The Kite Runner

¶ … Kite Runner is essentially a moving story about two boys from very different backgrounds going through the early stages of life in Afghanistan as the Monarchy is ending and the war is arriving. Amir, a young man of privilege (the narrator in the book) and his dear friend Hassan, have some interesting and very startling, even frightening things happen along the way.

Amir's friend Hassan is the son of Amir's father's servant, which makes the story very interesting because of the dramatic difference in socio-economic and cultural / ethnic positions of the two boys. The story is also very compelling because it takes place just prior to the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union.

Why is Amir afraid to be Hassan's true friend? Amir is afraid to be Hassan's "true friend" because of ethnic and social differences between the two boys' families and cultures. Amir is from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, in the upper class of Afghanistan. Hassan is a Hazara, supposedly an "inferior race" according to a mean local bully who is named Assef (who has some sympathies with the Nazis). When Amir is being threatened by the bully, Hassan stands up to the bully; but when Hassan is being attacked, Amir does nothing. But again, the point is that Amir is a bit of a coward in that sense and he loves his friend Hassan but fears being totally true friends for fear of reprisals.

Amir feels threatened on several fronts. This in part explains why he is a bit less than totally devoted to and loyal to Hassan. He is to a degree insecure, despite his father's wealth.

One, he feels threatened by the bully Assef, because Assef doesn't like a boy from the upper class like Amir hanging out with a boy from the lower class like Hassan. Also, when the confrontation took place with Assef pulling out brass knuckles and threatening to hurt Amir, Hassan pulled out his slingshot and threatened to attack Assef if he didn't back off. Assef, in turn, threatened to get even, to retaliate against Hassan and Amir, hence Amir was reticent to get involved too deeply in a social way with Hassan.

Secondly, Amir feels threatened by his father's lack of total support. He feels that possibly his father may like Hassan more than his father likes him. Truthfully, his father sired Hassan by having an affair with Hassan's mother, but Amir does not know this. In fact, Hassan is Amir's half-brother, and by keeping this a secret from Amir and from Hassan, Amir's father (Baba) is actually stealing from both of them, in an off-handed way. So Amir is being criticized by his father because Hassan is more of a brave young man than Amir is, and Amir feels self-conscious about that. Interestingly, Hassan's father, the servant for Baba and Amir, is very kind to Amir and encourages him to write.

Thirdly, there is pressure on Amir because in the back of his mind he wonders if his father blames him for his mom's death - she died during childbirth. He puts two-and-two together and wonders if his father's lack of total support is due to the death of his mother and the psychological affect that may have had on his dad.

Why does Amir constantly test Hassan's loyalty? Boys will be boys, and they are always testing the loyalty of their friends. They challenge friends to do things for them and follow their lead. In this case, Amir needed to know that his friend was loyal because his own dad wasn't loyal. He wanted Hassan to treat him like family. He sent many kites up in the air and it was Hassan's duty as a friend to fetch the kites. That is also a test of loyalty.

But the point here also is, in the absence of a nurturing, loving mother (which Amir suffered through), when one's father doesn't seem totally committed and loyal to the son, that son needs to find another male who is loyal and who will be loyal.

How bad was the relationship between Amir and his dad? In Chapter 3 Amir, the narrator, talks about his relationship with his father. "With me as the glaring exception, my father molded the world around him to his liking. The problem, of course was that Baba saw the world in black and white. And he got to decide what was black and what was white. You can't love a person who lives that way without fearing him too. Maybe even hating him a little." Maybe even hating him a little? It sounds like Amir hated the way his dad treated him when he was a little boy.

Why does Amir resent Hassan? He resents him for the reasons discussed earlier; that Amir knows his father admires Hassan's courage and forthrightness. Also in Chapter 3, Amir crouches outside his father's room one night and hears a conversation between his father and Rahim Khan.