The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I would absolutely recommend this book! It is incredibly moving and enthralling. I was extremely captivated by the story and the characters. It's an amazing book but one caution, be ready to cry!
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to the elements of plot you've learned in past courses (exposition, inciting incident, etc.). Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
Exposition: The story is told in first-person narration by Amir. Amir grows up fairly wealthy in Afghanistan in the 1970s during the heyday of Afghanistan's history, right before things went terribly bad. Amir begins his story in 2001 while living in San Francisco. He prepares to tell the reader a story about how a certain event from 1975 made him what is today. Amir describes his childhood best friend, Hassan, in the second chapter of the novel. Hassan and his father, Ali, are servants for Amir and his father. They are also Harzaras, which were considered a very low class race. Ali and Amir's father, Baba, had been friends for years and naturally, their sons grew up as friends. Hassan and Amir do everything together but even though they're friends, Amir sometimes treats Hassan like he is beneath him. Hassan is more social and athletic than Amir and receives positive attention from Amir's father. His makes Amir jealous because he always as though he didn't measure up to his father's expectations. Because of this, Amir often passively-aggressively attacks Hassan. In the exposition, we are also introduced to Rahim Khan, Baba's good friend who supports Amir's love of writing. The reader learns that Amir's mother died during birth and that Hassan's mother ran away after birth. Finally Amir gets to the event that changed him forever. After a kite competition that he and Hassan won, Hassan goes chasing after the last kite to fall, as is custom with the children. Hassan was very good at this but a group of boys is jealous of Hassan's ability. The leader of the boys, Assef is an purely evil person. They find Hassan and demand the kite. Hassan refuses to give it to them because he wants to present it to Amir. Assef rates Hassan and Amir sees the whole thing. Amir is conflicted. He wants to say something or do something but he can't; he just hides around the corner. He will forever be tormented by his cowardly actions from that evening.
Rising Action: Hassan is never the same after the incident. Deep down he knows that Amir knew what happened and he feels ashamed. Amir can't stand to be around Hassan and the guilt so he places a large amount of money under Hassan's bed. He tells Baba that Hassan stole the money from him. Baba decides to forgive Hassan and let him stay but Hassan's father Ali insists that they leave because of the situation. Baba is deeply upset because Ali had been his good friend. Shortly after, things begin to go downhill in Afghanistan and Baba decides to take Amir and leave. They travel to Pakistan and from there, to America. Baba finds a job in a gas station in Fremont and they sell things at the flea market every week to make a living. Baba ends up getting diagnosed with cancer and dies after a few years in America. Before that though, he is able to see Amir get married to an Afghan girl, Soraya. They are very happy together, but unable to have children. One day, in 2001, Amir gets a call from his old family friend Rahim Khan. Rahim tell Amir that he is very sick and wants to see Amir.
Climax: Amir travels to Pakistan to see Rahim Khan. He finds him very sick and poor. Rahim tells Amir about the troubles with Afghanistan and the Taliban. Rahim gives Amir a letter from Hassan. Hassan is well and has a child and a wife. Rahim explains that the letter was written months ago and Hassan and his wife had recently been killed by the Taliban. Hassan breaks down. Rahim explains that Hassan's son, Sohrab was placed in an orphanage in the dangerous city of Kabul. Rahim knew what happened years ago between Hassan and Amir and he says that saving Sohrab will make up for his past actions. Rahim then tells Amir a secret that had been kept for years. Hassan and Amir are half-brothers. Baba had an affair with Hassan's mother and that makes Sohrab, Amir's nephew. Amir now understands his fathers love for Hassan and he is angry that this has been kept from him for so long and he storms out of Rahim's apartment. After he calms down he goes back and agrees to rescue Sohrab. He travels with a man named Farid to Afghanistan on a very dangerous journey. They find the orphanage but Sohrab is not there. He had been bought by members of the Taliban. Amir finds him as some sort of child sex slave to a Taliban member, who turns out to be Assef, the man who raped Hassan that Amir never stood up to. Assef agrees to a fight; if Amir wins, he is free to go, but if not, he will be dead. Sohrab ends up blinding Assef during the fight with his slingshot. Amir and Sohrab escape but Amir is greatly injured and is taken to the hospital.
