The Kite Runner

The story of Khaled Hosseini
The writer of The Kite Runner is Khaled Hosseini. He was born in 1965, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Khaled Hosseini is an American novelist and also physician from Afghanistan. As a child, Hosseini already loved to write. For example, he wrote poetry at the age of nine and taught his Afghan friend to write and read. His father worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so they moved a lot. He has lived in Afghanistan, in Iran, in France and then in America. He still lives here with his wife and two children. While practicing medicine in 2001, Hosseini began writing The Kite Runner, his first novel. The book was published in 2003, which turned out to be an international bestseller. The book has been sold over 10 million times worldwide. He is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers A Thousand Splendid Suns and And the Mountains Echoed. In 2006 Khaled was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Inspired by his journey though Afghanistan, he started his own foundation to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan. Today he is one of the best known and respected writers in the world and he has one of the worlds greatest literary careers.
The title
The title of my book is The Kite Runner. This book is called that, because: in the book it’s all about kite running. Kite running is an important and beloved sport in Afghanistan. The title refers to the two main characters: Amir and Hassan. The title also refers to the event in which the two friends are playing in. This event changed the lives of the two boys. And this event is central to the book. The title fits the book very well. At the beginning of the book, Amir and Hassan participate in a kite competition. Amir has to cut the strings from the other kites in this match and Hassan will then run after the kites, from where the strings are cut loose. This event also comes back nicely at the end, in which you read that not Hassan, but Amir now runs after the kite.
Genre
The genre of the book is a psychological roman. The book is a fictional novel, although it has some autobiographical elements. The book also shows you a whole new world: the world in the Middle East. For most people living in the western world, the world of the middle east is not very accessible. Middle Eastern culture is unknown to many western people. In this book you will learn a lot about Middle Eastern culture and what it is like to grow up there. The book therefore certainly has a social aspect and a humanitarian aspect.
Publishing year
The book was written during the period when the war was going on in Afghanistan. It began when the United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban-ruled Islamic Emirate. The Taliban reorganized under Mullah Omar and in 2003 launched an insurgency against the new Afghan government. The war in Afghanistan had already started in 2001, but the events of 2003 were very serious. In the same year, Khaled Hosseini’s debut novel The Kite Runner was published. The first sign that the Taliban was regrouping appeared on January 27, 2003. In the summer of 2003, the Taliban launched a new offensive. In the Dey Chopan district, the Taliban began building a new force. In the summer of 2003, nearly a thousand Taliban members were hiding there. All these important events happened in 2003. The year the book was released. The war had been going on for two years in 2003 and many people had lost family or lost their homes. The book was released at a time when people really needed it. The book tells about the war and the lives of two friends in it. So the book was very topical at the time, if you look at the events that took place in 2003.
The main theme of the book
The main theme of the book is two friends who grow apart over the betrayal of one of the two and how they try to make amends afterwards. The writer shows us how a boy seeks relief from the sins he has committed against his former friend. His life is dominated by guilt for what he has done and he wants that burden to be lifted. You can read this in this quote from the book. “I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded; not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.” Here you see that he wants the burden of betrayal towards his former friend to be lifted off. And he wonders how this is what that feels like. Other themes of the book are: friendship, growing up and the relationship between father and son. For example, you can use the following quote for the theme of friendship: “Not a word passes between us, not because we have nothing to say, but because we don't have to say anything”. You can read from this that they were good friends, because good friends don't need words, they understand each other.
The setting of the book
The story takes place in 1962 in Afghanistan up to 2001 in the United States. The story starts in Kabul, where Amir lives in that time. You can deduce this from this quote: ‘Everyone agreed that my father, my baba, had built the most beautiful house in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, a new and affluent neighborhood in the northern part of Kabul.’ When the Russians invaded Afghanistan Amir and his father flee to America. In the following quote you can see that amir and his father lived in america. ‘ Baba loved the idea of America. It was living in America that gave him an ulcer. I remember the two of us walking through Lake Elizabeth Park in Freemont, a few streets form our apartment’. Then Amir returns to Afghanistan, where there is still a war in Afghanistan and where the Taliban is ruling. You can get this from this quote: ‘ As for soroya, telling her I was going back to Afghanistan wasn’t an option’. Then he goes to Pakistan. As it says in this quote: ‘ I slept through almost the entire four-hour ride to Islamabad.’ The story eventually ends in the United States again.
The narrator of the story

