The Kite Runner: Reader’s Notes
Cindy Kang

Theme | Literary Device | Character Development | Chapter | Quote | Insight | | Imagery/flashback | | 1 | “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. 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… One day last summer, my friend Rahim Khan called from Pakistan. He asked me to come see him. Standing in the kitchen with the receiver to my ear, I knew it wasn’t juts Rahim Khan on the line. It was my past of unatoned sins.” (p. 1) | The introduction paragraph gives the reader an insight of the narrator’s haunting past. The narrator uses descriptive words (crumbing mud wall) and is evidently a gifted story teller. The structure of his writing easily grasps the attention of the audience. The tone of the story seems to be frightening and melancholy due to the author’s diction, syntax, and level of formality. The first page mostly consists of flashbacks more so by recalling them rather than reliving them. If flashbacks continue to recur, the past may symbolize an important theme throughout the story. | | Personification | | 1 | “Because the past claws its way out.” (p. 1) | | | Personification/simile | | 1 | “Then I glanced up and saw a pair of kites, red with long blue tails, soaring in the sky. They danced high above the trees on the west end of the park, over the windmills, floating side by side like a pair of eyes looking down on San Francisco…” (p. 1) | | | Symbolism | Hassan | 1 | “Hassan the harelipped kite runner.” (p. 2) | Amir describes two distinct features of one of the characters. These features are evidently significant since they can easily describe one of the main characters. | | Imagery/simile | | 2 | “I can still see Hassan up on that tree, sunlight flickering through the leaves on his almost perfectly round face, a face like a Chinese doll chiselled from hardwood: his flat, broad nose and slanting, narrow eyes like bamboo leaves, eyes that looked, depending on the light, gold, green, even sapphire. I can still see his tiny low-set ears and that pointed stub of a chin, a meaty appendage that looked like it was added as a mere afterthought. And the cleft lip, just left of midline, where the Chinese doll maker’s instrument may have slipped, or perhaps he had simply grown tired and careless.” (p. 3) | The narrator uses a great amount of clothing imagery to describe Hassan. The use of descriptiveness allows the reader to clearly visualize Hassan’s appearance. Due to the emphasis made on Hassan’s cleft lip, it leads the reader to infer that it may be an important symbol. | Social inequality | Foreshadowing | | 2 | “Hassan never wanted to, but if I asked, really asked, he wouldn’t deny me. Hassan never denied me of anything.” (p. 4) | This passage uses the literary device of foreshadowing. Amir’s superiority over Hassan may be a plot that will slowly develop throughout the story. As it introduces Amir’s superiority over Hassan, it also begins characterizing the characters. Hassan seems to be a follower, while Amir is the leader. Hassan is also portrayed as a push-over, easily delegated. The author is using past tense, which means he is still recalling memories from the past. | Fatherhood | | | 2 | “Sometimes I asked Baba if I could sit with them, but Baba would stand in the doorway. “Go on, now,” he’d say. “This is grown-ups’ time. Why don’t you go read one of those books of yours?” He’d close the door, leave me to wonder why it was always grown-ups’ time with him… I’d sit by the door, knees drawn to my chest. Sometimes I sat there for an hour, sometimes two, listening to their laughter, their chatter.” (p. 5) | Amir and Baba do not have a strong relationship. If Baba is always suggesting for Amir to leave during grown-ups time, they obviously don’t spent a lot of time together. When Baba tells Amir to go read a book, it is a rhetorical question. The structure of this question also incorporates a sense of disappointment Baba feels about Amir; as if that is the only thing Amir is good for. This passage also demonstrates Amir’s idolization for his father, since he sometimes sits by the door listening to the grown-ups’ conversations. | Fatherhood | Irony | | 2 | “I am a baby in that photograph and Baba is holding me, looking tired and grim. I’m in his arms, but it’s Rahim Khan’s pinky my fingers are curled around.” (p. 5) | Even as a baby it took the life out of Baba to care and support Amir. Ironically, Baba’s best friend Rahim Khan, showed affection and love effortlessly; meanwhile he isn’t even Amir’s father. | Social inequality | | | | “There was a picture of my parents’ wedding night, Baba dashing in his black suit and my mother a smiling young princess in white… On the south end of the garden, in