Falling Action: After Amir somewhat recovers, the go back to Pakistan. Amir tries to find ways to adopt Sohrab and take him back to America but lawyers tell him it will be nearly impossible. The only way would be for Sohrab to go back into an orphanage for awhile until the papers go through. Amir had promised that Sohrab wouldn't have to go back and Sohrab is distressed when he hears the news. While Amir is sleeping, Hassan goes into the bathroom and slits his wrists. Amir finds him and an ambulance takes him to the hospital where he is saved.
Resolution: Soraya arranged a way for Sohrab to be taken back to States before an official adoption takes place. Sohrab becomes depressed as he yearns for his old life. He is silent most of the time and shows only sorrow until one day about a year after he is taken back to America. At a picnic, people begin flying kites and Amir buys one and encourages Sohrab to try. Sohrab shows little interest at first but begins to try. They are able to cut down the other kite and Sohrab smiles; for the first time in a year. Amir knows it's a small thing and it doesn't fix anything, but it is a positive sign that things are getting better.
The purpose of the novel was to show how common human instincts, problems, and feelings occur everywhere in the world. Amir grew up in a world different than anyone in America could imagine yet he deals with guilt, feeling inferior, and hate that we can all relate to. The problems that Hassan and Amir's friendship suffer and overcome show the basic reality of human relationships. Amir's insecurity about never making Baba proud are relatable issues. The setting is different than most people's, but the underlying issues and emotions are applicable to all of us.
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
I think that the main theme of the novel is the journey of the search for redemption. The entire novel revolves around Amir's struggles to avenge his wrongs. The novel begins with Amir reflecting on an event from 1975 that changed his life. Throughout his life he struggles with not thinking he is worth anything because of his lack of courage. He finally gets a chance a make right what he did years ago by saving Hassan's son and he takes the opportunity. He couldn't solve the problem by sending Ali and Hassan away as a child. It is only when Amir learned to confront his past and make peace that he was able to move with his life.
3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
The tone is mostly mournful and remorseful. Many negative incidents occur in the occur and they really make the reader feel badly for the characters. Things never seem to go positive for the characters. Right as Amir and Baba get to America and start to rebuild their lives, Baba gets cancer. "I wanted to ask him how I was supposed to live with that word, 'suspicious' for two whole weeks. How was I supposed eat, work, study? How could he send me home with that word?" Page 154 first edition. Baba's death really hurts Amir and sets a depressing tone. When Amir finds out about Hassan's murder, he feels a range of emotions including despair, shock and mostly guilt. He can't help thinking that if he wouldn't have lied and made Hassan and Ali, that Hassan wouldn't be dead. "But all I could manage was to whisper 'No. No. No' over and over again." Page 219. The guilt that Amir feels really comes through the text and how he speaks. After Sohrab attempts suicide, Amir displays extreme guilt again. "Suddenly I was on my knees, screaming. Screaming through my clenched teeth. Screaming until I thought my throat would rip and my chest explode." Page 343. Amir faces one problem after another. He tries to make up for his mistakes but each time he faces a depressing event that sets him back.
4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)
One literary element that is important to the story is irony. One example of irony was the day that Amir won the kite competition. It was the happiest day of his life in that his father was finally proud of him, yet the worst day because it was the day that Amir watched as Hassan was harassed. "I put the kite down and walked into his thick hairy arms. I buried my face in the warmth of his chest and wept. Baba held me close to him, rocking me back and forth. In his arms, I forgot what I'd done. And that was good." Page 79. This ironic day marked the happiest moment of Amir's life, and the moment that would haunt him forever.
Another device used was personification. Afghanistan was a crucial part of Amir's life. It was where he grew up and he has a lot memories from there. The author personifies the country to signify it's importance in Amir's life. "I sensed Afghanistan humming under my feet. Maybe Afghanistan hadn't forgotten me either." Page 241. Amir's ties to Afghanistan are strong, and going back there only calls back all of the memories that torment Amir.
