LITERARY ELEMENTS SETTING

The story takes place in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States from 1975 until the present day.

CHARACTER LIST Amir

He is the narrator of the story who tells how he grew up in Afghanistan and the sins he had committed against his friend and half-brother, Hassan. It is his journey to redemption that is the premise of this tale.

Hassan
He is the best and kindest character in the story. He is Amirs best friend and as Amir later learns, he is also his half-brother. He faces discrimination every day, because he is a Hazara, a minority whom the Pashtuns treat like slaves. The sins committed against him - being raped by Assef while Amir does nothing to help him - are immediately forgiven, because he loves Amir so much.

Baba
He is Amir and Hassans father, but because it would be shameful to admit Hassan, a Hazara , was his son, the secret remains hidden long after his death. In Amirs mind, he is larger than life, the man who was supposed to have wrestled a bear. But, in reality, he was a man tormented by his secrets. He dies in America, never again going home to his beloved Afghanistan. While he lives there, he is poor and often dirty from his job. So the way he is forced to live and the fact that he can never go home again may be his punishment for what he did to both Amir and Hassan. Amir knows, however, that like him, his father is basically a good man who finds a way to be good again.

Ali
His character is that of the loyal servant to Baba and a father figure to both Hassan and Amir. He often suffers humiliation at the hands of Pashtun boys like Assef, but he never bends his will to them and continues to be a figure of goodness.

Sohrab
He is Hassans son and the boy for whom Amir faces the Taliban to free. Like his father, he is raped by Assef and later betrayed by Amir. He even tries to commit suicide after Amir breaks his promise not to put him in an orphanage. However, Amirs willingness to help Sohrab face life again saves them both.

Soraya
Amirs wife, she, too, suffers from mistakes she made as a young woman, but accepts her humiliation for running away with a man and becomes a good, decent human being. She is denied motherhood, perhaps because that is how she must expiate her own sins. However, she is rewarded when Sohrab becomes her son and she and Amir finally have a complete family.

Rahim Khan
He was Babas best friend and business partner and was a major part of Amir and Hassans life. He seems to understand Amirs desperate need for his fathers approval and tries to fill the gap Baba leaves in their relationship. He knows all along how Amir betrayed Hassan and is the one to call him and tell him there is still time to be good. He also sets into the motion the plan to get Sohrab out of Afghanistan; he knows that this is the only way to make up for never telling Amir and Hassan that they were brothers. Like Amir, he too finds a way to be good. He goes away to die alone, knowing that calling Amir back to his homeland was the right thing to do.

Assef
He is the villain of the story, a Pashtun boy who bullies Amir and Hassan and tries to humiliate Ali. He has a sociopathic nature even as a boy and admires Hitler for what he had done in eliminating the Jews. He wants to emulate this evil German by destroying all the Hazaras. He never forgets a slight from anyone and plots revenge. He becomes a Talib when the Taliban takes over Afghanistan and uses his power to kill innocent Afghans, especially Hazaras. He kills Hassan when he wont give up his home and he tries to kill Amir. It is only Sohrabs slingshot that finally defeats this evil man.

CONFLICT Protagonist
Amir is the protagonist, because it is his story - a story that details his childhood in Afghanistan and the terrible sin he commits against Hassan, a Hazara boy who also happens to be his half-brother. It also details how he eventually returns to his homeland to atone for that sin by finding Hassans son, Sohrab, and bringing him home.

Antagonist
The antagonist is, on the surface, the man named Assef, who is a bigoted childhood acquaintance of Amir and Hassan. He torments them both, but actually attacks and rapes Hassan. Later, when the Taliban gains control of Afghanistan, he becomes one of them so he can continue to torture others he finds inferior to himself. He also takes Sohrab as his sexual plaything and Amir must defeat Assef to bring Sohrab home and to the family he deserves. the other antagonist is Amirs sin which he mmust expiate before he can find redemption.

Climax
Amir meets Assef, now a Talib, in hand-to-hand combat and Sohrab, like his father before him, saves Amir with a slingshot.

Outcome
Amir recovers from his terrible beating and they get out of Afghanistan and flee to Pakistan. There, he tries to find a way to take Sohrab to the United States. However, he runs into many bureaucratic walls and snafus. He is finally told that if he places Sohrab into an orphanage temporarily, he might have an easier time getting the necessary paperwork. Sohrab tries to commit suicide at this news and even though he is saved and they find a way to get him to America, he retreats from any trust in Amir or anyone else. It is only when they participate in a kite flying contest in America that Sohrab comes out of his silence and begins to heal. It is also the moment when Amir makes his final atonement for the sins he committed against Hassan, Sohrabs father.