the shadows of a loquat tree, was the servants’ home, a modest little mud hut where Hassan lived with his father… When the sun dropped low behind the hills and we were done playing for the day, Hassan and I parted ways. I went past the rosebushes to Baba’s mansion, Hassan to the mud shack where he had been born.” (p. 6) | Amir describes the significant difference between his family and Hassan’s. Amir’s description of his parents suggests that he thinks very highly of them. The fact that Hassan and his father live in a servants’ home is revealed; the reader is now certain that Hassan and his father are inferior to Amir and Baba. | | Rhetorical question | | 2 | “Did he ache for her, the way I ached for the mother I had never met?” (p. 7) | | Family | | | 2 | “You! The Hazara! Look at me when I’m talking to you!” the soldier barked… “I knew your mother, did you know that? I knew her real good. I took her from behind by the creek over there.” The soldiers laughed. One of them made a squealing sound. I told Hassan to keep walking, keep walking… Later, in the dark, after the movie had started, I heard Hassan next to me, croaking. Tears were sliding down his cheeks. I reached across my seat, slung my arm around him, pulled him close. He rested his head on my shoulder. “He took you for someone else,” I whispered. “He took you for someone else.” (p. 8) | Amir feels empathetic towards Hassan when he is humiliated by the soldiers. Amir attempts to comfort him, showing a sense of love and care for Hassan; the boy he grew up with. | Social inequality | Simile | Ali | 2 | “I’m told no one was really surprised when Sanaubar eloped. People had raised their eyebrows when Ali, a man who had memorized the Koran, married Sanaubar, a woman nineteen years younger, a beautiful but notoriously unscrupulous woman who lived up to her dishonorable reputation… Ali and Sanaubar had little in common, least of all their respective appearances… Ali had a congenital paralysis of his lower facial muscles, a condition that rendered him unable to smile and left him perpetually grim-faced. It was an odd thing to see the stone-faced Ali happy, or sad, because only his slanted brown eyes glinted with a smile or welled with sorrow. People say that eyes are windows to the soul. Never was that more true with Ali, who could reveal himself through his eyes… Ali’s face and his walk frightened some of the younger children in the neighborhood. But the real trouble was with the older kids… some had taken to calling him Babalu, or Boogyman… they called him “flat-nosed” because of Ali and Hassan’s characteristic Hazara Mongoloid features. For years, that was all I knew about the Hazaras, that they were Mogul descendants, and that they looked a little like Chinese people.” (p. 8) | Ali is described to be an underappreciated, insignificant, and an unattractive human being. He does not talk much, and when he does, his feelings are expressed through his eyes. People younger than Ali have the nerve to humiliate and ridicule him. They disregard that Ali’s age makes him superior to them. The only thing taken into account is their ethnic background and history. | Social inequality | | | 2 | “Ali turned around, caught me aping him. He didn’t say anything. Not then, not ever.” (p. 9) | When Amir imitated and mocked Ali, Ali would not say a word when he caught him doing it. This shows the superiority Amir has over Ali, despite their age. | Social inequality | Simile | | 2 | “In it, I read that my people, the Pashtuns, had persecuted and oppressed the Hazaras. It said the Hazaras had tried to rise against the Pashtuns in the nineteenth century, but the Pashtuns had “quelled them with unspeakable violence.” The book said that my people had killed the Hazaras, driven them from their lands, burned their homes, and sold their women. The book said part of the reason Pashtuns had oppressed the Hazaras was that Pashtuns were Sunni Muslims, while Hazaras were Shi’a. The book said a lot of things I didn’t know, things my teacher hadn’t mentioned. Things Baba hadn’t mentioned either. It also said some things I did know, like that people called Hazaras mice-eating, flat-nosed, load-carrying donkeys… The following week, after class, I showed the book to my teacher and pointed to the chapter on the Hazaras… He wrinkled his nose when he said the word Shi’a, like it was some kind of disease.” (p. 9-10) | The history of Amir’s people, the Pashtuns, and Hassan’s people, the Hazaras, is revealed through this passage. The audience can now understand why social inequality plays a large role in the story, and how it was derived. | | Satire | | 2 | “This is a husband?” she would sneer. “I have seen old donkeys better suited to be a husband. In the