There are small uses of foreshadowing in the novel. Before Sohrab attempts suicide, there are signs that it might happen. When Amir gets the call that he can take Sohrab to the U.S. right away, he is thrilled. He is too thrilled and things are going too good. Things hadn't worked out this well at any point in the novel so I was waiting for a foil and it finally came when Amir found Sohrab with slit wrists. There had been another foreshadowing event of this incident. "Poor Ray. He hasn't been the same since his daughter died. I raised an eyebrow. Suicide, she whispered." Page 332. The adoption lawyer Amir talks to recently had a daughter commit suicide; a foreshadow of what would come close to happening to Amir.
Flashbacks occur many times throughout the story and constantly plague Amir. "We are Hassan and Amir, famed adventurers and the world's greatest explorers, about to receive a medal of honor for our courageous feat." Page 261. Going back to his home in Afghanistan after years brought forth a lot of memories for Amir. Mostly painful memories including the deceased Hassan. These flashbacks showed how tormented Amir was, even as an adult, for his childhood cowardliness.
The epiphanies that Amir experiences really shape him as a character. After Baba's funeral, it finally hits Amir that he will have to live his life on his own, without Baba, the man who had shaped him. " Listening to them, I realized how much of who I was, what I was, had been defined by Baba and the marks he had left on people's lives. My whole life, I had been Baba's son. Now he was gone. Baba couldn't show me the way anymore; I'd have to find it on my own." Page 174. From here on, Amir reflected more on the feeling he had about how Baba shaped his life.
The point of view in this novel is a defining factor. Amir is telling the story through his own experiences and if it hadn't been told through Amir's voice, the reader wouldn't understand the depth and struggle of the guilt that Amir felt. "How could he have lied to me all those years? To Hassan? He had sat me on his lap when I was little, looked me straight in the eyes, and said, There is only one sin. And that is theft... When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. Hadn't he said those words to me? And now, fifteen years after I'd buried him, I was learning that Baba had been a thief. And a thief of the worst kind, because the things he'd stolen had been sacred: from me the right to know I had a brother, from Hassan his identity, and from Ali his honor. His nang. His namoos." Page 225. The first person pov really lets the audience feel exactly what Amir is feeling.
Symbolism plays an important role in the story, and the title. Kite fighting is often mentioned and referred to, and it usually symbolized the few happy moments. Kite fighting was something that Hassan and Amir shared, it was something that made Baba proud of his son and ultimately, it was something that made the desolate Sohrab happy. "I looked down at Sohrab. One corner of his mouth had curled up just so. A smile. Lopsided. Hardly there. But there." Page 371. Flying kites finally brought Sohrab some happiness and tied together kites with the the theme of happiness/hope.
Characterization greatly shapes the way that the story unfolds. Since the story is told through the voice of Amir, the audience is able to see the different social levels. Amir explains in his innocent ways, why Hassan is treated differently as a Hazara. "Never mind any of those things. Because history isn't easy to overcome. Neither is religion. In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi'a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing." Page 25. Becasue Hassan was a Hazara, he would always be below Amir and this caused a lot of Amir's guilt.
Conflicts are the heart of this story. There are many external conflicts but the most important ones are internal. The basis of the story revolves around Amir's inner conflicts about his past and these conflicts are what motivate his actions throughout the novel. "I flinched, like I'd been slapped. My heart sank and I almost blurted out the truth. Then I understood: This was Hassan's final sacrifice for me. If he'd said no, Baba would have believed him because we all knew Hassan never lied. And if Baba believed him, then I'd be the accused; I would have to explain and I would be revealed for what I really was. Baba would never, ever forgive me. And that led to another understanding: Hassan knew. He knew I'd seen everything in that alley, that I'd stood there and done nothing. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time. I loved him in that moment, loved him more than I'd ever loved anyone, and I wanted to tell them all that I was the snake in the grass, the monster in the lake. I wasn't worthy of this sacrifice; I was a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And I would have told, except that a part of me was glad. Glad that this would all be over with soon. Baba would dismiss them, there would be some pain, but life would move on. I wanted that, to move on, to forget, to start with a clean slate. I wanted to be able to breathe again." Page 105. Amir's inner conflicts prompt him to get rid of Ali and Hassan all together, so he can try to live with his mistakes.
CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization. Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?
One example of direct characterization is Amir's physical description of Hassan at the beginning of the novel. "I can still see Hassan up on that tree, sunlight flickering through the leaves on his almost perfectly round face, a face like a Chinese doll chiseled from hardwood: his flat, broad nose and slanting, narrow eyes like bamboo leaves, eyes that looked, depending on the light, gold, green, even sapphire. I can still see his tiny low-set ears and that pointed stub of a a chin, a meaty appendage that looked like it was added as a mere afterthought. And that cleft lip, just left of midline, where the Chinese doll maker's instrument may have slipped." Page 3. Another example of direct characterization is Amir's description of his father. "It was Rahim Khan who first referred to him as what eventually became Baba's famous nickname, Toophan agha, or "Mr. Hurricane." It was an apt enough nickname. My father was a force of nature, a towering Pashtun specimen with a thick beard, a wayward crop of curly brown hair as unruly as the man himself, hands that looked capable of uprooting a willow tree, and a black glare that would "drop the devil to his knees begging for mercy," as Rahim Khan used to say. At parties, when all six-foot-five of him thundered into the room, attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun." Pages 12-13. This description of Baba directly tells the audience that Baba is a forceful character. An example of indirect characterization is "The Russian soldier thrust his face into the rear of the truck. He was humming the wedding song and drumming his finger on the edge of the tailgate. Even in the dim light of the moon, I saw the glazed look in his eyes as they skipped from passenger to passenger. Despite the cold, sweat streamed from his brow. His eyes settled on the young woman wearing the black shawl. He spoke in Russian to Karim without taking his eyes off her. Karim gave a curt reply in Russian, which the soldier returned with an even curter retort. The Afghan soldier said some thing too, in a low, reasoning voice. But the Russian soldier shouted something that made the other two flinch. I could feel Baba tightening up next to me. Karim cleared his throat, dropped his head. Said the soldier wanted a half hour with the lady in the back of the truck." Pages 114-115. The way that people react to this Russian soldier show that he is a disgraceful man. Another example is "His [Assef's] blue eyes flicked to Hassan. "Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood." He made a sweeping, grandiose gesture with his hands. "Afghanistan for Pashtuns, I say. That's my vision." Page 40. Assef words and vision allow the audience to infer that he full of hate and racism.
2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?
The author does vary his syntax and diction when he writes about different characters. He writes more descriptively and emotionally when focusing on characters. This also varies between different characters. When describing characters the narrator is fond of, he uses more descriptive, flowy language. When he focuses of character he hates, he uses short, terse language. "His word was law, and if you needed a little legal education, then those brass knuckles were just the right teaching tool." Page 38.
3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic? Flat or round? Explain.
Amir is a dynamic and round character. He begins the story as a spoiled, selfish boy but by the end of the novel he learns to seek redemption, and he is truly sorry. The reader can see Amir change as he gets older and grows more mature. He is also complex. He has many internal conflicts and the author spends the most time developing him.
4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character? Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.
After reading this book, I definitely felt like I knew Amir on personal level. After I finished reading, I found myself wondering how Amir was doing up in San Francisco. Then I had to stop and remind myself that Amir did not really live in San Francisco or exist at all because he is a fictional character. It was that real! I felt like Amir had told me his life story, and I felt as though I was a part of his life. "But I'll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting. I ran. A grown man running with a swarm of screaming children. But I didn't care.I ran with the wind blowing in my face, and a smile as wide as the Valley of Panjsher on my lips. I ran." Page 371. In these last lines, everything really ties together. There is a sense of hope. Things aren't perfect but there is hope. I feel hopeful for Amir.
