Final Reponse

At first I was reluctant to read a story titled “The Kite Runner” as I assumed it was just the story of a boy’s struggle to win a tournament. By the first page, I realized this was not about a boy who won a tournament, rather it was about what the affects the tournament had on the relationship between two unknown brothers and its importance to creating a father and son relationship. The author could not have picked a more appropriate title than this one because it is the story of two boys who ran kites and what happened to one of those boys in particular on a winter day in 1975 that created so much guilt in the main character that it clawed at him for almost thirty years. While Amir and Hassan were tugging at kite strings that very cold day in 1975, I as a reader was tugging at each page, falling in love with the book, as the author tugged at my emotions.

            When my eyes first fell upon the opening paragraph, “I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek…looking back now I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years,” so many questions flooded my mind and suddenly I was hooked. What happened that day that caused him to become who he was? What was he seeing in the alley that was so unforgettable? I had to keep reading.  This was one of the many uses of foreshadowing the author used in telling the story. I thought it was a good way of setting the tone for the entire story and immediately forcing Amir’s emotions of regret on the reader.

            The main relationship between these two kite runners was not only misleading but unfolded rather quickly. From the beginning, Amir and Hassan seemed inseparable; they were always playing together, flying kites, and reading stories. They seemed to have this profound bond and brotherly love for one another; after all they grew up in the same house, fed from the same breast, and both without mothers. Yet, Amir is the privileged one with the well-off father, large house, and education, while Hassan lives in the servant’s shack behind the house, is illiterate, and a cleft lipped Hazara with a crippled father. As similar as they were, both were incredibly different – Amir with his jealous rage and cowardly disposition and Hassan with his positive, forgiving, and loyal nature. Originally Amir appeared accepting and loving of Hassan but my doubts began to speculate when he told Hassan the wrong meaning of the word “imbecile” showing his manipulative character and condescending view of Hassan. They were raised in the same house as if they were family. I was so disappointed that Amir would be so rude to someone who give his life for Amir, who was so positive that Hassan ended up being my favorite character. What Assef had told Hassan was true; Amir is not Hassan’s friend. He uses him. The fact that Amir never called Hassan his friend even though they did practically everything together frustrated me.

            All the times Assef  harassed Hassan, the true kite runner, Amir remained quiet out of fear that he would be Assef’s next target.  His cowardly and selfish nature overruled the decision to do what was right. While his subconscious was telling him to do the right thing and stand up for Hassan, Amir made the wrong choice. Whenever this happened I wanted to reach into the book and literally slap Amir across the face. Hassan was the one who always stood up for Amir, even when Amir was wrong - the watch incident, the letter forgiving Amir, for throwing pomegranates at him, and lying to him and making him feel stupid for being illiterate.   Hassan believed that Amir would do the same for him even though we all knew that Amir would not.

            Years after Amir learned to deal with the clawing guilt, Rahim Khan’s call triggered all the loose ends that needed to be wrapped up.  Amir could not escape the alley and the watch incident any longer. He had to face the music and finally resolve the twenty-six year issue with Hassan. Rahim Khan seemed to be the way Amir could “be good again”. Once again, Rahim Khan was Amir’s knight in shinning amour. Rahim was always guiding Amir the way a loving father should guide his son. If Rahim Khan did not do what he had done and disappeared, Amir would have fled back to America leaving Sohrab in the hands of Assef meeting his end like his father.

            At this point in the story Amir was still a coward. He was more upset that he could not resolve the issue with Hassan face to face that he was still not willing to do what was right and go find Sohrab. As soon as I knew  that Hassan had a living son who needed Amir’s help, I was hoping that Amir would go get Sohrab on his own. It was the least he could do and after all Sohrab was his blood relative. Amir could not even save himself from Assef nor did he even fight to save Sohrab. He was willing to be beaten to death and receive his overdue consequence of leaving Hassan in the alley with Assef. After all that has happened, after all this death, Amir cannot even save himself; he had to have a twelve-year-old child save him, yet again. If you see wet pages in the book, that was the author tugging tears out of me.