the kite runner

The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini Born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1965. Father was in politics, mother was a school

teacher. 1976 his family was relocated to Paris. 1980 his family was ready to come back to

Afghanistan, but the Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan so they moved to San Jose, California.

Enrolled in the UoC, San Diago School of Medicine, and earned his Medical Degree in 1993.

Wrote The Kite Runner in 2001, was published in 2003.

He’s made several trips to Afghanistan, and has been providing humanitarian assistance through the Khaled Hosseini Foundation.

Wrote A Thousand Splendid Suns and was published in 2007.

ProtagonistAmir

- Narrator- Overcame problems- Sin and redemption

AntagonistAssef

- Rapes Hassan- Racist- Jumps Amir

Favorite CharacterRahim Khan

- Supports Amir- Never judged- Knew of the hardships that Amir and Hassan faced.

Hated CharacterAmir

- Never stood up for Hassan.- Never tried to redeem himself until it was to late.- Was too afraid.- Didn’t like the way he reacted to some situations.

Exposition Story takes place in Afghanistan, starting in 1963 with the birth of

Amir. Everything is peaceful, full of happiness. Amir has grown up with Hassan, who is their Hazara servant’s,

Ali, son. Hazaras are treated like slaves. Amir has never had his father’s, Baba, love and respect.

Rising Action Amir and Baba don’t get along well. Hassan, after being a successful “kite runner” gets raped by Assef, a

boy who’s been raised knowing that the Pashtun race dominates over the Hazaras, Amir just watches and doesn’t do anything to stop Assef because he’s to scared.

Ali and Hassan move away from the tension Amir causes. Soviets invade, causing Baba and Amir to move to America in search

for a better life. Baba gets lung cancer and eventually dies. Amir gets married, his wife is infertile. Amir gets a call from Rahim saying, “There is a way to be good

again.” Amir flies back to Afghanistan, finds out that Hassan was actually

his half-brother and that Hassan was shot by the Taliban. He learns Hassan had a child that’s now an orphan.

Climax Amir finds Sohrab’s orphanage, but he was taken by a Taliban. In Amir’s attempt to get Sohrab from the Taliban man, he finds

out that the Taliban man is actually Assef, and Assef says Amir can have Sohrab if he can beat him in a fight.

Amir gets his trashed kicked, and right as Assef is about to make the final blow, Sohrab steps in and shoots Assef in the left eye with his slingshot. This causes Amir and Sohrab to escape successfully with Amir badly injured.

Falling ActionAmir tries to adopt Sohrab while still in Afghanistan, promising

Sohrab that he will never have to stay in an orphanage again.The adoption isn’t going well and the best option is to have Sohrab

go back to an orphanage and have Amir try to adopt him back in America.

Amir tells Sohrab that he will have to go back to an orphanage, and after Sohrab hears this he tries to commit suicide and he slits his wrists.

Amir finds out from his wife that he can adopt Sohrab if he can just get him in the United States.

Going to tell Sohrab the good news, Amir finds him in the bathtub in a pool of blood. He rushes Sohrab to the hospital and they are able to save him.

They adopt Sohrab, but he doesn’t say a word and doesn’t even look at Amir’s wife for years to come.

Resolution Amir and the family go to an Afghan reunion and they have kite

fighting tournament. After telling Sohrab that him and Hassan used fight kites as kids, they fight other people as a team, and they win. As the last kite is cut from the air, Amir asks Sohrab if he wants him to get the kite for him. Sohrab barely smiles, and Amir takes this as a yes and takes off to go get the kite saying, “For you, a thousand times over.”

SettingStory takes place in Afghanistan, this is

where Amir grows up and learns of his heritage.

It’s the 1960-70’s, this is before Afghanistan is invaded by the Soviets.

Rating7/10

It was a good book unlike any other I’ve read, but the middle of the book was a part that I just had to get past, it wasn’t that interesting.

ThemesDiscrimination/Racism

The whole reason why Assef raped Hasan was because Assef thought that Hasan’s race was inferior to his.

RapeNeed I explain?

Sin and RedemptionAmir could have prevented what happened to

Hassan, but chose not to. He later redeems himself.

DiscriminationWhat is it, you ask?

Discrimination, to discriminate or the act of discriminating, is the term referring to the treatment or behavior towards a certain individual of a group or race based solely on class or category. Usually excluding or denying them benefits or opportunities that are available to others.

TalibanSunni Islamist political movement that ran

the Afghan government from 1996 to 2001. Overseen by Mullah Omar, who is currently

in hiding.Formed in 1994, then overtook the city of

Kabul, Afghanistan in 1996. At first, they were seen as an good reform of

government by most countries, even the U.S.Main supporters of Al-Qaeda and Osama bin

Laden.

