Boekverslag: The Kite Runner
Essentials
Title:The kite runner
The Writer: Khaled Hosseini
The first year of publication: 2003, day and month are unknown
Setting
Time:The story takes place in many years. The story is told from when Amir is a kid until when he is a adult.The story begins in 1963, at the birth of Amir, and ends in 2001, so it has a duration of 38 years.
Quote: ‘I became ‘ of 1975’ (page 1). Here he says ‘at the age of twelve in 1975’. So he was born in 1963 (1975-12), where the story begins.
Place(s): There are two main places where the story take place. The first one is in ‘Kabul, Afghanistan’, The capital of Afghanistan.
Quote: ‘ ‘ had built te most beautiful house in the wazir akbar kahn district, a new and affluent neighborhood in the northern part of kabul’ ( page 4)
The second place is America. He actually flees to America via Pakistan.
Quote: ‘A soccer game in Union City’ in Santa Clara’ (page 153)
Union City and Santa Clara are some places in America.
In 2001 Amir goes back to Afghanistan to make something good.
Social circumstances: The story takes place in the second half of the 20th century. This clearly shows the evolution Kabul has made from a peaceful city to a city full of war and the drastic effect this has on society and people.
Characters
Main Characters:
‘ Amir; he is the I-figure in the story, the main-character. He is an Afghan, Sunni boy whose mother died during childbirth. Amir isn’t a tough boy, what his father wanted.
He is cowardly and underhanded. For example, he lets Hassan, his friend suffocate when he needs him the most. He also perform a trick to get Hassan out of the house, because he can no longer look at him without a feeling of guilt.
– Hassan; Hassan is the best friend of Amir and also a ‘Hazara’ clerk. He is a friendly, cheerful boy who is very eager to learn and does everything for his friend Amir, but he is also very shy and he thinks too little about himself. Because Amir betrayed him in the course of the story, their ways separate.
– Baba; Baba is the father of Amir. He actually likes Hassan more than Amir, but he can’t express that because Hassan is not his official son. Baba has a great sense of honor and helps a lot of people, but he is also a bit of a surly man.
– Soraya; Soraya is the wife of Amir. She is the daughter of a general and lives in America.
Soraya ran away with a man but was found again after a month. Then no one wanted to marry her, but Amir did. they are very happy together and have a big desire for children, but soon Soraya turns out to be infertile. She takes peace with it and remains the loving, friendly woman she has been all her life.
– Rahim Khan; He is the best friend of Ali’s father and is also a bit like a father to Amir. He is a lovely man. It is Rahim who encourages Amir to write even more stories and finally makes sure Amir can repay his guilt to Hassan.
Introduction of the Characters:
Amir (the main character) is actually introduced immediately at the beginning. Not very clear, but it is clear that something is bothering him. In addition, Rahim Khan is also introduced at the beginning. He is described as a friend who calls Amir from Pakistan. Hassan is also introduced right at the beginning. He whispered through the head of Amir with the words “for you a thousand times over”. This gives you the idea that Amir has a guilt feeling. Baba and Ali are also introduced on the first few pages, but it is not immediately clear who they are. It is only described then that Amir thinks about them.
Quote(s):
‘I became ‘ of 1975′ (page 1)
” my friend Rahim khan called from Pakistan’ (page 1)
‘And suddenly Hassan’s voice wispered in my head’ (page 1)
‘Thought about Baba. Ali.’ (page 2)
Relationship Characters:
Almost all characters are or family or friends from each other. Under the headline “main characters” it is described who belongs to whom and what the relationship between each other is.
Point of view
Point of view:
The story is told from the ‘I-perspective’. The ‘I-person’ is Amir.
Effect:
This way of telling leaves more impression and makes it somehow more exciting. This is because you do not know more than Amir. This gives you the same questions and thoughts as Amir. Because of this the story is more subjective than objective but you can form your own opinion as well and you also clearly see Amir’s feelings of guilt as well.
Structure
The book consists of 25 chapters, starting with a short chapter from December 2001, in which the I narrator indicates that he is being recalled to Afghanistan by an old friend of his father. In chapter 2 to 10 the story of Amir past told. For example, the flight from his homeland to America is mentioned (chapter 11, eighties). The narration is picked up again. There is also a significant gap in the period from about 1996 to 2001. In chapter 15 he returns to Afghanistan, where he is confronted with a family secret. Then the story is told in the same structure until the end. In 2002 Amir returned to America, where in March 2002, a few days before he described the story as a retypaster, he played a game with a kite. In fact, the novel is told in the form of a frame narrative. Between the two parts of the present (2001) is the history of the past told (especially from 1974 to 1980 and later to 2001)
Dramatic line
Introduction:
At the beginning of the book, Amir, the protagonist, is introduced by telling about a certain thought and memory. His name is not mentioned, but it is clear that the book is about the one who tells at the beginning. So this is Amir.
After telling that he has buried something from the past in himself, Rahim Khan is introduced, calling Amir and asking if he is coming to Pakistan.
Quote: ” my friend Rahim Khan called from Pakistan’ (page 1). It is not clear who he is and what he means to Amir, but Amir calls him ‘a friend’.
Amir tells what he sees as he walks though the Spreckels lake on the northern edge of Golden Gate park and suddenly hears Hassan’s voice in his head with the words; “For you, a thousand times over”. Here, Hassan is presented for the first time. It is also not clear who he is and what he does for Amir, but it is clear that Amir has a feeling of guilt.
