SUMMARY OF “THE KITE RUNNER” Amir, a well-to-do
Pashtun boy, and Hassan, a Hazara and the son of Amir's father's servant, Ali,
spend their days in a peaceful Kabul, kite fighting, roaming the streets and
being boys. Amir’s father (who is generally referred to as Baba,
"daddy", throughout the book) loves both the boys, but seems critical
of Amir for not being manly enough. Amir also fears his father blames him for
his mother’s death during childbirth. However, he has a kind father figure in
the form of Rahim Khan, Baba’s friend, who understands Amir better, and is
supportive of his interest in writing stories.
Assef, a notoriously mean and violent older boy with sadistic tendencies,
blames Amir for socializing with a Hazara, according to Assef an inferior race
that should only live in Hazarajat. He prepares to attack Amir with his steel
knuckles, but Hassan bravely stands up to him, threatening to shoot Assef in
the eye with his slingshot. Assef and his henchmen back off, but Assef says he
will take revenge.
Hassan is a successful "kite runner" for Amir, knowing where the
kite will land without even watching it. One triumphant day, Amir wins the
local tournament, and finally Baba's praise. Hassan goes to run the last cut
kite, a great trophy, for Amir saying "For you, a thousand times
over." Unfortunately, Hassan runs into Assef and his two henchmen. 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. Amir reacts indifferently because he feels ashamed, and is
frustrated by Hassan's saint-like behavior. Already jealous of Baba's love for
Hassan, he worries if Baba knew how bravely Hassan defended Amir's kite, and
how cowardly Amir acted, that Baba's love for Hassan would grow even more.
To force Hassan to leave, Amir frames him as a thief, and Hassan falsely
confesses. Baba forgives him, despite the fact that, as he explained earlier,
he believes that "there is no act more wretched than stealing."
Hassan and his father Ali, to Baba's extreme sorrow, leave anyway. Hassan's
departure frees Amir of the daily reminder of his cowardice and betrayal, but
he still lives in their shadow and his guilt.
Five years later, the Russians invade Afghanistan; Amir and Baba escape to
Peshawar, Pakistan and then to Fremont, California, where Amir and Baba, who
lived in luxury in an expansive mansion in Afghanistan, settle in a run-down
apartment and Baba begins work at a gas station. Amir eventually takes classes
at a local community college to develop his writing skills. Every Sunday, Baba
and Amir make extra money selling used goods at a flea market in San Jose.
There, Amir meets fellow refugee Soraya Taheri and her family; Soraya's father,
who was a high-ranking officer in Afghanistan, has contempt of Amir's literary
aspiration. Baba is diagnosed with terminal oat cell carcinoma but is still
capable of granting Amir one last favor: he asks Soraya's father's permission
for Amir to marry her. He agrees and the two marry. Shortly thereafter Baba
dies. Amir and Soraya learn that they cannot have children.
Amir embarks on a successful career as a novelist. Fifteen years after his
wedding, Amir receives a call from Rahim Khan, who is dying from an illness.
Rahim Khan asks Amir to come to Pakistan. He enigmatically tells Amir
"there is a way to be good again." Amir goes.
From Rahim Khan, Amir learns the fates of Ali and Hassan. Ali was killed by
a land mine. Hassan had a wife and a son, named Sohrab, and had returned to
Baba’s house as a caretaker at Rahim Khan’s request. One day the Taliban
ordered him to give it up and leave, but he refused, and was murdered, along
with his wife. Rahim Khan reveals that Ali was not really Hassan's father.
Hassan was actually the son of Baba, therefore Amir's half-brother. Finally,
Rahim Khan tells Amir that the true reason he has called Amir to Pakistan is to
go to Kabul to rescue Hassan's son, Sohrab, from an orphanage.
Amir returns to Taliban-controlled Kabul with a guide, Farid, and searches
for Sohrab at the orphanage. In order to enter Taliban territory, Amir, who is
normally clean shaven, dons a fake beard and mustache, because otherwise the
Taliban would exact Shariah punishment against him. However, he does not find
Sohrab where he was supposed to be: the director of the orphanage tells them
that a Taliban official comes often, brings cash and usually takes a girl back
with him. Once in a while however, he takes a boy, recently Sohrab. The
director tells Amir to go to a soccer match and the man "who does the
speeches" is the man who took Sohrab. Farid manages to secure an
appointment with the speaker at his home, by saying that he and Amir have
"personal business" with him.
At the house, Amir has his meeting with the man in sunglasses,who says the
man who does the speeches is not available,. The man in sunglasses is
eventually revealed to be his childhood nemesis, Assef. Assef is aware of
Amir's identity from the very beginning, but Amir doesn't realize who he's
sitting across from until Assef starts asking about Ali, Baba and Hassan.
Sohrab is being kept at the home where he is made to dance dressed in women's
clothes, and it seems Assef might have been sexually assaulting him. (Sohrab
later says, "I'm so dirty and full of sin. The bad man and the other two
did things to me.") Assef agrees to relinquish him, but only for a price -
cruelly beating Amir. However, Amir is saved when Sohrab uses his slingshot to
shoot out Assef's left eye, fulfilling the threat his father had made many
years before.
Amir tells Sohrab of his plans to take him back to America and possibly
adopt him, and promises that he will never be sent to an orphanage again. After
almost having to break that promise (after decades of war, paperwork
documenting Sohrab's orphan status, as demanded by the US authorities, is
impossible to get) and Sohrab attempting suicide, Amir manages to take him back
to the United States and introduces him to his wife. However, Sohrab is
emotionally damaged and refuses to speak or even glance at Soraya. This
continues until his frozen emotions are thawed when Amir reminisces about his
father, Hassan, while kite flying. Amir shows off some of Hassan’s tricks, and
Sohrab begins to interact with Amir again. In the end Sohrab only shows a
lopsided smile, but Amir takes to it with all his heart as he runs the kite for
Sohrab, saying, "For you, a thousand times over.".
Major Characters
Amir
- main character and
narrator
- Best friend of
Hassan, son of Baba, husband of Soraya
- Makes a decision as
a child which haunts him in adulthood
- Half brother of
Hassan (both Baba's progeny)
- Adoptive father of
Sohrab
Hassan
- Best friend and
servant of Amir
- Thought to be the
son of Ali, but it is revealed in chapter 17 he is actually Baba's son
- Loyal to Amir
despite any impact it may have on himself
Baba
- Father of Amir (and
Hassan)
- Wealthy citizen of
Kabul who is known for his public works
- Has a strained
relationship with his son, Amir
- Respected by
citizens of Kabul
- Dies of lung cancer
Ali
- Servant of Baba,
supposed father of Hassan
- Like a brother to
Baba
- Leg crippled from
Polio
- Poor
- Dies from a landmine
explosion
- Hazara
- He can not have kids
because of the Polio (Which Amir Learns Later)
Rahim Khan
- Business associate
and close friend of Baba
- Has a close
relationship with Amir
- Also the main reason
Amir returns back to the middle east
Assef
- Antagonist
- Neighborhood bully
who hates Hassan because he is of Hazara descent.
- Firm believer in the
ways of Adolf Hitler.
- Future leader of
Taliban
- Takes Sohrab from
orphanage in Kabul
Soraya
- Afghan living in
California
- Wife of Amir
Sohrab
- Orphan son of Hassan
- Adopted by Amir
- Amir's half-nephew
- Suffers from
depression, and attempts suicide
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Khaled, Hosseini.The Kite Runner Afghanistan :Riverhood Books,2003.
No comments:
Post a Comment