The Kite Runner – Chapter 11

Baba and Amir are in America but Baba has difficulty in adjusting to life there. Baba’s political views cause tension. Baba still responds with violence when angry and there is a nasty incident with the elderly Vietnamese couple in the grocery store. He works long hours at a petrol station and won’t take any help. Baba refuses food stamps as this is an insult to his pride.

Amir is relieved to be in America as it is a place “with no ghosts, no memories, and no sins.” When he graduates from high school Baba tells him that he is proud and takes him out for a celebration. Typically, Baba buys drinks for all the patrons in the bar. He buys Amir a car but then he adds “I wish Hassan had been with us today.” Baba wants Amir to study medicine but Amir decides to study English as he “didn’t want to sacrifice myself to Baba anymore. The last time I had done that, I had damned myself.”

Amir and Baba start selling things at a flea market and it is there that Amir meets Soraya. Amir remembers that there was some gossip about her. Baba tells Amir that there had been a man once in her life and that things did not go well. Although, Soraya is a decent person none of the Afghani men are interested in her. Baba observes, “It may be unfair, but what happens in a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime.” Baba’s statement that what happens in a single day can change the course of a whole lifetime is ironic, because that so true for Amir. As we know this is also true for Baba as we will see later in the novel when his past is revealed. The introduction of a love interest for Amir is interesting, because Soraya is also “damaged goods,” just like Amir.

The symbolic significance of kites

We have discussed the symbolic use of kites in The Kite Runner and although to many of you they reflected Amir’s use of cliche they are worth discussing. Kites are popular today but they have ancient origins. It is believed that they date back at least three thousand years and originally came from China. Kites are particularly popular in Afghanistan as they symbolise national pride, history, independence, personal pride and religion.

Then I glanced up and saw a pair of kites, red with long blue tails, soaring up in the sky. They danced high above the trees on the west end of the park, over the windmills.

This description from the novel appears on page one. The kites represent the relationship between Amir and Hassan, they float close to one another occassionally bumping each other accidently or manipulated on purpose. As the kite flyer and the kite runner they are a perfect team as each is an expert in their own right.

Every winter, districts in Kabul held a kite-fighting tournament. If you were a boy living in Kabul, the day of the tournament was undeniably the highlight of the cold season … In Kabul, fighting kites was a little like going to war.

In Amir’s case this war takes a number of forms in the novel. There is the actual kite-fighting battle, his internal conflict over not protecting Hassan, the battle to win Baba’s attention and to earn his praise and finally the battle over whether to get involved in rescuing Sohrab. Another interesting thing about kites are that they are the only thing that Amir and Baba have in common. Their hopes, dreams and personalities are very different but kites are “the one paper thin slice of intersection between spheres of their existence.” Baba and Amir do eventually come to understand one another but it takes a long time to get there.

The end of the novel was hard for many of you to believe in because of the use of cliche and this was even more evident in your reactions to the film but remember that in Afghanistan kite-flying and fighting only have one rule and that is winning. This not only makes the fight scene between Assef and Amir more believable but it also reminds us why Amir is so desperate to win. Remember, to bring home the last fallen kite is a great honour. Amir betrayed Hassan to get it. Now Sohrab is that last fallen kite and Amir needs to not only win against Assef, he must also bring Sohrab home. It costs Amir and Sohrab a great deal but the final kite-flying scene suggests that Amir by taking on Hassan’s role for Sohrab has finally redeemed himself and has found goodness and redemption.

The Kite Runner – Chapter 10

It is now 1981 and the action focuses on Amir and Baba’s escape from Soviet occupied Kabal. They secretly leave and hurriedly leave with other refugees in a truck. Amir again embarrasses Baba by being carsick. In this part of the novel the horrors of the Soviet occupation are suggested. We note that Amir still thinks of Hassan and the thought that the friend he betrayed is still in the Soviet controlled country makes him physically ill.

The scene where Baba intervenes when a Russian soldier threatens to rape one of the refugees is a direct contrast to Amir and Hassan. Baba’s action is a testament to courage and principles as he is willing to stand up and defend a woman he doesn’t even know while Amir couldn’t defend the friend that he had grown up with.