Quote: ‘And suddenly Hassan’s voice whispered in my head’ (page 1)
Baba and Ali are also introduced immediately at the beginning. With them it is not clear who they are and what they have to do with Amir, but they are mentioned for the first time.
Quote: ‘Thought about Baba. Ali.’ (page 2)
Initial incident:
In 1981, internal relations in Afghanistan deteriorated very much. The king has been exchanged for a republic since 1973, but then the Soviets invade the poor country in the 1980s. This means Baba and Amir have to flee. So this is where the dramatic action begins.
Rising action:
During a check on the road, a Russian soldier wants to rape an Afghan woman, but Baba shows his true courage. He does not allow it: he threatens to be shot, but another soldier takes it for him. They are also deceived by the person who wants to smuggle them out of the country for a lot of money. In Pakistan, the agreed escape route does not seem to continue, but in a closed tanker they continue with their flee. Then it becomes clear that Kamal was also in the tank truck and did not survive. His father then commits suicide.
Finally they reach America, but in America there are not so much things which increase the tension. The only thing that happened is that Amir got a relation with Soraya. A women that disgust everyone. Thereby the father of Amir, Baba, died in America. He died of the effects of lung cancer. He has been able to keep the disease hidden from Amir for a long time, he has also resisted for a long time, but eventually he becomes an emaciated victim of the cancer.
In June 2001 Rahim Khan called Amir to go back to Pakistan. In Pakistan, Khan tells what happened in the meantime. He had gone to live in Baba’s house and had accepted Hassan and Ali as servants. Amir finds this a bit difficult.
From Rahim Khans words it now appears that the old Ali had been barren and that Hassan was the child of Baba. So Hassan is a half brother of Amir. It is a great shock for Amir, but he can now better understand the reaction of his father Baba when he used to stand up for Hassan. Rahim Khan also came into a phase of a terminal illness and therefore he had to warn Amir now. Because Hassan and his wife have been shot to death by Taliban fighters, and Sohrab is now locked up in an orphanage. Rahim Khan claims to have American friends in Pakistan who are willing to adopt the boy. But Amir must now get him out of the orphanage first.
On his way to Kabul Amir sees the horrors that the Taliban have done in the country.
Amir slowly knows the place of the orphanage where Sohrab would sit, but it is lent to a Taliban ruler, who comes to get boys or girls out of the orphanage every month for the satisfaction of his sexual needs. Also is Amir during the break of a football match witness how an adulterous man and woman stoned in a pit of the football field.
Climax:
Then he goes to the home of the Taliban fighter who would have Sohrab in his possession. That man recognizes him as Amir and it turns out to be the nasty Assef. He sees his chance to finish Amir now. Amir can get the child, but then he must earn him. Sohrab, who witnesses in the room where Amir gets beaten with the beatings with boxing braces, has a catapult at one point and shoots a bullet from the table in the eye of Assef. Assef is really bad injured and therefore they manage to flee.
Down-going action:
Amir is in a bad condition and with Farid’s help he ends up in the hospital. They can save him there.
Eventually are Amir and Soraya willing to adopt Sohrab. To make up for it indirectly with Hassan. Sohrab first has to go to an orphanage in Pakistan and from there they can try to adopt him. Sohrab does not want this, he does not want to go back to an orphanage. During a telephone conversation between Amir and Soraya telling her she thinks she can adopt him in America, Sohrab has cut his wrists. Fortunately, he is saved on time and then he breaks up. Physically, because mentally he completely loses his trust.
Then move back to America. But on 9/11/2001 the disaster happens with the Twin Towers and the mood in America changes. Bush invades Afghanistan. Amir’s father-in-law goes back to Afghanistan: he becomes minister.
Conclusion:
In March 2002 Amir is flying with Sohrab during a party. He feels like a child. If the opponent’s kite is hit, Amir will run to get the object. That is finally the time when Sohrab can laugh and show confidence in a new future.
Theme
The message:
I think that the message is that when you are good for people and things you also get good things back
Explanation and the fit of the characters in the message:
First of all, Hassan is a very lovely and good person. Therefor he got much love from Baba. Baba actually loves Hassan more than his own son Amir. Later on it becomes clear that Hassan is also a son of Baba, but that aside. Because Hassan is so lovely, Baba paid and gives Hassan a operation to get rid of his hareslip. Hassan and his father got work by Baba and later on by Rahim Khan. Eventually Hassan got killed, but not because he was a bad person or something.
Amir was a cowardly and underhanded boy in his youth. He doesn’t got good things back. He was actually a little bit a bad person. He needs to flee and say bye to his homeland. Also his dad died. But when he gets older, he began to be a good person and get a wife. He also got a lot of good things when he started to saving sohrab. He survived the enormous injuries he got after the fight with the taliban fighter Assaf. And got Sohrab, his addopted child, who begins to love Amir. These are great things.
So when you are good for someone or for some things, you actually get good things back.
Title
The Kite Runner shows how they play with kites in Afghanistan. Players of the game are ‘kite runners’.There are competitions where you have to take down the opponent’s kite and the biggest task is to win the fallen kite as a trophy. With that you gain a lot of prestige. So the title ‘The Kite Runner’ comes from this game. And this game appears in the book.