits to Amir's crime and is sent away because of it. This is the pattern of their relationship and of Hassan's sacrificial and loving nature, and Hassan will eventually lose his life by returning to the city, making his final sacrifice for Amir and Baba.

The boys are often seen as brothers, despite their financial and class differences. Amir says Hassan's father, Ali,

would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break.

Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words.

Mine was Baba.

His was Amir. My name.

This quote is significant and revelatory because we later learn that the two boys really are brothers, and of course once again Hassan's first interest is Amir. These relationships drive all the major events of Hassan's life as well as Amir's (who, by the way, ends up raising Hassan's son, his nephew). 

These quotes appear early in the novel and serve as a kind of prophetic foreshadowing of what is ahead for Hassan, especially because of his pure and unselfish love for Amir, a brother who proves himself unworthy of it.

suddenly, a rock struck Hassan in the back. We whirled around and my heart dropped. Assef and two of his friends ... were approaching us.

Assef's characterization is one of the strongest examples as to how childhood determines a future.  As a child, Assef was a bully.  He targeted Hassan for being different.  Armed with his racial purity arguments and a misplaced love and reverence for Hitler, Assef as a child who loved power.  He enjoyed being able to exert this power.  The more he could victimize another person, the greater the display of power.  When he sodomizes Hassan, it is a reflection of how much he enjoys power and the lengths he will go  in demonstrating it.

This becomes part of Assef's motivation in joining to Taliban as an adult.  The bully has become an integral part of an organization that lives off of intimidation and enforcing its will upon others.  For Assef, the same traits he showed as a child are ones that he displayed as an adult in his participation as a member of the Taliban.  He continues to enjoy victimizing others.  In leading the public stoning of those who commit "sins' to Sohrab, who is the embodiment of human objectification, the child bully that Assef was has grown into an adult with unlimited power who thrives off of the suffering of others.

Ironically, most of the experiences Hassan has while he is growing up should have shaped him into a very different person than the one he becomes. In The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Hassan is born a Hazara, which means he is part of the most scorned class in Afghanistan--and it it something he cannot hide because Hazaras have distinguishing facial characteristics. Hassan's birth into that ethnicity limits his choices in life and essentially shapes his destiny; nevertheless Hassan lives a joy-filled life and does not seem to mind. 

Another experience which should have made Hassan a bitter, angry person is the fact that he grew up motherless.

Sanaubar had taken one glance at the baby in Ali's arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked a bitter laughter.... She had refused to even hold Hassan, and just five days later she was gone.

When she sees that Hassan has a cleft lip, she laughs bitterly and tells her husband (a kind, gentle man whom she despises) that this deformed child is the son he deserves. Living life without a mother (who chose to leave when she saw him) should have made Hassan unhappy and miserable, but he is not.

His friendship with Amir gives Hassan great pleasure, though it probably should not because he makes all the sacrifices. Hassan is so willing to be the one who does all the giving in this friendship, and Amir takes advantage of him at every opportunity. Hassan takes the blame for Amir's "crimes" more than once, defends him to the town bullies, and does everything he can to help Amir please Amir's father. In return, Amir bosses Hassan around, makes fun of Hassan's ignorance (because he is not allowed to go to school), acts cruelly to Hassan out of jealousy, makes unreasonable demands of Hassan, falsely accuses Hassan of stealing, consistently allows Hassan to take the blame for his misdeeds, and deliberately fails to defend Hassan when he needs defending the most. 

While Hassan is generally a kind, loving, and unselfish friend, he does experience several things which both crush his joyful spirit (temporarily) and shape his future. The first one, of course, is the assault in the alley by Assef and his fellow bullies. The assault is bad, but for Hassan the worst is the knowledge that Amir walked away without trying to help him. This should dramatically alter their friendship, but the changes are only dramatic for Amir. Hassan keeps to himself for a bit and is not quite as joyful and trusting as he once was, but he he still loves Amir unselfishly. Amir is the one who experiences such guilt that he just wants Hassan to go away, and that is the second life-altering event for Hassan.  

Amir sets Hassan up as a theif and Baba has no choice but to send Alia and Hassan away. Hassan will spend the next years building a life for himself and his family away from Amir and Baba; however, his commitment and loyalty to Amir and Babar are so deep that, when he is asked to come back to the violent and dangerous city to help take care of Baba's house, he does it. The Taliban hates the Hazaras and eventually kills both Hassan and his wife.

So many of the things that happen in Hassan's childhood should have made him turn into a cruel, bitter adult who cares only for himself; instead, those events seem to have fed his joy and increased his capacity to love. Hassan is a truly honorable and virtuous character, despite all the reasons he had to become something much worse. 

Hassan is one of the major characters in The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, and he is certainly also one of the most sympathetic. It is difficult for readers not to like Hassan because he is a kind, loyal, and optimistic friend to Amir; it is almost impossible for readers not to sympathize with him because Amir takes such advantage of those very qualities. Hassan's personality, temperament, and character are things he (for the most part) chooses; however, his childhood and upbringing are beyond his control and in many ways determine his future. 

Hassan was raised by his wise, gentle, and loving father, Ali, because Hassan's mother saw her newborn son's harelip, was disgusted, and left. Of course we find out later that Hassan is actually Baba's son, but he is raised and grows up as the son of a servant. Though he is illiterate, Hassan is quite intuitive and perceptive; unfortunately, his natural intellect does not get him as far as an education would have. Hassan is poor but does not spend his time or energy fretting about that; instead he spends his childhood serving (and being ill-treated) by his half-brother Amir.

In the Afghanistan culture, Hassan has very little chance of ever being anything much more respectable than a servant. (We see plenty of examples in the novel of people falling from high places but virtually none who elevate themselves beyond the station in life to which they are born.) Being born the son of a servant (despite his biological father's wealth and standing) limits his choices of careers and wives. 

What affects Hassan even more is the events of his childhood. If he had not devoted himself so loyally to Amir, if he had not been willing to be Amir's kite runner, if had ever put himself above Amir, if he had stood up for himself when Amir boldly told lies about him, things might have been different for Hassan. Instead, his unflinching loyalty is what kills him, as he comes back to Kabul to help Rahim Khan care for Baba's house. If he had stayed in his remote village, it is not likely he would have been killed. The habit of loyalty, begun in his childhood, was the cause of his death.