Summer Assignment #1 - ‘The Kite Runner’ by Khaled Hosseini
I. Plot Summary
A. The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, who struggles to find his place in the world as a Sunni Muslim
after a series of traumatic childhood events. Amir recalls an event that happened twenty-six years before,
when he was still a boy in Afghanistan, and says that, that it made him ‘who he is’. Before the event, he
lives in a nice home in Kabul, Afghanistan, with Baba, his father. Hence, like other children Amir struggles
with building a close relationship with his father. They have two servants, Ali and his son, Hassan, who are
Hazaras, an ethnic minority. One of the greatest battles for Amir is learning to steer through the society he
faces, without the guidance of his father. Amir does not feel privileged in his family and his relationship
with Hassan and Ali, resembles more like that of family members. Besides facing internal conflict, Amir
must face the political instability of the 1970s. When Afghanistan’s king is overthrown, things begin to
change. One day, as Amir and Hassan are playing they run into three boys, Assef, Wali, and Kamal. Assef
threatens to beat up Amir for hanging around with a Hazara, but Hassan uses his slingshot to stop Assef. A
choice to not act against his aggressors during a kite-fighting tournament leads to a chain of guilt, lies, and
deceit. The story skips to winter, to when the kite-fighting tournament occurs. For boys in Kabul, winter is
the best time of year. The schools close for the icy season, and boys spend this time flying kites. The boys
cover their kite strings in glass and battle to see who can sever the string of the opposing kite. When a kite
loses, boys chase and retrieve it, called kite running. When Amir wins the tournament, Hassan sets off to
run the losing kite. Amir searches the neighborhood until he comes to an alleyway and finds Hassan trapped
at the end of an alley, pinned with his pants down. Wali and Kamal hold him, and Assef rapes him. Amir
almost says something, but ultimately he only watches and then runs away. When Hassan appears with the
kite, Amir pretends like he doesn’t know what happened. Afterward, Amir and Hassan drift apart. Due to
the changing political climate, Amir and his father are eventually forced to flee the country, which Amir
sees as an escape from his past. Two years later, Baba and Amir live in Fremont, California. While Baba
works at a gas station, Amir finishes high school and goes to college. Despite their efforts to create a new
life for themselves in the United States, the past cannot be hidden. Amir is then obligated to return to
Afghanistan to face his dark past and hopefully make repairs.
II. Literary Elements
A. Flashback - Chapter 1 ; page 1
- Amir remembers the moment he was peeking into a deserted alley from behind a crumbling wall near a
frozen creek. This is the event that made him what he is today. Then he ends the chapter where it began in
the winter of 1975, which m...
