The Kite Runner Practice Questions
Explore the ways in which Hosseini portrays Ali:
During the novel Ali is portrayed as a victim, First off, Baba has an affair with Ali's wife and fathers Hassan. Then, Amir forces Ali and Hassan to leave Baba's house. Finally, in the random violence now so common in war, Ali steps on a land mine and dies. However, like Hassan and Sohrab, Ali is a kind and good person. He has a beautiful voice and Amir and Hassan love to hear him sing. He remains faithful to Baba even though Baba dishonored Ali by sleeping with Sanaubar. Ali is also devout – his humble, constant faith perhaps influences Amir's own religious awakening later in the novel.
Ali makes much fewer appearances in the novel compared to the other characters but his speeches are very important. Some of the main ones are:
[...] Ali had congenital paralysis of his lower face muscles, a condition that rendered him unable to smile and left him perpetually grim-faced. (2.20)
But polio had left Ali with a twisted, atrophied right leg that was sallow skin over bone with little in between except a paper-thin layer of muscle. [...]. I watched him [Ali] swing his scraggy leg in a sweeping arc, watched his whole body tilt impossibly to the right every time he planted that foot. It seemed a minor miracle he didn't tip over with each step. [...]. Ali's face frightened some of the younger children in the neighborhood. [...]. Some had taken to calling him Babalu, or Boogeyman. (2.22)
From these it is almost like the deformities talk about represent a sort of goodness, this is backed up by Hassan being given a hair lip and Amir being perfect with no problems but once he picks up a scar while getting Sohrab he is a good man.
Ali is also shown to be strong and loyal. From the start of the novel Ali is shown to be very calm but later on we understand that Baba impregnated his wife, this