The Kite Runner Literary Critism

In Khaled Hosseini’s inspirational novel The Kite Runner; Amir as a young boy is forced to step up, face his fears and right what once was wrong. The haunting past event that occurred during his childhood creates a dark shadow that has strongly carried its way to Amir’s adulthood. Even after moving away from his home country to another continent, with the hopes to bury those old memories away, Amir finds himself having to go back home to a land that he no longer knows of, and is forced to relive his past childhood with Hassan; his dearest friend. For the first time, he must learn on his own to step forth and face his fears. Can you really make things right again – even after all hope is lost?

With the struggle of social stature between two boys; Amir, a Pashtun - Sunni Moslem that is considered of a higher class with seniority, and Hassan, who is looked down upon because he is a Hazara of lower class. Hassan and his father Ali, (a good friend of Baba, Amir’s father) live in a mud shack on Baba’s property together – they are servants for Amir and Baba. Despite the social differences between the boys, and at a time in Afghanistan when bigotry has sparked flame between these two ethnic groups, they still find a way to create what seems to be an everlasting bond with one another. “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.” (Page 13) Even as children, Amir was always the weaker one; Hassan was always sticking up for him and fighting his battles for him. Even though Amir was educated and Hassan was not, Amir still found ways to be jealous of Hassan at times especially when he corrected him and foun...

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... laugh, hurt my jaws, my ribs, my throat. But I was laughing and laughing. And the harder I laughed, the harder he kicked me, punched me, scratched me. “What’s so funny?” Assef bellowed. What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace. I saw that, in some hidden nook in the corner of my mind, I’d been looking forward to this. I remember the day on the hill I had pelted Hassan with pomegranates and tried to provoke him. Are you satisfied now? He’d hissed. Do you feel better? I hadn’t been happy and I hadn’t felt better, not at all. But I did now.” (Page 302-303)

A never ending bond that has lasted forever and a guilt that has been carried until it could be rested. The Kite Runner is a story that has brought new meaning to the term “friendship” and shows us all that there is “a way to be good again” no matter how long it takes.