Discrimination in Afghanistan The day was much like any other. For the young Afghan mother, the only difference

was that her child was feverish and had been for some time and needed to see a doctor. But simple tasks in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan today are not that easy. 

The mother was alone and the doctor was across town. She had no male relative to escort her. To ask another man to do so would be to risk severe punishment. To go on her own meant that she would risk flogging. 

Because she loved her child, she had no choice. Donning the tent-like burqa as Taliban law required, she set out, cradling her child in her arms. She shouldn't have. 

As they approached the market, she was spotted by a teenage Taliban guard who tried to stop her. Intent on saving her child, the mother ignored him, hoping that he would ignore her. He didn't. Instead he raised his weapon and shot her repeatedly. Both mother and child fell to the ground. They survived because bystanders in the market intervened to save them. The young Taliban guard was unrepentant -- fully supported by the regime. The woman should not have been out alone.

Discrimination in AfghanistanWomen

Over 50% are beaten by their husbands or male relatives, and the majority aren’t prosecuted.

85% of women are illiterate, with the men at 55%

More than 40% of women are married against their will.

Only 5 to 7% of the women have access to medical care in some areas

More than twice as many boys attend school than girls, they have a segregated education system.

HazarasHazaras has faced discrimination for hundreds of years.Typically servants.Biggest massacre was by the Taliban on August 8th,

1998 in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Shot everything that moved.Left corpses rotting in the gutters for 6 days, left for

dogs to eat.More than 8,000 dead.A month later, they overtook Hazarajat, the Hazaras

homeland in central Afghanistan.Taliban cut off food supplies from the UN.

Ridiculous LawsMen had to have a beard the size of a fist or bigger, and

had to keep their hair short. Pretty much any sort of fun was banned. Tv, music,

dancing, and any social activities we’re banned if there was women involved. If it were only men, then they could continue until 9 p.m.

Pork, pig, pig oil, anything made from human hair, satellite dishes, cinematography, and equipment that produces the joy of music, pool tables, chess, masks, alcohol, tapes, computers, VCRs, television, anything that propagates sex and is full of music, wine, lobster, nail polish, firecrackers, statues, sewing catalogs, pictures, Christmas cards.

Executions. At least a flogging/whipped/beaten.Typically most we’re shot on the spot.Others, like married adulterers, we’re stoned

to death in a public execution.Public executions were in a soccer stadium.

Youtubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3jZjm8x

Mwg

Songhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z40NhAg

NbnM

Poem As I walk in the streets of Kabul,

behind the painted windows,there are broken hearts, broken women.If they don't have any male family to accompany them,they die of hunger while begging for bread,the once teachers, doctors, professorsare today nothing but walking hungry houses.Not even tasting the moon,they carry their bodies around, in the covered coffin veils.They are the stones in the back of the line ...their voices not allowed to come out of their dried mouths.Butterflies flying by, have no color in Afghani women's eyesfor they can't see nothing but blood shaded streetsfrom behind the colored windows,and can't smell no bakery's breadfor their sons bodies exposing, cover any other smell,and their ears can't hear nothingfor they hear only their hungry belliescrying their owners unheard voiceswith each sound of shooting and terror.Remedy for the bitter silenced Amnesty,the bloodshed of Afghani woman's lifeon the-no-limitation-of-sentences-demanding helpas the voices break away not coming out but pressing hardin the tragic endings of their lives.

By Sheema Kalbasi

Bibliography Afghanistan: Women Still Subject to Widespread Oppression,

Discrimination." About.com. New York Times Company, April 17, 2006. Web. 14 Mar 2010.

Lak, Daniel. "Afghanistan's tribal groups."news.bbc.com. BBC, Thursday, 15 November, 2001. Web. 14 Mar 2010.

"Racial and Ethnic Discrimination - Further Readings."law.jrank.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar 2010. <http://law.jrank.org/pages/9625/Racial-Ethnic-Discrimination.html>.

Associated Press, . "Nevada: Complaint Over Police Actions." New York Times March 8, 2010: n. pag. Web. 15 Mar 2010.

"The Taliban's War Against Women." www.state.gov. N.p., November 17, 2001. Web. 15 Mar 2010.

Kalbasi, Sheema. "For Women of Afghanistan."www.rawa.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar 2010.

"Taliban." Wikipedia.org. N.p., March 12, 2010. Web. 15 Mar 2010. "What Would You Do." Youtube.com. Web. 15 Mar 2010. “Why Can’t We Be Friends.” Youtube.com. Web. 15 Mar 2010. "Obama details Afghan war plan, troop increases."msnbc.com. Associated Press,

December 1, 2009. Web. 15 Mar 2010.