Amir is the narrator of the story. He tells the story of how he grew up in Afghanistan and the sins that he committed against his old friend and his half-brother Hassan. He tells the story from his point of view as an adult looking back on his choiches in life. Since Amir is telling the story of his life, the book is written with the use of a first-person narrator. The first-person narrative perspective of amir is really beautiful, because it allows you to really see how someone develops as a person threw the years; from litte boy to an grown-up man. It feels by using this point of view like you and Amir are making his journey together, you are being led by the event that happened in his life. “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.” Amir uses the past tense in his story, he describes the events that led to who he is today. That’s why he is the narrator of the story, of his story.

A short summary
At the beginning of the book it is about the two main characters Amir and Hassan, who grow up as friends. When they are little they do not notice the differences that hang between them, namely that Hassan is a servant and a Hazara boy and Amir is the one who is served and comes from a very wealthy family. When they grow up, they both don't know yet that they are half brothers. Amir and Hassan always fly kites together and a tournament is held in the winter. Hassan and Amir win but when Hassan tries to grab the won kite he gets into a fight where he is raped by another boy. Amir watches from a place where no one can see them and he does not intervene. Amir cannot live with this guilt. That's why he has Hassan and his father fired. Then we go to another time when Amir and his father flee Afghanistan, because it is no longer safe. They leave for America. In America, Amir meets a girl named Soroya, whom he falls in love with and also marries. Shortly after the marriage about the Baba of Amir from cancer. They try to have children, but they can't have children, so the marriage cools down a bit. After Soroya and Amir have been married for 15 years, an old friend named Rahim Khan suddenly calls. Rahim asks Amir if he wants to come to Afghanistan, because he is dying. Amir comes to him and there Rahim tells that Hassan and he are half brothers. He also tells that Hassan had a while just in Amir's old house with him and that he was also married, and that a boy was born from it. He also tells that Hassen and his wife were murdered, but that their child is still alive and that he is in an orphanage. Amir adopts him, but first he encounters Assef, the same man who raped Hassan all along. He finds out that he is now also raping and abusing Hassan's son. Amir fights Assef for the boy's release and a slingshot shot from the little boy wins Amir. Then the boy and Amir go to America together, where he becomes part of the family and grows up there.
Source: https://www.scholieren.com/verslag/boekverslag-nederlands-the-kite-runner-door-khaled-hosseini-91181
The underlining message of the book
Hassan's loyalty is truly admirable. He always remained loyal to Amir, even if he betrayed him. Hassan would never betray Amir. He is a very good friend, loyal and forgiving. Hassan did everything Amir asked of him, he did everything for him. "For you a thousand times over," Hassan said in the book. After the terrible event with Hassan, Amir always felt guilty that he did nothing, that he betrayed him. An old friend of Amir, named Rahim, then says to him: 'There is a way to be good again'. This indicates that when you do something wrong and make a mistake, it is never too late to make amends and you should always seize the opportunity. Amir finds out that Hassan left behin a child afther his death, by adopting and raising his son he gives something back to Hassan, who has always given everything to him. This is the writer's message.