The reappearance of Kamal is a variation on the same theme. The reader notes that it is ironic that Kamal, who participated in Hassan’s rape, has gone silent, because he, too, was raped.  Kamal’s did not rape Hassan but he allowed it to happen. His rape appears to be a chilling example of natural justice. Kamal’s reaction to the trauma he suffered is also significant as he has basically had a breakdown. It makes the reader reflect on how Hassan must have felt after his rape. The act of rape is about brutal domination and in this chapter it can be seen as symbolic of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.

After Kamal dies in the petrol tanker his father kills himself in despair. He is symbolic of the despair of many people in Afghanistan. Kamal’s father’s suicide is also symbolic in that it represents the dying of the old life they all are leaving behind. This can be seen when Baba gathers up the dirt of his homeland to hold next to his heart. It foreshadows to the reader that Baba will never come back to Afghanistan.

The Kite Runner – Chapter 9

Only another sixteen to go …

The next morning, Amir opens all his presents. He reflects bitterly that “Baba would never have thrown a party like that if he hadn’t one the tournament.” Amir sees the gifts as blood money. He does receive two significant presents – the writing journal from Rahim Khan and the illustrated edition of the Shahnamah from Ali and Hassan. The book is expensive and one that they can barely afford.

The next morning, Amir waits until Ali and Hassan leave to do the shopping. He picks up his new watch and some cash and takes them to their hut. Amir places the items them under Hassan’s mattress. Shortly after, he goes into Baba’s study where he reports the ‘theft’. When Baba asks Hassan if he stole Amir’s gifts, Hassan says yes. Amir understands that this is Hassan’s final sacrifice for him. He also understands that Hassan knows that he watched everything that happened in the alley and yet he is rescuing Amir once again. Baba forgives Hassan but Ali announces that they are leaving. He is cold to Amir and he shows that he also knows about the rape and Amir’s betrayal.

The reader’s sympathy for Amir is challenged by his calculated actions in this chapter. Morally, it is Amir’s lowest point. However, the narrative voice gives no excuses for Amir’s shameful behaviour. Amir’s guilt is so great that all he knows how to do is to deny it. The only way he can do that is to turn his back on Hassan. By framing Hassan for stealing his gifts he forces Ali to insist on leaving. It is ironic that this is that it will only make his guilt greater. Note as Ali and Hassan leave in Baba’s car the rain begins to fall. The image of rain is suggestive of deep sorrow – Amir’s and for the death of a close friendship. Amir’s guilt is deepened as we see that Hassan has once again sacrificed himself to protect Amir.

The Kite Runner – Chapter 8

Chapter eight focuses on Amir’s attempts to forget what he has done to Hassan. He treats him like a servant instead of his friend, he lies about him being ill, he hits him with the pomegranates, and Amir even asks Baba to get new servants. Amir is racked with guilt.

The relationship between Baba and Amir improves after the kite flying tournament, which confirms Amir’s belief that Baba wants him to be more like him. As Amir’s and Baba’s relationship improves Amir’s and Hassan’s deteriorates because of Amir’s guilt.

Amir asks Baba if they can go to Jalalabad because he wants to spend time alone with him. He is not happy about Baba’s suggestion that Hassan comes with them and he is jealous that Baba is worried about Hassan’s health. Baba manages to invite two dozen people and Amir is very uncomfortable with the praise he receives about the tournament. This is also indicated by his travel sickness and his insomnia.

The boys go to see their favourite pomegranate tree and Amir is upset by the words carved into the tree. He pelts Hassan with pomegranates. The boys’ friendship continues to deteriorate and Amir pushes Hassan away and rebuffs any attempts at communication. Amir asks Baba about the possibility of “getting new servants”. Baba is very upset and he tells Amir that, “you bring me shame.” The relationship between father and son weakens again.

The trip to Jalalabad and Amir’s birthday party reinforce Baba’s position in society. Amir sees the hundreds of guests at his party and the pile of presents as a tribute to the power of his father. He sees the presents as ‘blood money’.

