The Fluidity of the Kite Runner

The kite offshoot is a impudent by Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, it is Hosseinis prototypal novel, and was adapted into a film of the same relieve oneself in 2007. The Kite Runner tells the story of emir, a child wish well son from the Wazir Akbar caravansary district of Kabul, whose imminent friend is Hassan, his fathers adolescent Hazara servant. The story is bunch against a cover chargedrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of sheepskin coatistans monarchy through the Soviet invasion, the hejira of refugees to Pakistan and the coupled States, and the rise of the Taliban regime. Plot summary fall in Iamir, a lucky Pashtun boy, and Hassan, a Hazara who is the son of Ali, emeers fathers servant, spend their days in the hitherto pacifistic city of Kabul, increase fighting. ameers father, a wealthy merchant, whom Amir affectionately refers to as Baba, loves both boys, nevertheless is often more harshly critical of Amir, considering him clea r and lacking in courage. Amir come ups a kinder fatherly figure in Rahim Khan, Babas closest friend. Khan understands Amir and supports his interest in writing. Amir explains that his first word was Baba and Hassans Amir, suggesting that Amir looks up most to Baba, epoch Hassan looks up to Amir.Assef, a notorious sociopath and violent older boy, mocks Amir for companionableizing with a Hazara, which is, according to Assef, an inferior race whose members belong only in Hazarajat. oneness day, he prepares to attack Amir with stainless-steel brass knuckles, unless Hassan bravely stands up to him, threatening to shoot push through Assefs eye out with his slingshot. Assef and his posse back withdraw, simply Assef threatens revenge. Hassan is a successful kite runner for Amir, knowing where the kite will land without watching it. One triumphant day, Amir wins the local anaesthetic anaesthetic tournament, and in conclusion Babas praise.Hassan runs for the last cut kite, a great trophy, saying to Amir, For you, a thousand times over. Unfortunately, Hassan encounters Assef in an alleyway later on finding the kite. Hassan refuses to go forth up Amirs kite, and Assef decides to teach Hassan a lesson. He beats him severely and accordingly anally rapes him. Amir witnesses the act but is too scared to intervene. Secretly, he withal knows that if he intervenes, he might not be able to take on the kite home in that locationfrom, Baba would be less proud of him. after witnessing this rude act against his dearest friend, he faces incredibly guilty, but knows that his owardice would destroy some(prenominal) hopes for Babas affections, so he tells no one what he saw. Afterward, Amir keeps a distance from Hassan, his guilt preventing him from interacting with the boy. Jealous of Babas love for Hassan, Amir worries that if Baba found out or so Hassans bravery and his give birth cowardice, Babas love for Hassan would grow even more. Amir, fill up with gui lt on his birthday, cannot enjoy his gifts. The only present that does not feel like blood money is the notebook to write his stories in tending(p) to him by Rahim Khan, his fathers friend and the only one Amir felt very understood him.Amir feels life would be easier if Hassan were not around, so he plants a watch and some money under Hassans mattress in hopes that Baba will reap him leave Hassan falsely confesses when confronted by Baba. Baba forgives him, despite the fact that, as he explains earlier, he believes that there is no act more wretched than stealing. Hassan and Ali, to Babas ingrained sorrow, leave anyway. It is clear that Ali knows about Hassans rape. Their leaving frees Amir of the daily monitoring device of his cowardice and betrayal, but he still lives in the shadow of these things. Part IIFive eld later, the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan in 1979. Amir and Baba escape to Peshawar, Pakistan and and then to Fremont, California, where Amir and Baba, who liv ed in luxury in an expensive mansion in Afghanistan, settle down in a run-down apartment and Baba begins work at a gas station. Amir eventually takes classes at a local community college to develop his writing skills later on graduating from high school at age twenty. Every Sunday, Baba and Amir make extra money merchandising used goods at a flea market in San Jose. in that respect, Amir meets clotheshorse refugee Soraya Taheri and her family.Sorayas father, normal Taheri, once a high-ranking officer in Afghanistan, has contempt for Amirs literary aspiration. Baba is diagnosed with terminal small cell carcinoma but is still competent of granting Amir one last favor he asks Sorayas fathers permission for Amir to marry her. He agrees and the two marry. Shortly thereafter Baba dies. Amir and Soraya settle down in a happy marriage, but to their sorrow they rent that they cannot have children. Amir embarks on a successful career as a novelist. Fifteen years after his wedding, Ami r receives a bring up from Rahim Khan, who is dying from an illness.Rahim Khan asks Amir to come to Peshawar, Pakistan. He enigmatically tells Amir, There is a way to be good again. Amir goes. Part triplet From Rahim Khan, Amir learns the fates of Ali and Hassan. Ali was killed by a land mine. Hassan had a wife named Farzana and a son named Sohrab. He had lived in a village near Bamiyan, but returned to Babas house as a caretaker at Rahim Khans request, although he moved to a hut