The Kite Runner

Question 1

The Kite Runner

Theme descriptions “Redemption”

Answer 1

• Amir has to redeem himself to his father Baba and his friend Hassan, who later turns out to be his half-brother.
• While his familial guilt arises because of the death of his mother during his birth, his personal guilt comes from his high expectations of being a supportive friend towards Hassan.
• From his point of view, Amir thinks it is only possible to redeem himself to his father if he wins the kite-tournament.
• Subsequently, the boy manages to place first in that tournament.
• Afterwards, the guilt he feels towards Hassan has a bigger impact on the story’s plot.
• Because Amir strives to redeem himself to Hassan, he travels to Kabul. Amir eventually meets Sohrab there, while he is confronting Assef.
• The theme develops over the course of the novel when Amir grows up. Because then, he is confident enough to stand up for what he thinks is correct. Therefore, Amir is finally able to overcome redemption.
• A symbol that plays an important role to depict Amir’s guilt and redemption are kites. At first, Amir connects kites with his contentment. However, when he attempts to bring back the blue kite, Hassan is being raped. Therefore, Amir refuses to fly a kite until he has ultimately justified himself.

Question 2

The Kite Runner

Cleft lip

Answer 2

• Hassan’s cleft lip is one of his most representative features as a child, and it is one of the features Amir refers to most in describing him.
• The split in Hassan’s lip acts as a mark of Hassan’s status in society. It signifies his poverty, which is one of the things that separates him from Amir, simply because a cleft lip indicates that he and his family do not have the money to fix it.
• Baba, who is Hassan’s biological father, chooses to pay a surgeon to repair Hassan’s lip as a birthday gift, signifying his secret fatherly love for Hassan. Later, Assef splits Amir’s lip as he beats him, leaving Amir with a permanent scar much like Hassan’s.
• In a sense, Amir’s identity becomes merged with Hassan’s. He learns to stand up for those he cares about, as Hassan once did for him, and he becomes a father figure to Sohrab. Because of this, it also serves as a sign of Amir’s redemption.

Question 3

The Kite Runner

Kites

Answer 3

• The kite serves as a symbol of Amir’s happiness as well as his guilt. Flying kites is what he enjoys most as a child, not least because it is the only way that he connects fully with Baba, who was once a champion kite fighter.
• But the kite takes on a different significance when Amir allows Hassan to be raped because he wants to bring the blue kite back to Baba. His recollections after that portray the kite as a sign of his betrayal of Hassan.
• Amir does not fly a kite again until he does so with Sohrab at the end of the novel. Because Amir has already redeemed himself by that point, the kite is no longer a symbol of his guilt.
• Instead, it acts as a reminder of his childhood, and it also becomes the way that he is finally able to connect with Sohrab, mirroring the kite’s role in Amir’s relationship with Baba.

Question 4

The Kite Runner

The Lamb

Answer 4

• In Islam, as in Christianity, the lamb signifies the sacrifice of an innocent.
• Amir describes both Hassan and Sohrab as looking like lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
• Similarly, he describes Sohrab as looking like a slaughter sheep when he first sees Sohrab with Assef. Assef and the others had put mascara on Sohrab’s eyes, just as Amir says the mullah used to do to the sheep before slitting its throat.
• Both Hassan and Sohrab are innocents who are figuratively sacrificed by being raped, but these sacrifices have very different meanings. In Hassan’s case, Amir sacrifices him for the blue kite. But in Sohrab’s case, Amir is the one who stops his sexual abuse. In this context, sacrifice is portrayed as the exploitation of an innocent.

Question 5

The Kite Runner

Characters

Answer 5

• Amir
• Hassan
• Baba
• Sohrab (Hassan’s son with Farzana)
• Assef (Pashtun boy & Kabul bully, joins Taliban later
• Ali (servant)

Question 6

The Kite Runner

Responsibility - The Love and Tension Between Fathers and Sons

Answer 6

• Amir has a very complex relationship with Baba, and as much as Amir loves Baba, he rarely feels Baba fully loves him back.
• Amir’s desire to win Baba’s love consequently motivates him not to stop Hassan’s rape. It occurs as ultimate act of violence and violation (short of murder) that drastically changes the lives of both the characters and the country. The central act of the novel is Amir watching Hassan’s rape by Assef.
• Baba has his own difficulty connecting with Amir. He feels guilty treating Amir well when he can’t acknowledge Hassan as his son.
• As a result, he is hard on Amir, and he can only show his love for Hassan indirectly, by bringing Hassan along when he takes Amir out, for instance, or paying for Hassan’s lip surgery. I
• In contrast with this, the most loving relationship between father and son we see is that of Hassan and Sohrab.
• Hassan, however, is killed, and toward the end of the novel we watch Amir trying to become a substitute father to Sohrab.
• Their relationship experiences its own strains as Sohrab, who is recovering from the loss of his parents and the abuse he suffered, has trouble opening up to Amir.

Question 7

The Kite Runner

Morality - Betrayal

Answer 7

• Khaled Hosseini argues that one’s social status affect his/her sense of right & wrong
• The betrayal of a loyal friend by a wealthier, more corrupt “master” is a recurring motif in The Kite Runner, and Amir and Baba’s feelings of guilt for their betrayals drive much of the novel’s action.
• The central betrayal comes when Amir watches and does nothing as Hassan, who has always stood up for Amir in the past, gets raped by Assef.
• Amir then worsens the betrayal by driving Ali and Hassan from the household. Later in the book, Amir learns that Baba also betrayed his own best friend and servant – Ali, Hassan’s father – by fathering a child (Hassan) with Ali’s wife Sanaubar. This knowledge comes as another kind of betrayal for Amir, who had always hero-worshipped Baba and is shocked to learn of his father’s flaws.
• These low points in the two men’s lives create a sense of tension and guilt throughout the novel, but the betrayals of Amir and Baba also lead to quests for redemption that bring about some good in the end – as Baba leads a principled, charitable life, and Amir rescues Sohrab from Assef.