At his birthday party Amir has to deal with the emptiness inside him every time he is congratulated for winning the kite tournament and he has to stand speechless while Hassan has to serve Assef. Assef presents Amir with a gift- a biography of Hitler, Amir reluctantly accepts it but later throws it away. Rahim Khan tells Amir that he can talk to him anytime and gives a blank book for writing.

This chapter with the trip to Jalalabad, the birthday party and celebrations of Amir’s victory show how his self-loathing increases. His illness and insomnia show how guilt is affecting him. Amir can no longer sleep well because he does not have a clear conscience.

Chapter 7 is very important!

When I started posting on the chapters of The Kite Runner it didn’t seem a daunting task but as I am only up to chapter seven … maybe I was wrong.

So here goes –

In chapter seven Hassan dreams that Amir conquers the monster in the lake. Amir prays to win the competition – which he does and Hassan runs to retrieve the losing kite. Assef and his gang trap Hassan in an alley and Assef rapes him. Amir sees the rape but he runs away and pretends nothing has happened.

This is the most important chapter of the entire novel as it presents the problem that Amir will have to deal with the rest of his life. It shows his greatest sin and what Rahim Khan had referred to when he said, “There is a way to be good again.” The dream is used to foreshadow Amir’s victory in the tournament, but there are still monsters to deal with: Assef of course, and Amir himself. Amir’s cowardice is made clearer by Hassan’s courage in standing up for him the year before. The tournament is Amir’s greatest moment in his search for approval from Baba, but in the end, it is his worst moment because of what he allowed to happen to Hassan. This event will form the basis for the remainder of the novel. Note that the foreshadowing set into place with Assef’s warning that he was a patient person and would have his revenge eventually has come true. Hassan will pay a terrible price for that revenge, but then so will Amir.

So to be clear – the seventh chapter is very important. The key scene in which Amir witnesses the rape of Hassan and does nothing to protect him is the central event in the novel. This is the event that has haunted Amir. As readers we condemn Amir’s cowardice and feel some repulsion at Amir’s failure to defend Hassan. However, it is important to note that disgust for his cowardice is also shared by Amir himself. Amir knows that his abandonment of Hassan can be viewed as a sacrifice to win Baba’s approval. Amir is afraid that he let Hassan get raped because he is “just a Hazara”. Also note how Hassan’s attackers, Assef, Wali and Kamal attack Hassan’s ethnicity. Hosseini is making it clear to the reader just how embedded the idea that Hazara are inferior in Afghanistan is. I will mention at this point the image of the slaughtered lamb which recurs through the novel and is obviously developed further in this chapter. The key scene reinforces the idea the Amir had to sacrifice Hassan in order to win Baba’s approval.

The theme of guilt in The Kite Runner

Throughout the novel Amir is plagued by guilt. He constantly thinks about his actions, is bothered by them, but doesn’t seem to know how to resolve the situation, until Rahim Khan gives him a way.

In The Kite Runner it is like it is a genetic part of his make-up as Amir seems to have been born with the inherited guilt of his father. When he was young he blamed himself for his mother’s death and believed this was why Baba had a problem with him:

I always felt like Baba hated me a little. And why not? After all, I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn’t I? The least I could have done was to have the decency to have turned out a little more like him.

It was years before Amir learned the truth from Rahim Khan. After the death of Ali, Hassan and Baba, Amir was alone and left to not only sort out his own sins but also those of his father. Amir had learned to silence the guilt that gnawed away at him and he would need time to deal with the truth.

From the moment that he saw Hassan raped Amir defined himself by his guilt. The novel even opens with, “I became what I am today at the age of twelve.” Amir’s failure to act to prevent Hassan from being raped left him stained with guilt. He went through life with a secret sin and guilt. Amir feels unclean and realises that he is cursed. “I watched Hassan get raped … I understood the nature of my new curse: I was going to get away with it.” Amir is beginning to realise the connection and conflict between his inner desires and his behaviour. “Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba. Was it a fair price? … He was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” Amir learns that to win the prize there will be costs and sacrifices. Amir not only sacrificed Hassan and Ali, but he has sacrificed his own soul.

When Soraya confessed her past before they got engaged, Amir thought:

How could I, of all people, chastise someone for their past?… I envied her. Her secret was out. Spoken. Dealt with. I opened my mouth and almost told her how I’d betrayed Hassan, lied, driven him out and destroyed a forty-year relationship between Baba and Ali. But I didn’t. I suspected there were many ways in which Soraya Taheri was a better person than me. Courage was just one of them.