in the yard so as not to dishonour Amir by taking his place in the house. During his stay, his scram Sanaubar returned after a long search for him, and died after four years.One month after Rahim Khan leftfield for Pakistan, the Taliban ordered Hassan to give up the house and leave, but he refused, and was executed, along with Farzana. Rahim Khan reveals that Ali was not really Hassans father, that Ali was sterile, and that Hassan was actually Babas son, and therefore Amirs half-brother. Finally, Rahi m Khan tells Amir that the true reason he called Amir to Pakistan was to present Sohrab from an orphanage in Kabul. Rahim Khan asks Amir to bring Sohrab to Thomas and Betty Caldwell, who own an orphanage.Amir becomes furious he feels cheated because he had not known that Hassan was his half-brother. Amir finally relents and decides to go to Kabul to get Sohrab. He travels in a locomote with an Afghan driver named Farid, a veteran of the war with the Soviets, and stays as a guest at Farids brother Wahids house. Farid, initially hostile to Amir, is gracious when he hears of Amirs true reason for returning, and offers to accompany him on his journey. Amir searches for Sohrab at the orphanage. To enter Taliban territory, clean shaven Amir wears a fake beard and mustache.However, Sohrab is not at the orphanage its director tells them that a Taliban official comes often, brings cash, and usually takes a girl away with him. Once in a while however, he takes a boy, recently Sohrab. The director tells Amir to go to a soccer match, where the procurer makes speeches at half-time. Farid secures an appointment with the speaker at his home, by claiming to have personal business with him. At the house, Amir meets the man, who turns out to be Assef. Assef recognizes Amir from the outset, but Amir does not recognise Assef until he asks about Ali, Baba, and Hassan.Sohrab is being kept at Assefs home where he is made to move dressed in womens clothes, and it seems Assef may have raped him. Assef agrees to relinquish him, but only for a pricecruelly beating Amir. However, Amir is rescue when Sohrab uses his slingshot to shoot out Assefs left eye, fulfilling Hassans threat made some(prenominal) years before. While at a hospital treating his injuries, Amir asks Farid to find information about Thomas and Betty Caldwell. When Farid returns, he tells Amir that the American oppose does not exist.Amir tells Sohrab of his plans to take him back to America and possibly adopt him, and promises that he will never be sent to an orphanage again. However, US government activity demand evidence of Sohrabs orphan status. After decades of war, this is all but unsurmountable to get in Afghanistan. Amir tells Sohrab that he may have to temporarily break his promise until the paperwork is completed. Upon hearing this, Sohrab attempts suicide. Amir eventually takes him back to the United States without an orphanage, and introduces him to his wife. However, Sohrab is emotionally damaged and refuses to speak to or even glance at Soraya.His frozen emotions eventually thaw when Amir reminisces about Hassan and kites. Amir shows off some of Hassans tricks, and Sohrab begins to interact with Amir again. In the end Sohrab only shows a lopsided smile, but Amir takes to it with all his heart as he runs the kite for Sohrab, saying, For you, a thousand times over. Characters Amir is the protagonist and narrator of the novel. He was born in 1963, and his mother died big birth. He is a Pashtun. As a child, Amir delighted himself with storytelling and was encouraged by Rahim Khan to become an author.At age eighteen, he and his father fled to America following the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, where Amir pursues his dream of being a writer. Hassan is Amirs closest childhood friend. He is described as having a China skirt face, green eyes, and a harelip. The reader eventually discovers that Hassan is actually the son of Baba and Sanaubar, although Hassan never knows this during his lifetime. Hassan was later shot by the Taliban led by Mohammed Omar for refusal to abandon Amirs property. Assef is the primary(prenominal) antagonist of the novel.He is the son of an Afghan father and a German mother and ironically, given that he is of mixed origin, an advocate of Pashtun dominance over the Hazara. As a teenager, he is a neighborhood bully and is described as a sociopath by Amir. Many of his cruel actions as a child include raping Hassan as a means of revenge against Amir, and giving Amir a biography of Adolf Hitler as a birthday present. As an adult, he joins the Taliban and rapes and abuses Hassans son Sohrab. Baba is Amirs father and a wealthy businessman who aid the community by creating businesses for others and building a new orphanage.He is also the biological father of Hassan, a secret he takes to the grave. Baba is born in 1933 . agree to legend, he win in a fight with a black-market bear in his younger years. Believing that sin could be explained as a form of stealing from ones fellow man, he does not keep going the religiosity demanded by the clerics in the religion classes attended by Amir in school. Baba is disappointed in his son Amir, whom he wishes to be as manly as he is, and appears to favor Hassan. In his later years after fleeing to America, he works at a gas station.He dies from pubic louse in 1987, shortly after Amir and Sorayas wedding. Ali is Babas servant, a Hazara believed to be Hassans father. In