SHORT SUMMARY (Synopsis)

Amir tells us about the unique relationship he has with Hassan, a Hazara boy who is the victim of discrimination, but ironically is the half-brother of Amir, a Pashtun. Amir is overwhelmed with guilt when he allows Hassan to be beaten and raped on the day Amir wins the kite flying tournament. He lies to have Hassan accused of theft so he will leave their home and Amir can try to forget his guilt. Eventually, Amir and his father flee Afghanistan after the Russians invade and Amir takes his tragic memories to America to start a new life. Unfortunately, his debt to Hassan must be paid and he returns to his country to find Hassans orphaned son and rescue him. There, he discovers that Sohrab has become the sexual plaything of Assef, the bully who had tormented both Amir and Hassan when they were young. Ultimately, Amir must defeat Assef in a raging physical battle, take the damaged Sohrab out of Afghanistan and try to help him repair his spirit.

THEMES Strength of Character

The theme of strength of character is the most prevalent theme. Amir commits terrible sins against his friend and half-brother, Hassan. The story of what he does and how he seeks and finds atonement is a lesson for everyone who wants to do find a way to be good again.

The Resilience of the Human Spirit

The theme of the resilience of the human spirit is also an important idea. Even though Amir has committed these sins, the inner strength that he had all along, but thought was somehow missing from his character, breaks though to allow him to find Sohrab and free him from the clutches of Assef. In this same way, when Sohrab falls into a great inner depression and tries to commit suicide, the spirit within him emerges and he finds his way to happiness again.

Mans Inhumanity To Man

The theme of mans inhumanity to man is a theme which makes the reader think about how we torture each other because of our need for power in our lives. It is true as seen in this novel that there are essentially evil individuals who are impossible to redeem and that the evil they do affects all people around them. Assef is such a character. He enjoys hurting others physically, emotionally, and psychologically. If there is a Hell, he is bound for it. However, there is also the evil found in all of us, no matter how good we are most of the time, which allows us to do bad things to those we love the most. The reasons may vary for why we commit such sins, but in the end, it is all about needing some sort of power in our lives. Fortunately, this evil is redeemable when we are ready to atone and right the wrongs we have committed. Amir is such a man. He is essentially good, but the evil he does as a child follows him into his adulthood and he must find a way to expiate those sins for his own sake and also for the sake of Sohrab.

The Fragile Relationship Between Fathers and Sons

Another theme that is emphasized throughout is that of the fragile relationship between fathers and sons. Amir spends his entire life trying to be the son who will not disappoint his father and making up for the death of his mother who died while giving birth to him. Many of the sins he commits are in the hopes that his father will believe in him, embrace him, and tell him how proud of him he is. It is only when Amir grows up, watches how valiantly his father faces his own death, and then returns to Afghanistan to right the wrongs he had committed that he realizes that his father had always loved him and was proud of him. It is unfortunate that men find it difficult to show their love to their sons for fear of somehow being less of a man. Amir would have loved to have had such a relationship all of his life and we who watch him struggle to find it identify with his need for parental approval.

Loyalty and Devotion

Another theme would be loyalty and devotion. This is especially evident in the relationship between Amir and Hassan. Despite the fact that Hassan is actually Amirs half-brother, he is his servant, because no one but Baba and Ali know the truth. Nonetheless, even though Hassan is the victim of discrimination and class structure, he is completely devoted and loyal to Amir, both as his servant and as his friend. It takes Amir many years to atone for how terribly he treated the loyalty and love that Hassan always offered no matter what the circumstances.

The Discrimination, Bigotry, and Class Structure of Afghan Society

A final theme involves discrimination, bigotry, and class structure in Afghan society. Hassan and Ali are members of the Hazaras, a minority group of Afghanis who follow Islamic beliefs called Shia. Amir and his father are Pashtuns, the majority, who believes they are a better class than the Hazara and who follow the Sunni sect of Islam. Because of this bigotry and basic class structure, it is very difficult for anyone to marry into another class and the Hazara are often victims of physical, emotional and psychological abuse at the hands of Pashtuns. This is partly why Amir does not come to Hassans rescue when he is attacked by Assef

MOOD
At times, the mood of The Kite Runner is tragic, filled with despair, and very sad; at other times, it is uplifting and hopeful. Finally, it is a triumphant commentary on the human spiri