Kite Runner Book Report

Now that I am officially done with AP Literature and Composition, I can finally post my essays without my teacher assuming I copied them all from online.
This was the book report I wrote for The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It's a hauntingly beautiful tale about two best friends whose lives were torn by the war in Afghanistan and their different cultures.

And without further adieu, here is my book report following the format of
I. Main characters
II. Minor characters
III. Setting
IV. Contextual level (background of the author)
V. Symbols
VI. Author's writing style (rhetorical level)
VII. Dominant philosophy (thematic level)
VIII. architecture (structural level)
IX. representative quotes
X. short summary

You're very welcome guys, because for you a thousand times over.

Book Report: Kite Runner 

Title: Kite Runner

Genre: Historical Fiction

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Type: Print 

Date Published: May 29, 2003

I. Significant characters 

Amir is the narrator of the story. He is very insecure about his position especially in his youth where he tried to reestablish his higher status by bullying his friend/half-brother, Hassan. He is often jealous of his Baba’s affections toward Hassan and demotivated by his father’s lack of affections. As Rahim Khan said, Amir tends to punish himself too roughly, feeling guilty for the sins he committed which shows the presence of guilt and a sign for the want of redemption. 

Hassan is Amir’s best friend and as Amir later finds out, his half brother as well. He is loyal, forgiving, and brave. As children, he protected Amir from the bullying of Assef and stood up for what he believed was right. He was a loyal and dedicated friend that watched over Baba’s house in Kabul even with the threats of the Taliban soldiers. His forgiving nature allows his heart to forgive and forget the past sorrows of what Amir did to him and how his mother abandoned him. 

Baba is the biological father of Amir and Hassan. On the surface, Baba is a respected man, the beneficiary of orphanages, and generous to the poor. Inwardly, he is cowardly, unable to challenge the codes of society and accept Hassan as a son, and denying Amir love as he connects Amir’s image with his own guilt. 

General Taheri is the friend of Baba and father-in-law of Amir. He is in a way the foil of Baba. He is pretentious and unwilling to work lowly jobs to support his family, relying on government food stamps while Baba refuses to use welfare and works a laborious job to support his family. Taheri is distant with his wife and daughter, choosing to live in his past memories than move onto the future– in short, unrealistic. 

II. Minor characters:

Assef is Amir and Hassan’s childhood bully. He rapes both Hassan and his son Sohrab and boasts about killing Hazaras. His character doesn't change from childhood to adulthood. He possesses traces of fairness for before he challenged Amir to a fight he promised his freedom if he were to win. But with that said, he pulled out his brass knuckles and fought unfairly. He is incapable of remorse and is described as a pure villain.

Sohrab is Amir’s nephew and Hassan’s son. Although he represents his father physically and is skilled at the slingshot, Amir notes his spirit was not like Hassan’s– Sohrab is deeply depressed and mistrustful, falling into a silence. 

III. Settings

The time period took place before the take over of the Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. Amir was born in 1975 during of which Kabul was a growing cosmopolitan. Peace was torn apart by the Soviet invasion and later Taliban rule. The resentment between the Shia and Sunni Muslims has persisted since 632 AD since Muhammad died. That resentment increased by the Taliban’s cruel oppression. Since their overthrow of President Burhanuddin Rabbani in 1996, they massacred Hazaras and enforced strict regulations. The strife of the time period is the setting for much unrest and violence throughout the world as the fall of the Twin Towers, the Berlin Wall, and the city of Kabul. 

b. The setting takes place first in Kabul, Amir and Hassan’s hometown. There Amir leaves to San Francisco to take refuge and coming back to his homeland after many years to find unimaginable destruction. He travels across many cities in Afghanistan in hopes to find Sohrab. 

IV. Contextual

Much of the Kite Runner was inspired by Khaled Hosseini’s own life. He too was born in Kabul to an upper middle class family, and his father, like General Taheri in the novel, was a government official. His family left Kabul before the revolution and came to San Jose. He too wrote stories as a young boy but unlike Amir worked through college as a medical student, eventually becoming a doctor and now a full-time, successful writer. Although the characters in the novel are fiction, much of the historical background is true, the coup de’ tat of the Afghanistan president, the Soviet take over, the rise of the Pashtuns. 

V. Symbols

The kites appeared during the beginning of the novel as the good memories between Hassan and Amir before the revolution and killings and again in the very end as the closing of the novel and the rekindling of a relationship between Amir and Sohrab. Kite running represents the good within the bad. The good memories that were a part of Amir’s childhood and the everlasting connection it had with Hassan. Their physical symbolism represents a free flying body, but so fragile and tittering on the verge of fall. The kite itself is a symbol for the nature of happiness in life, fleeting and delicate, readily soaring but easily damaged. 

Sohrab himself is a symbol of the battered Afghanistan state. He is raped and orphaned into a perpetual silence. He attempts to commit suicide and the life has been drained out of him from all the tragedies. He is a physical representation of his father and a symbol of redemption for Amir. In helping Sohrab find a safe home, Amir himself has in a way been forgiven by Hassan. 

VI. Writing Style

The author’s writing style is raw and simple. The words are informal and the description of the conversations are life-like. Because of this the language isn't the main factor that creates profoundness but the story itself. Hosseini often refers to words in Afgahnistan tongues like Dari and Pashto to create a realistic feel to his characters. 

VII. Theme

The main theme that follows Amir throughout his life is the nature of guilt and the search for redemption. He realizes in the end that no matter how hard he tries he cannot bury away something from the past and that good will come out of guilt. Amir suppresses thoughts of Hassan, a fear that keeps him living in ignorance. When he finally comes to terms with himself he embarks on a mission to save Sohrab. He is allowed redemption and satisfaction with himself when he stands up for what is right in the end. 

VIII. Structural Level

The story begins as a present day look into the past. Amir reminisces on his childhood in Kabul with Hassan before he leaves to visit Rahim Khan. The story then reaches December 2001 and so it continues on into the future as Amir journeys to find Sohrab and they eventually go back home to San Francisco. Along the way the story flashbacks multiple times to random moments of Amir’s memories– the memories that he most significantly remembers. 

IX. Quotes

“For you, a thousand times over” This is perhaps my favorite quote of all time. It very well encapsulates the loyalty and love Hassan had for Amir and the haunting words he spoke are still imprinted in Amir’s head which is made obvious when Amir cries upon hearing it being said. In the end when he accepts his redemption, Amir too says these words but this time to Sohrab paralleling the love Hassan had for Amir with the love Amir has for Sohrab.

“That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.” This quote foreshadows the events to be explained in the novel to come. It summarizes the theme and the entirety of the plot as Amir tries to bury his past but finding it impossible as he is stained with guilt.

“My body was broken—just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later—but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed.” This quote from the Assef fight scene shows Amir laughing hysterically while being brutally beaten. Amir feels he deserved this and having been beaten is now redeemed from his sins and “healed” from his pain, his real pain which is the guilt afflicted wounds of the past. 

“But I would stand my ground, I decided. I didn't want to sacrifice for Baba anymore. The last time I had done that, I damned myself.”Amir’s mentality was that he let Hassan be raped by Assef for Baba. He didn't do it for himself. Amir’s prominent character trait is his inability to stand for what he knows is right. He allows his fears and desires to guide him. His father’s approval meant more than a friend’s rape and a war-torn country made him fear for his own life enough to leave Sohrab. The quote was the first of many to come that shows the slow transition Amir made has he became a man and stood for what he knew was right. 

Summary

Amir and Hassan were childhood friends that grew up together in Kabul, Afghanistan. Amir was Sunni while Hassan was a Shi’ite. Hassan worked with his father, Ali, as Amir’s family servants. One day during a kite flying competition Hassan was raped by Assef, a constant bully and Amir watched without helping because he wanted to take the kite home to win the approval of his Baba. Amir and Hassan’s relationship was never the same again. Soon after Ali found out about the rape, he and Hassan left Baba’s home. 

A revolution in Afghanistan forced Amir and Baba to flee to America where they moved to San Francisco to begin a new life. Life was difficult for Baba and he found it hard to transition but nonetheless he worked hard as a gas pumper to provide for Amir. Amir graduated from high school and went on to junior college. During the summer he and Baba would buy used goods and resell them at the flea market. There Amir fell in love with Soraya. Around the same time Baba was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. Baba helped Amir by asking for Soraya’s permission to marry Amir and the two were engaged. After a expensive, traditional wedding ceremony, Baba passed away.

Rahim Khan called Amir to come see him before he died from illness. Amir flew back to Afghanistan to visit Rahim Khan in Peshawar. There Rahim Khan told Amir the whole truth of Hassan–that they were half brothers. Amir was torn between his own safety and ignorance and his calling of redemption. He chose to stay and help find Sohrab. He travels with Farid to Kabul but finds that Sohrab is in the hands of Assef. He battles one last time with Assef. He and Sohrab escape after Sohrab slingshots a ball into Assef’s eye. Sohrab attempts suicide when he finds out he might have to return to an orphanage but eventually Amir and Sohrab both make it to America. Sohrab sinks into a frozen silence of which is just barely cracked in the end of the novel as he and Amir fly kites together.