his you th, Babas father take him after his parents were killed by a drunk driver. earlier the events of the novel, Ali had been struck with polio, rendering his right leg useless. Because of this, Ali was constantly tormented by children in the town. He was killed by a land mine in Hazarajat. Rahim Khan is Babas loyal friend and business partner, as well as a mentor to Amir. Rahim convinces Amir to come to Pakistan by saying there is a way to be good again. He eventually tells Amir that Hassan is his half brother, and that he should save Sohrab. He dies peacefully knowing he has successfully made Amir the man Baba wanted him to be. Soraya is a young Afghan woman whom Amir meets in America. She lives with her parents, Afghan general Taheri and his wife. She meets Amir at a flea market and later marries him. Soraya wants to become an English teacher. in front meeting Amir, she ran away with an Afghan boyfriend in Virginia, which, according to Afghan tradition, made her unsuitable for marr iage. Because Amir also had his own regrets, he love and married her anyway.Soraya wants to have children but cannot because of unexplained infertility. Sohrab is the son of Hassan. After his parents are killed and he is sent to an orphanage, Assef buys him and physically abuses the child. Amir saves him, and then is saved by Sohrab in a pivotal confrontation. He is later adopted by Amir and Soraya, where he adapts to his new life. Sohrab greatly resembles a young version of his father Hassan. Sanaubar is Alis wife and the mother of Hassan. Shortly after Hassans birth, she runs away from home and becomes a gypsy. She later returns to Hassan in his adulthood.To make up for her shake off she provided a grandmother figure for Sohrab, Hassans son. Farid is a taxi driver who is initially abrasive toward Amir, but later befriends him. Two daughters of Farids seven children were killed by a land mine, a disaster which mutilated three fingers on his left hand and also took some of his toe s. After spending a shadow with Farids brothers impoverished family, Amir hides a bundle of money under the mattress to overhaul them the secretive act once committed to hurt his friend Hassan, he now does to help someone he barely knows.General Taheri is the father of Soraya. General Taheri lives mainly off welfare, considering himself too good for ordinary work. He is unceasingly waiting for a call to be restored to his former position as a high-ranking general in Kabul, which he eventually receives at the end of the novel, after the fall of the Taliban. Khala/Khanum Jamila is Sorayas mother, who lovingly accepts Amir into her family. She sees Amir as someone who could do no wrong in her eyes. Farzana is Hassans wife and Sohrabs mother, a shy Hazara who is later shot to death by the Taliban.Reception The Kite Runner received the South African Boeke Prize in 2004. It was the first 2005 best seller in the United States, according to Nielsen BookScan. It was also voted the Readi ng stem Book of the Year for 2006 and 2007 and headed a list of 60 titles submitted by entrants to the Penguin/ orangeness Reading Group prize . Controversies The Kite Runner has been accused of prevent Western understanding of the Taliban by portraying Taliban members as representatives of various social and doctrinal evils not typically attributed to the Taliban .The American Library Association reports that The Kite Runner is one of its most-challenged books of 2008, with multiple attempts to remove it from libraries due to offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group. Afghanistans Ministry of Culture banned the film from distribution in cinemas or DVD stores, citing the possibility that the movies ethnically charged rape guessing could incite racial violence within Afghanistan. Adaptations The Kite Runner was print in 2003 and in 2007 adapted as a motion visualize tarring Khalid Abdalla, Homayoun Ershadi, and Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada . Directed by Marc Fo rster and with a screenplay by David Benioff, the movie won numerous awards and was nominated for an Oscar, the BAFTA Film Award and the Critics Choice Award . However, Manhola Dargis of the newfangled York Times states that The back of my paperback copy of this Khaled Hosseini novel is sprinkled with words like powerful and haunting and riveting and unforgettable. Its a good guess this film will be involute around in a similarly large helping of lard. The novel was also adapted to the stage by Bay Area dramatist Matthew Spangler. It was performed at San Jose State University in March 2007 and two years later at San Jose repertoire Theatre, where David Ira Goldstein directed a cast that include Barzin Akhavan, Demosthenes Chrysan, Gregor Paslawsky, James Saba, Thamos Fiscelle, Craig Piaget, Lowell Abellon, Rinabeth Apostol, Adam Yazbeck, Zarif Kabier Sadiqi, Wahab Shayek, and Lani Carissa Wong, with Salar Nader also onstage playing tabla.The play was afterwards produced at Arizon a Theatre Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Play House, and The New Repertory Theatre of Watertown, Massachusetts . See also A Thousand dainty Suns Kite Runner The Kite Runner 16 Days in Afghanistan referenced film. Bibliography Hosseini,Khaled. The Kite Runner. Anchor Canada Toronto, 2004. ISBN 978-0-385-66007-5 References External links on the BBC creative activity Book Club Excerpts by The San Francisco Chronicle Bibliography Wikipedia baygross