Introduction
Khaled Hosseini's stunning debut novel The Kite Runner follows a young
boy, Amir, as he faces the challenges that confront him on the path to
manhood-testing friendships, finding love, cheating death, accepting faults,
and gaining understanding. Living in Afghanistan in the 1960s, Amir enjoys
a life of privilege that is shaped by his brotherly friendship with Hassan,
his servant's son. Amir lives in constant want of his father's attention,
feeling that he is a failure in his father's eyes. Hassan, on the other
hand, seems to be able to do no wrong. Their friendship is a complex tapestry
of love, loss, privilege, and shame.
Striving to be the son his father always wanted, Amir takes on the weight
of living up to unrealistic expectations and places the fate of his relationship
with his father on the outcome of a kite running tournament, a popular
challenge in which participants must cut down the kites of others with
their own kite. Amir wins the tournament. Yet just as he begins to feel
that all will be right in the world, a tragedy occurs with his friend
Hassan in a back alley on the very streets where the boys once played.
This moment marks a turning point in Amir's life-one whose memory he seeks
to bury by moving to America. There he realizes his dream of becoming
a writer and marries for love but the memory of that fateful day will
prove too strong to forget. Eventually it draws Amir back to Afghanistan
to right the wrongs that began that day in the alley and continued in
the days, months, and years that followed.
|
Discussion Questions
1. The novel begins with Amir's memory of peering down an alley, looking
for Hassan who is kite running for him. As Amir peers into the alley,
he witnesses a tragedy. The novel ends with Amir kite running for Hassan's
son, Sohrab, as he begins a new life with Amir in America. Why do you
think the author chooses to frame the novel with these scenes? Refer to
the following passage: "Afghans like to say: Life goes on, unmindful
of beginning, end...crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty
caravan of kochis [nomads]." How is this significant to the framing
of the novel?
2. The strong underlying force of this novel is the relationship between
Amir and Hassan. Discuss their friendship. Why is Amir afraid to be Hassan's
true friend? Why does Amir constantly test Hassan's loyalty? Why does
he resent Hassan? After the kite running tournament, why does Amir no
longer want to be Hassan's friend?
3. Early in Amir and Hassan's friendship, they often visit a pomegranate
tree where they spend hours reading and playing. "One summer day,
I used one of Ali's kitchen knives to carve our names on it: 'Amir and
Hassan, the sultans of Kabul.' Those words made it formal: the tree was
ours." In a letter to Amir later in the story, Hassan mentions that
"the tree hasn't borne fruit in years." Discuss the significance
of this tree.
4. We begin to understand early in the novel that Amir is constantly vying
for Baba's attention and often feels like an outsider in his father's
life, as seen in the following passage: "He'd close the door, leave
me to wonder why it was always grown-ups time with him. I'd sit by the
door, knees drawn to my chest. Sometimes I sat there for an hour, sometimes
two, listening to their laughter, their chatter." Discuss Amir's
relationship with Baba.
5. After Amir wins the kite running tournament, his relationship with
Baba undergoes significant change. However, while they form a bond of
friendship, Amir is still unhappy. What causes this unhappiness and how
has Baba contributed to Amir's state of mind? Eventually, the relationship
between the two returns to the way it was before the tournament, and Amir
laments "we actually deceived ourselves into thinking that a toy
made of tissue paper, glue, and bamboo could somehow close the chasm between
us." Discuss the significance of this passage.
6. As Amir remembers an Afghan celebration in which a sheep must be sacrificed,
he talks about seeing the sheep's eyes moments before its death. "I
don't know why I watch this yearly ritual in our backyard; my nightmares
persist long after the bloodstains on the grass have faded. But I always
watch, I watch because of that look of acceptance in the animal's eyes.
Absurdly, I imagine the animal understands. I imagine the animal sees
that its imminent demise is for a higher purpose." Why do you think
Amir recalls this memory when he witnesses Hassan's tragedy in the alleyway?
Amir recollects the memory again toward the end of the novel when he sees
Sohrab in the home of the Taliban. Discuss the image in the context of
the novel.
7. America acts as a place for Amir to bury his memories and a place for
Baba to mourn his. In America, there are "homes that made Baba's
house in Wazir Akbar Khan look like a servant's hut." What is ironic
about this statement? What is the function of irony in this novel?
8. What is the significance of the irony in the first story that Amir
writes? After hearing Amir's story, Hassan asks, "Why did the man
kill his wife? In fact, why did he ever have to feel sad to shed tears?
Couldn't he have just smelled an onion?" How is his reaction to the
story a metaphor for Amir's life? How does this story epitomize the difference
in character between Hassan and Amir?
9. Why is Baba disappointed by Amir's decision to become a writer? During
their argument about his career path, Amir thinks to himself: "I
would stand my ground, I decided. I didn't want to sacrifice for Baba
anymore. The last time I had done that, I had damned myself." What
has Amir sacrificed for Baba? How has Amir "damned himself"?
10. Compare and contrast the relationships of Soraya and Amir and their
fathers. How have their upbringings contributed to these relationships?
11. Discuss how the ever-changing politics of Afghanistan affect each
of the characters in the novel.
12. On Amir's trip back to Afghanistan, he stays at the home of his driver,
Farid. Upon leaving he remarks: "Earlier that morning, when I was
certain no one was looking, I did something I had done twenty-six years
earlier: I planted a fistful of crumpled money under the mattress."
Why is this moment so important in Amir's journey?
13. Throughout the story, Baba worries because Amir never stands up for
himself. When does this change?
14. Amir's confrontation with Assef in Wazir Akar Khan marks an important
turning point in the novel. Why does the author have Amir, Assef, and
Sohrab all come together in this way? What is this the significance of
the scar that Amir develops as a result of the confrontation? Why is it
important in Amir's journey toward forgiveness and acceptance?
15. While in the hospital in Peshawar, Amir has a dream in which he sees
his father wrestling a bear: "They role over a patch of grass, man
and beast...they fall to the ground with a loud thud and Baba is sitting
on the bear's chest, his fingers digging in its snout. He looks up at
me, and I see. He's me. I am wrestling the bear." Why is this dream
so important at this point in the story? What does this dream finally
help Amir realize?
16. Amir and Hassan have a favorite story. Does the story have the same
meaning for both men? Why does Hassan name his son after one of the characters
in the story?
17. Baba and Amir know that they are very different people. Often it disappoints
both of them that Amir is not the son that Baba has hoped for. When Amir
finds out that Baba has lied to him about Hassan, he realizes that "as
it turned out, Baba and I were more alike than I'd never known."
How does this make Amir feel about his father? How is this both a negative
and positive realization?
18. When Amir and Baba move to the States their relationship changes,
and Amir begins to view his father as a more complex man. Discuss the
changes in their relationship. Do you see the changes in Baba as tragic
or positive?
19. Discuss the difference between Baba and Ali and between Amir and Hassan.
Are Baba's and Amir's betrayals and similarities in their relationships
of their servants (if you consider Baba's act a betrayal) similar or different?
Do you think that such betrayals are inevitable in the master/servant
relationship, or do you feel that they are due to flaws in Baba's and
Amir's characters, or are they the outcome of circumstances and characters?
|