First Reaction

      The Kite Runner instantly caught my attention the second I began to read it. At first, Amir comes off as such a sweet kid and the perfect child, but then he exposes these thoughts that he has at certain moments that really show you the kind of person that he is and how he actually feels. Certain times he just briefly mentions how he is jealous of Hassan for getting the same, if not even more, attention from his father, which is the one thing that Amir really takes to heart since he knows that he is the complete opposite of his father and they dont have the best father-son relationship. But then his jealousy reaches a different extreme, like when Hassan gets plastic surgery on his lip as a gift from Amirs father. Amir mentions how he wishes he had some deformity just so Baba would take pity on him, which is completely ridiculous.
         Amirs extreme admiration and longing for acceptance of his father drives him to have this intense jealously for Hassan which I think will lead to something else towards the end of the novel unless he outgrows that or finds certain bonds with his father. This is also somewhat implied in the book. After most of the chapters end, the author decides to end the chapters with phrases that state "That winter was the last time I saw Hassan smile" or "That was the last time Hassan would fly a kite". This is probably where religion and political issues tie into the novel since we are already aware of conflicts ongoing in Afghanistan during the time. I'm still not sure if these issues would be caused due to a political issue or some conflict between Hassan and Amir, but the author constantly implies that things are bound to go terribly wrong in Afghanistan and possibly between Amir and Hassans relationship.