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THE
KITE RUNNER
by Khaled Hosseini
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Khaled Hosseini's stunning debut novel The Kite Runner follows a young boy, Amir, as he faces the challenges that confront him on the path to manhood—testing friendships, finding love, cheating death, accepting faults, and gaining understanding. Living in Afghanistan in the 1960s, Amir enjoys a life of privilege that is shaped by his brotherly friendship with Hassan, his servant's son. Amir lives in constant want of his father's attention, feeling that he is a failure in his father's eyes. Hassan, on the other hand, seems to be able to do no wrong. Their friendship is a complex tapestry of love, loss, privilege, and shame.
Striving to be the son his father always wanted, Amir takes on the weight of living up to unrealistic expectations and places the fate of his relationship with his father on the outcome of a kite running tournament, a popular challenge in which participants must cut down the kites of others with their own kite. Amir wins the tournament. Yet just as he begins to feel that all will be right in the world, a tragedy occurs with his friend Hassan in a back alley on the very streets where the boys once played. This moment marks a turning point in Amir's life—one whose memory he seeks to bury by moving to America. There he realizes his dream of becoming a writer and marries for love but the memory of that fateful day will prove too strong to forget. Eventually it draws Amir back to Afghanistan to right the wrongs that began that day in the alley and continued in the days, months, and years that followed.
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. The son of a diplomat, his family received political asylum in the United States in 1980. He currently lives in California where he is a physician. The Kite Runner is his first novel.
1.
The novel
begins with Amir's memory of peering down an
alley, looking for Hassan who is kite running for
him. As Amir peers into the alley, he witnesses a
tragedy. The novel ends with Amir
kite running for Hassan's
son, Sohrab, as he begins a new life with
Amir in
America.
Why do you think the author chooses to frame the novel with these scenes?
Refer to the following passage: "Afghans like to say: Life goes on, unmindful
of beginning, end...crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty
caravan of kochis [nomads]." How is this
significant to the framing of the novel?
2.
The
strong underlying force of this novel is the relationship between
Amir and Hassan.
Discuss their friendship. Why is Amir afraid to be
Hassan's true friend? Why does
Amir constantly test Hassan's
loyalty? Why does he resent Hassan? After the kite
running tournament, why does Amir no longer want
to be Hassan's friend?
3.
Early in
Amir and Hassan's
friendship, they often visit a pomegranate tree where they spend hours reading
and playing. "One summer day, I used one of Ali's kitchen knives to carve our
names on it: 'Amir and Hassan,
the sultans of
Kabul.'
Those words made it formal: the tree was ours." In a letter to
Amir later in the story,
Hassan mentions that "the tree hasn't borne fruit in years." Discuss
the significance of this tree.
4.
We begin
to understand early in the novel that Amir is
constantly vying for Baba's attention and often feels like an outsider in his
father's life, as seen in the following passage: "He'd close the door, leave
me to wonder why it was always grown-ups time with him. I'd sit by the door,
knees drawn to my chest. Sometimes I sat there for an hour, sometimes two,
listening to their laughter, their chatter." Discuss
Amir's relationship with Baba.
5.
After
Amir wins the kite running tournament, his
relationship with Baba undergoes significant change. However, while they form
a bond of friendship, Amir is still unhappy. What
causes this unhappiness and how has Baba contributed to
Amir's state of mind? Eventually, the relationship between the two
returns to the way it was before the tournament,
and Amir laments "we actually deceived ourselves
into thinking that a toy made of tissue paper, glue, and bamboo could somehow
close the chasm between us." Discuss the significance of this passage.
6.
As
Amir remembers an Afghan celebration in which a
sheep must be sacrificed, he talks about seeing the sheep's eyes moments
before its death. "I don't know why I watch this yearly ritual in our
backyard; my nightmares persist long after the bloodstains on the grass have
faded. But I always watch, I watch because of that look of acceptance in the
animal's eyes. Absurdly, I imagine the animal understands. I imagine the
animal sees that its imminent demise is for a higher purpose." Why do you
think Amir recalls this memory when he witnesses
Hassan's tragedy in the alleyway?
Amir recollects the memory again toward the end of
the novel when he sees Sohrab in the home of the
Taliban. Discuss the image in the context of the novel.
7.
America
acts as a place for Amir to bury his memories and
a place for Baba to mourn his. In
America,
there are "homes that made Baba's house in Wazir
Akbar Khan look like a servant's hut." What is
ironic about this statement? What is the function of irony in this novel?
8.
What is
the significance of the irony in the first story that
Amir writes? After hearing Amir's story,
Hassan asks, "Why did the man kill his wife? In
fact, why did he ever have to feel sad to shed tears? Couldn't he have just
smelled an onion?" How is his reaction to the story a metaphor for
Amir's life? How does this story epitomize the
difference in character between Hassan and
Amir?
9.
Why is
Baba disappointed by Amir's decision to become a
writer? During their argument about his career path, Amir
thinks to himself: "I would stand my ground, I decided. I didn't want to
sacrifice for Baba anymore. The last time I had done that, I had damned
myself." What has Amir sacrificed for Baba? How
has Amir "damned himself"?
10.
Compare
and contrast the relationships of Soraya and
Amir and their fathers. How have their upbringings
contributed to these relationships?
11.
Discuss
how the ever-changing politics of
Afghanistan affect each of the characters in the novel.
12.
On
Amir's trip back to
Afghanistan, he stays at the home of his driver, Farid.
Upon leaving he remarks: "Earlier that morning, when I was certain no one was
looking, I did something I had done twenty-six years earlier: I planted a
fistful of crumpled money under the mattress." Why is this moment so important
in Amir's journey?
13.
Throughout the story, Baba worries because Amir
never stands up for himself. When does this change?
14.
Amir's
confrontation with Assef in
Wazir Akar Khan marks an important turning
point in the novel. Why does the author have Amir,
Assef, and Sohrab all
come together in this way? What is this the significance of the scar that
Amir develops as a result of the confrontation?
Why is it important in Amir's journey toward
forgiveness and acceptance?
15.
While in
the hospital in
Peshawar,
Amir has a dream in which he sees his father
wrestling a bear: "They role over a patch of grass, man and beast...they fall
to the ground with a loud thud and Baba is sitting on the bear's chest, his
fingers digging in its snout. He looks up at me, and I see. He's me. I am
wrestling the bear." Why is this dream so important at this point in the
story? What does this dream finally help Amir
realize?
16.
Amir
and Hassan have a favorite story. Does the story
have the same meaning for both men? Why does Hassan
name his son after one of the characters in the story?
17.
Baba and
Amir know that they are very different people.
Often it disappoints both of them that Amir is not
the son that Baba has hoped for. When Amir
finds out that Baba has lied to him about
Hassan, he realizes that "as it turned out, Baba
and I were more alike than I'd never known." How does this make
Amir feel about his father? How is this both a
negative and positive realization?
18.
When
Amir and Baba move to the States their
relationship changes, and Amir begins to view his
father as a more complex man. Discuss the changes in their relationship. Do
you see the changes in Baba as tragic or positive?
19. Discuss the difference between Baba and Ali and between Amir and Hassan. Are Baba's and Amir's betrayals and similarities in their relationships of their servants (if you consider Baba's act a betrayal) similar or different? Do you think that such betrayals are inevitable in the master/servant relationship, or do you feel that they are due to flaws in Baba's and Amir's characters, or are they the outcome of circumstances and characters?