It would take Amir fifteen years before he would be able to tell Soraya the truth. When he gets the call from Rahim Khan Amir is set on a journey that will strip away all his protective layers. Layer by layer he loses the weight of guilt and he is able to find forgiveness. When Sohrab attempts suicide Amir prays that he lives. He asks God to forgive him but it took more time for Amir to forgive himself. Amir and Sohrab both found it difficult to forgive themselves. The fact that Sohrab feels guilt is so sad. He felt dirty because of Assef’s abuse and he even feels guilty for hurting his abuser. Amir assures Sohrab that he has done nothing wrong but his guilt and his fear of going back to the orphanage is too much to bear.

The novel ends with the first rays of hope that Sohrab is recovering mentally, emotionally and physically. Amir has put so much energy into saving Sohrab and through this journey he has also saved himself. Amir was able to finally forgive himself and he has been able to turn his guilt into good. He finds redemption.

Revision work for the holidays

You should be revising by:

• re reading ‘The Kite Runner’
• working through your notes and making study notes
• writing at least one essay on the novel

Write a 600 word essay on the following topic.

Evaluate the contribution that TWO minor characters make in a novel you have studied .

To do this well evaluate the contribution of your characters. They might:

• play a significant part in illuminating the major characters’ experience or nature, by contrast or parallel.
• have a brief but significant moment in the novel because of what is said or done.
• introduce a special tone or significance into the novel, so making an important contribution to its total meaning or effect, or helping in the reader’s understanding of theme/setting/situation.

If you don’t want to do that topic try the following one:

In what ways does the author of a novel you have studied make the reader aware of an important theme or themes?

1. Identify and discuss the theme(s)

2. Move onto “the ways” the reader is made aware of important theme/s.

Assef

It has been interesting to hear your comments on the film version of The Kite Runner. One of the most discussed portrayals was that of Assef. Many of you felt that his role needed expansion so as to show him as the fascist maniac and archetype of evil that he appears in the novel. I have added a few character notes below.

Assef is the neighbourhood bully; he intimidates the weakest children and pummels them with brass knuckles. He has an oily charm and he is able to flatter Baba. Assef is particularly good at sports and seems “the embodiment of every parent’s dream, a strong, well-dressed and well-mannered boy with talent and striking looks.” However, his eyes betray him and Amir always believed that he saw glimpses of madness in them. It is interesting that when Amir meets him again Assef is wearing sunglasses.

Even as a boy Assef admired Hitler and his vision of a pure Aryan world. Assef fits perfectly into the Taliban world because he also has a vision for Afghanistan – an Afghanistan for Pashtuns, the “pure” Afghans.  Assef is undoubtedly the villain of the novel and Hosseini not only links him to Hitler but also with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the leader of the Taliban. Assef’s loss of an eye links him to the hated Mullah who like Assef was a towering figure with only one eye.

The character of Assef does not change as the novel progresses. He is unwaveringly evil and incapable of empathy or change. He matures into a sociopath and he is thrust into power by the rise of the Taliban. Assef’s paedophilia confirms him as completely evil and symbolises the destructive relationship between the Taliban and the vulnerable, disempowered people such as women and the Hazara.

The Kite Runner – Chapter 6

It is winter in Afghanistan and it is also the kite flying season. Baba buys Amir and Hassan the best kites at a specialist kite maker. Amir is a skilled kite flyer but wealth and privilege are also significent factors in his success.
As the boys prepare for the tournament Amir half-playfully tests Hassan’s loyalty by asking him if he would “Eat dirt if I told you to”. This test is another sign of Amir’s arrogance as a ruling Pashtun as well as an indication of his insecurity. The reader wonders why he has the constant need to exert power over the obviously powerless Hassan.
The tournament draws near and Baba takes a real interest in Amir and he confidently predicts he will win. Amir is worried that he won’t measure up but also hopes to bask in the glow of victory. He thinks taht if he wins the tournament that “maybe I would be finally be pardoned for killing my mother.”