end, most people suspected the marriage had been an arrangement of sorts between Ali and his uncle, Sanaubar’s father.” (p. 10) | | Family | | | 2 | “Ali never retaliated against any of his tormentors, I suppose partly because he could never catch them with that twisted leg dragging behind him. But mostly because Ali was immune to the insults of his assailants; he had found his joy, his antidote, the moment Sanaubar had given birth to Hassan.” (p. 10) | Ali and Hassan have had a strong bond since Hassan was born. Ali loves his son; he is the reason for his happiness. | | | Hassan | 2 | “Hassan was true to his nature: he was incapable of hurting anyone. A few grunts, a couple of pushes, and out came Hassan. Out he came smiling.” (p. 11) | Ever since Hassan was born, he has been a harmless human being incapable of hurting anyone. | Family | Foreshadowing | | 2 | “Then he would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break. Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name. Looking back on it now, I think the foundation for what happened in the winter of 1975 – and all that followed – was already laid in those first words.” (p. 11-12) | Amir and Hassan have grown up together, literally feeding from the same breast. The fact that Amir’s first word was Baba foreshadows the upcoming events where he attempts to prove himself and his worthiness to him. This explains why he is so determined to make Baba proud. Hassan’s first word was Amir. The author is foreshadowing upcoming events that may compromise Hassan in the efforts of defending Amir. | | Simile/metaphor/hyperbole/imagery | Baba | 3 | “Lore has it my father once wrestled a black bear in Baluchistan with his bare hands. If the story had been about anyone else, it would have been dismissed as laaf, that Afghan tendency to exaggerate… But no one ever doubted the veracity of any story about Baba. And if they did, well, Baba did have those three parallel scars coursing a jagged path down his back. I have imagined Baba’s wrestling match countless times, even dreamed about it. And in those dreams, I can never tell Baba from the bear. It was Rahim Khan who first referred to him as what eventually became Baba’s famous nickname, Toophan agha, or “Mr. Hurricane.” It was an apt enough nickname. My father was a force of nature, a towering Pashtun specimen with a thick beard, a wayward crop of curly brown hair as unruly as the man himself, hands that looked capable of uprooting a willow tree, and a black glare that would “drop the devil to his knees begging for mercy,” as Rahim Khan used to say. At parties, when all six-foot-five of him thundered into the room, attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun.” (p. 13) | Baba is a strong man who succeeds at everything he tries. When he fought the bear, no one doubted it and unquestionably believed him. Amir claims that he can’t tell the difference between the bear and his father; this shows that his father is a big man who is tough and gruff. His nickname and his presence are the perfect definitions of Baba. | | Simile | | 3 | “I used to bury cotton wisps in my ears, pull the blanket over my head, and still the sounds of Baba’s snoring – so much like a growling truck engine – penetrated the walls.” (p. 14) | | | | Baba | 3 | “Baba decided to build an orphanage… Skeptics had urged him to stop his foolishness… of course, Baba refused, and everyone shook their heads in dismay at his obstinate ways. Then Baba succeeded and everyone shook their heads in awe at his triumphant ways.” (p. 14) | This contrasting characteristic also reveals his caring and lovable side. He may look physically aggressive and dangerous, but he has a soft side which led him to build an orphanage. When people all around him doubted his ways, he proved them wrong. This shows his perseverance and motivation to succeed. | Family | | | 3 | “I remember the day before the orphanage opened, Baba took me to Ghargha Lake, a few miles north of Kabul. He asked me to fetch Hassan too, but I lied and told him Hassan had the runs. I wanted Baba all to myself. And besides, one time at Ghargha Lake, Hassan and I were skimming stones and Hassan made his stone skip eight times. The most I managed was five. Baba was there, watching, and he patted Hassan on the back. Even put his arm around his shoulder.” (p. 14-15) | Amir is very jealous of Hassan and his accomplishments. Hassan’s talents come to him so easily, which impress Baba. He dislikes the relationship Baba and Hassan have because Baba does not treat Amir that way. | Fatherhood | Antithesis | Baba and Amir | 3 | “When Baba ended his speech, people stood up and cheered… Afterward, people shook his hand. Some of them tousled my hair and shook my