The most important protagonists
Amir and Hassan are the main characters in the story. They are the most important protagonists. It is the story of their friendship and betrayal that is being told in the book.
Amir: Amir is the first person in the story. Amir was born in Kabul, in a big house. He only has his father as a parent, because his mother died when he was born. Amir is very rich, but he always has something to complain about. It feels like his father doesn't love him enough and he does everything he can to make his father love him and be proud of him again. During the story, this craving for approval diminishes, because he gets to know his father better. Amir has wanted to be a writer since childhood and he starts doing so at an early age. He told and read stories to his friend Hassan. He watches the fight and the rape of Hassan and does nothing. He will suffer from this for the rest of his life and he will always have a feeling of guilt about this, until he discovers that Hassan has left behind a son after his death. Amir adopts the boy and raises him as his own son, hoping to give back to Hassan and lessen his guilt for not standing up for him in the fight all those years ago. At the end of the book, he lives in America with his wife and adopted son.
Hassan: Hassan is Amir's best friend, but also his servant at the same time. Hassan and Amir are half brothers, but he never found out. Hassan does everything Amir asks of him. He will even eat a bad apple, if Amir asks him to, that's how loyal he is to Amir. Hassan therefore does everything to get the kite for Amir, who really wanted the kite so that they would win the tournament. Hassan is left with a traumatic memory, because of the kite-tournament. After that Hassan and his father are fired as servants at Amir's house, we no longer follow their lives in the book. It is said that Rahim Khan, Amir's old friend, lived with Hassan for a while in Amir's old house. When they lived together, Hassan's mother had come back and died in their house. Hassan continued to live in Kabul all along, even after the Taliban came to power and during the Russian invasion. One day the Taliban came to claim the house and when Hassan wouldn't let the house go, he was shot on the spot in front of the house along with his wife Jamila. He leaves behind a son who first grows up in an orphanage, but is then adopted by Amir.

Positive and negative aspects of the protagonists

Name of protagonist 1: AmiR Name of protagonist 2: Hassan
Positive: Amir recognizes his mistakes and sins and he does everything he can to make things right when he gets the chance. Positive: Hassan is a very loyal and forgiving friend.
Negative: Amir is too spoiled. He likes that Hassan would do anything for him and he teases him about it too. He's too cowardly to stand up for Hassan. Negative: Hassan cares too much about everything, he cares too much about Amir which causes him to get beat up and he cared too much about the house to let it go to the Taliban and he gets killed.

The most important event in the book
I think the most important event in the book is when Amir does nothing and watches Hassan get kicked and raped. Hassan runs into Assef after he has caught the kite. Hassan refuses to give up Amir's kite, so Assef exacts his revenge, assaulting and raping him. Wondering why Hassan is taking so long, Amir searches for Hassan and hides when he hears Assef's voice. He witnesses the rape but is too scared to help him. Afterwards, for some time Hassan and Amir keep a distance from each other. Then Amir has Hassan and his father sent away by leaving some of his stuff with Hassan and saying that he stole them. Amir's father does not believe this, but Hassan and his father leave anyway for their honour. Amir thought that sending Hassan away would make him feel better, but instead he feels even more guilty. In the next part of the book, we follow Amir who years later still suffers from his guilt after this event and tries to make amends. You can deduce this from this quote: “It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime...” It did changehis Amir’ whole life, he always carried his guilt with him and he also carried the terrible event with him. This event is therefore central to the book and is therefore also the most important event.
The ending of the book
The book had a closed ending and I really like that. The book ends with Amir flying a kite with Hassan's son, whom he has adopted. At the end, you read that not Hassan, but Amir now runs after the kite. Hassan used to say to Amir : “For you, a thousand times over”. At the end of the book the adopted boy asks if he can also try the kite-flyer and then Amir says: “For you, a thousand times over”. I found this very moving. That Amir is now going to raise Hassan's child, as his own son and would do anything for him. I really understand that, because if I look at my own nieces and nephews, I would do anything for them. I wouldn't change anything at the end, for me the story was complete and perfect.
My overall opinion
I found this book very moving and beautifully written. It was also a really harsh book with all the events, but that is also real life. I also liked how it describes how an event can continue to haunt you, as it says here: ‘Looking back now, I realize that I have been peeking in that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.’ You also really learn a lot about Afghan culture and the country itself and I thought that was really cool. For example, you can get this from the following quote: ‘ Tomorrow is the tenth day of Dhul-Hijjah, the last month of the Muslim Calendar, and the first of three days of Eid Al-Adha, or Ei-e-Qorban, as Afghans call it – a day to celebrate how the prophet Ibrahim almost sacrificed his own son for God. I was very interested in this book and I read it in one day. I am very excited about this book and about the author Khaled Hosseini.