Khaled Hosseini’s bestselling novel The Kite Runner has captured the attention of readers of different ages and cultural backgrounds. As an intricate novel about relationships, it has become a favorite book for book club discussions.
Set in Afghanistan, The Kite Runner explores the complex relationships within Amir’s family as he grows up in a rich household with his father, Baba, and two servants, Ali and his son Hassan. Ali and Hassan are an ethnic minority called the Hazaras, so the book also takes a look at racial issues in the country during that time.
The Kite Runner Summary
The book opens with Amir recalling an event that occurred 26 years ago, during his childhood in Afghanistan, and how it made him who he is now.
He describes his childhood in a safe and secure home. But during a kite-fighting tournament, with kites covered in glass to cut the string of the opponent’s kite, Amir wins and Hassan runs to retrieve the losing kite. When Amir looks for him, he finds Hassan being trapped and raped by one of the bullies in town, but he runs away instead of helping him.
Later, Hassan shows up with the losing kite, and Amir feigns innocence. But when he is haunted by guilt, he frames Hassan as a thief. Many years later, his past comes back to haunt him when someone he knows calls him and asks him to find Hassan’s son Sohrab, who was sent to an orphanage after Hassan and his wife were killed.
Best Quotes from The Kite Runner
Here are some of the most memorable quotes from Kite Runner that you may want to look back on:
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. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.
As the book opens, Amir writes this passage, which sounds like a teaser but actually gives a hint at the central drama that the story will revolve around, as well as why he’s telling it. Although it doesn’t give any concrete details, it effectively stirs up our curiosity and makes us understand how important this is to him.
For example, you will find out later that the deserted alley he mentions in this line is where the antagonist Assef raped his half-brother Hassan, which keeps coming back to haunt him with guilt.
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.
In Chapter 2, Amir describes his father Baba along these lines, viewing him as someone who always gets what he wants. This shows us what kind of relationship Amir has with his father, and the struggle between loving someone while also fearing him.
A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.
Amir’s father Baba says this line to Rahim Khan towards the end of Chapter 3. He is talking about Amir, and shows a major character flaw in Amir: cowardice. Baba’s words show how much he values standing up for what is right.
Later, Amir’s desire for Baba’s approval, which always seems to elude him, results in his letting Assef rape Hassan. The quote also gives us a foreshadowing of a future test of character for Amir, when he has to make up his own mind about returning to Kabul in the hopes of saving Sohrab.
But in none of his stories did Baba ever refer to Ali as his friend. The curious thing was, I never thought of Hassan and me as friends either.
In Chapter 4, Amir speaks this line as a realization that his father never referred to Ali as a friend. It seems that Amir recognizes a similarity between him and his father, because he himself has not considered Hassan a friend, either, despite their being so close and spending so much time together.
Just like his father, Amir has also betrayed his friend Hassan, and Amir and Baba both keep their friends at a distance, as their servants.
Huddled together in the dining room and waiting for the sun to rise, none of us had any notion that a way of life had ended.
At the start of Chapter 5, Ali, Amir, and Hassan are hiding from the sounds of gunfire in the street, signaling the coup led by Daoud Khan, designed to end the monarchy in Afghanistan. Although the effects of the uprising were not tangible right away, it helped to bring in a time of political instability that would end up ruining the country.
The way of life Amir mentions in this line points to the kind of life they all knew before the revolution, with Kabul still stable and safe. It also meant a kind of idyllic life for Amir, where he spent days simply going to school, playing with his half-brother, and flying kits, all because their family enjoyed immense wealth.
But after the coup, the city was immersed in murder and violence, forcing Amir’s family to leave Afghanistan and everything they possessed. Indeed, practically overnight, Amir lost everything he knew from his childhood in Kabul.
I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.
Near the end of Chapter 7, Amir says this line just after he watched Hassan’s rape. He did not intervene, and instead ran away. Amir explains how he considered his action worse than being a coward, because it was not out of fear of being hurt that he ran.
Instead, he let the rape happen because he wanted to have the blue kite, to earn his father’s approval and love. He draws a parallel between “sacrificing” Hassan to the lamb that Muslims sacrifice on Eid Al-Adha, in memory of Abraham almost sacrificing his son to God.
My body was broken—just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later—but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed.
In Chapter 22, while Amir attempts to find Sohrab, he has a meeting with Assef, who beats Amir and breaks his ribs and jaw. Amir believes he deserves to be hurt, as he should have been those many years ago, and feels relieved of the guilt he’s been carrying all those years. He explains that this was why, in the middle of being beaten, he started to laugh.
What Does The Kite Runner Symbolize?
In The Kite Runner, the author uses the kite as a symbol of happiness for Amir, but it also represents his guilt.
It becomes more significant after Amir lets Assef rape Hassan and runs away in order to get the blue kite to win his father’s affection. In that light, the kite also becomes a symbol of his betrayal of Hassan.
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Yen Cabag is the Blog Writer of TCK Publishing. She is also a homeschooling mom, family coach, and speaker for the Charlotte Mason method, an educational philosophy that places great emphasis on classic literature and the masterpieces in art and music. She has also written several books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion is to see the next generation of children become lovers of reading and learning in the midst of short attention spans.