hand too. I was so proud of Baba, of us. But despite Baba’s successes, people were always doubting him. They told Baba that running a business wasn’t in his blood and he should study law like his father. So Baba proved them all wrong by not only running his own business but becoming one of the richest merchants in Kabul. Baba and Rahim Khan built a wildly successful carpet-exporting business, two pharmacies, and a restaurant. When people scoffed that Baba would never marry well – after all, he was not of royal blood – he wedded my mother, Sofia Akrami, a highly educated woman universally regarded as one of Kabul’s most respected, beautiful, and virtuous ladies… 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.” (p. 16) | Baba is one of the most respected men in his town. He is successful and motivated to accomplish his goals. Amir claims that he was the one exception; Baba could not mold him to his likings like the way he could with the rest of the world. Consequently, Amir feels guilty and tries to impress Baba in any way he can. On the other hand, Baba will do anything to maintain his emotional distance from Amir. By proving others wrong, it is not an act of cruelty; it is to teach his son how to succeed and progress with the world throughout his life. Baba is Amir’s role model; informally guiding him through every step of the way. | | Imagery | | 3 | “When I was in fifth grade, we had a mullah who taught us about Islam. His name was Mullah Fatiullah Khan, a short, stubby man with a face full of acne scars and a gruff voice.” (p. 17) | | | Simile | | 3 | “Then he lowered himself into the leather sofa, put down his drink, and propped me up on his lap. I felt as if I were sitting on a pair of tree trunks.” (p. 17) | | | Personification/hyperbole | | 3 | “He took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose, the air hissing through his mustache for what seemed an eternity.” (p. 17) | | | Irony | | 3 | “I see you’ve confused what you’re learning in school with actual education,” he said in his thick voice.” (p. 18) | | Fatherhood | | Baba | 3 | “Baba’s stony eyes bore into mine and, just like that, I wasn’t laughing anymore. “I mean to speak to you man to man. Do you think you can handle that for once?”“Yes, Baba jan,” I muttered, marveling, not for the first time, at how badly Baba could sting me with so few words. We’d had a fleeting good moment – it wasn’t often Baba talked to me, let alone on his lap – and I’d been a fool to waste it. “Good,” Baba said, but his eyes wondered. “Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that?”“No, Baba jan,” I said, desperately wishing I did. I didn’t want to disappoint him again. Baba heaved a sigh of impatience. That stung too, because he was not an impatient man.” (p. 18) | Amir is intimidated by his father. He is scared to do anything that could possibly disappoint Baba. He has become immune to Baba’s stinging words; while Baba has become immune to Amir continuously disappointing him. Amir cherishes every living moment he can get to spend with Baba; his role model. Amir is the one and only exception to Baba’s weaknesses. It is unusual for Baba to become impatient with people, Amir however is an exception. This may be why Baba holds anger and bitterness towards Amir. | | | Amir | 3 | “I already hated all the kids he was building the orphanage for; sometimes I wished they’d all died along with their parents.” (p. 19) | Amir expresses anger and bitterness towards anyone who receives attention and/or affection from Baba. | Fatherhood | | | 3 | “I was always learning things about Baba from other people.” (p. 19) | The lack of emotional connection between Amir and Baba results in a lack of conversation. Technically, Amir does not personally know Baba. He only hears stories about him from other people, and creates a perception of this man who he thinks is extraordinary. | Fatherhood/personal responsibility/identity | Irony | | 3 | “I watched him fill his glass at the bar and wondered how much time would pass before we talked again the way we just had. Because the truth of it was, I always felt like Baba hated me a little. And why not? After all, I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn’t I? The least I could have done was to have had the decency to have turned out a little more like him. But I hadn’t turned out like him. Not at all.” (p. 20) | Amir is convinced that he killed his own mother. Baba is hesitant to reveal any emotion around Amir and it may be because he is bitter. Amir feels as if it is his personally responsibility to make it up to Baba, to make up for killing his wife, by following in his footsteps to become exactly like Baba. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |