The wind pushes one final gust to cut the string and send the kite hurtling to the ground. “Run Hassan”, exclaimed Amir, “Go get the champion kite”.
Winding through the air, the kite is ripped and pulled by the wind following an unknown path as it works its way to the ground. With each blow, the kite switches direction confusing the kite runners, who do their best to guess where it will land.
The glory of winning the kite tournament comes with claiming the last fallen kite to display as your victory trophy. However, in the case of Amir and Hassan, the cost of obtaining this trophy outweighs any of the praise they will get for winning and will haunt the two for the rest of their lives.
As Hassan rushes through the streets searching for the prized kite, hands bleeding from holding the glass streaked string of kite, Amir is imagining his father’s reaction when he brings the kite home as the new kite tournament champion. He becomes impatient for his servant to return with the item and goes out looking for him, a decision that will change his life.
When Amir finally finds Hassan, Assef and his goons have him cornered in an alley with no way out. Amir watches, frozen in place, as Hassan his pushed to the ground and raped by his attackers. Amir considers his options; he can intervene and make know that he cares more for his hazara than just as a servant, or he can run away. By intervening Amir was afraid he might lose the praise from his father if him and Hassan can home beaten up. Amir’s fear of Assef and the fact the he had never stood up for himself before kept him from stepping in and helping Hassan. And both boys realize, in that moment, that life as they know it is being blown away with every hit from Assef. ----
Winding through the air, the kite is ripped and pulled by the wind following an unknown path as it works its way to the ground. With each blow, the kite switches direction confusing the kite runners, who do their best to guess where it will land.
The glory of winning the kite tournament comes with claiming the last fallen kite to display as your victory trophy. However, in the case of Amir and Hassan, the cost of obtaining this trophy outweighs any of the praise they will get for winning and will haunt the two for the rest of their lives.
As Hassan rushes through the streets searching for the prized kite, hands bleeding from holding the glass streaked string of kite, Amir is imagining his father’s reaction when he brings the kite home as the new kite tournament champion. He becomes impatient for his servant to return with the item and goes out looking for him, a decision that will change his life.
When Amir finally finds Hassan, Assef and his goons have him cornered in an alley with no way out. Amir watches, frozen in place, as Hassan his pushed to the ground and raped by his attackers. Amir considers his options; he can intervene and make know that he cares more for his hazara than just as a servant, or he can run away. By intervening Amir was afraid he might lose the praise from his father if him and Hassan can home beaten up. Amir’s fear of Assef and the fact the he had never stood up for himself before kept him from stepping in and helping Hassan. And both boys realize, in that moment, that life as they know it is being blown away with every hit from Assef. ----
Afghanistan is full of harsh terrains and harsh people. Customs and traditions focusing more on status than relationships. The rich have servants to clean and cook for them in their mansions, while they are forced to live in mud huts in the back yards. Children growing up with servant children; playing with them as though they are friends, but knowing they will never add that label to their relationship. Amir’s life is slightly different than the average, growing up with a father who disregards many common afghan customs. It adds riff and strain between Amir and his peers. Baba, his father, is highly respected in the community. He puts on these extravagant parties where everyone from near and far comes to socialize with him. Amir’s birthday party turns into one of these events, people that Amir does not even now come to the party. Amir realizes this and it reinforces the idea that he is living in his father’s shadow. His Baba’s status puts pressure on Amir to uphold the family honor and please his father. However, with Amir’s odd interest this becomes hard. His father is disappointed his Amir’s lack of athletic abilities, and confused as to why all he wants to do is drift away in the stories he reads to Hassan. Amir spends countless hours in his room reading and writing short stories. Amir wants to be a writer when he gets older, but know’s his father will never approve of he career choice. Baba continues to be more affectionate toward Hassan with his words and he gift of the surgery to fix his cleft lip. Jealously balloons up in Amir causing him to act out and treat Hassan badly. Hassan’s life is already difficult without Amir’s harsh actions. Being a Hazara, he is on a lower class socially and economically. Hazara’s also face prejudice in the streets of Afghanistan. This one of the main reasons Hassan is a target for the attack by Assef. Aseff and many others in the book believe in Hitler’s ideas of ethnic cleansing and want to carry out this with Hazara’s. |
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As Amir watches Hassan being raped, the winds change and ripple out through the rest of the story. Impacting not only those two, but all the major players in the story. We see Amir’s guilt blown out of the water as he can’t even look Hassan in the eyes after the attack. He does not want to see the devotion in Hassan after he had treated him so badly. Not only because he did not intervene during the attack; but because of making Hassan feel unintelligent because of his lack of education, and his social status. Amir wanted to act and help him, but the idea of being close to Baba made him stop in his tracks; a decision that will carry consequences throughout the rest of his life. |
Hassan is perhaps the least changed by this event. Being at the eye of the storm, all of this destruction is happening around him as he stands helplessly in the center. After the attack, Hassan becomes more withdraw, spending more time in the shadows and at the mosque praying. However, he is still loyal to his friend Amir, doing his chores, asking Amir to play with him, and even taking the blame for stealing the watch. By taking the fall for the theft of the watch, Hassan is protecting Amir. Hassan knows that if he said he did not do it, Baba would believe him over Amir. Thus ruining Amir’s new relationship with his father. Hassan's emotions may have been changed by the attack, but his actions clearly weren’t as he still acts selflessly towards Amir. Baba is thrown blindly into the wind because he has no clue what is going on. He sees Hassan turn melancholy after the attack, and Amir become more of a recluse. But Baba is completely blindsided when Hassan and his father Ali decide to leave after finding the watch in Hassan’s bed. He cries when driving Ali and Hassan to the train station and tries to convince them to stay several times. Baba grew up with Ali, much like Amir grew up with Hassan; and severing this connection is very hard on him. |
The attack ripples through Amir’s new life in America too. He may not think about Hassan everyday; but when he is mentioned, Amir is swept back up into all the memories and guilt. This has the biggest impact on Amir’s marriage. His wife, Soraya is able to talk about her past mistakes, unlike Amir. She ran off with a man whom she was not engaged to, a big disgrace to her family. Amir automatically forgives her, but worries she will not do that same for him if he tells her about his past with Hassan. |
The story comes full circle as Amir travels home to Afghanistan. Rahim Khan, who is very sick, alerts Amir of Hassan’s horrible murder by the Taliban. He explains that Hassan had a son, who was know an orphan that needed to be taken care of. Rahim Khan also drops some hints that leads Amir to figure out that him and Hassan were half brothers. Baba had an affair with a servant woman and had Hassan. Because of the differing social statuses Hassan was given to Ali to raise. This answers Amir’s question as to why Baba was so affectionate to him.
When Amir decides to take Hassan’s son, Sohrab, into his care all conflicts have been resolved. Although he can never apologized to Hassan for the night he was attacked, he can raise his son as his own. This is the perfect solution, as Amir and Soraya are having difficulty conceiving a child. Amir is also able to have a good relationship with his father before the end of his life and feel confident in raising his own child. In the end Amir has everything he wanted, a career as a writer, wife, child, and the relationship he always wanted with his father. The road was rough to get there and the winds were against him the entire time, but he made it through the storm. |