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Summary and Analysis of The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA
Copyright © 2016 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5040-4311-3
CHAPTER 1
Summary
Chapter One
After receiving a call from his old friend Rahim Khan, Amir goes out for a walk along a lake near his home. Looking up, he sees a pair of kites fluttering in the sky above his adopted city of San Francisco. Rahim's words and the image of string and paper soaring in the wind open a floodgate of memories that he thought were long buried. In that moment, Amir realizes that the man he is today is a result of what happened one fateful winter's day in 1975.
Chapter Two
Two families from different worlds are closely intertwined: Baba is a rich merchant who lives in a nice house with his sensitive son, Amir. In a mud hut resides Baba's Hazara servant Ali, and his hare lipped son, Hassan. Both boys are motherless: Amir's mother dies in childbirth and Hassan's runs off with a traveling dance troupe. The boys form the kind of friendship that will stay with them for a lifetime.
Chapter Three
Baba has a towering stature and forceful nature. A successful businessman once married to a well-educated descendant of the royal family, he's a formidable figure in the community. In sharp contrast, Amir is a sensitive and meek boy who carries the burden of his mother's death on his shoulders.
Chapter Four
In 1933, a drunk-driving incident kills a Haraza couple, leaving their baby son orphaned. Amir's grandfather, a judge on the case, takes the boy in and raises him. That baby was Ali. Like Amir with Hassan, Baba and Ali are childhood playmates, however Baba never refers to Ali as a friend: Afghan society frowns on privileged Pashtuns mixing with lowly Hazaras.
Amir and Hassan do everything together; they can often be found sitting in a pomegranate tree reading and inventing stories. Baba doesn't understand his son's creative, sensitive side. Baba's close friend Rahim Khan takes Amir under his wing and offers encouragement and support that Amir's father withholds.
Chapter Five
A Soviet coup marks the end of the king's forty-year rule. While outside playing, Amir and Hassan come across three schoolyard bullies: Assef, Wali, and Kamal. Assef is the sadistic ringleader with a reputation as a savage tormentor. He often taunts Ali on the street, calling him names like Babalu (Boogeyman).
Assef is offended by Amir's friendship with a boy of inferior ethnicity and decides to teach him a lesson using brass knuckles. When Assef comes face-to-face with the business end of Hassan's slingshot (and the prospect of losing an eye), Assef retreats, but not before promising revenge.
Chapter Six
Winter is kite-flying season in Kabul, and Hassan is the greatest kite runner Amir has ever seen. The two work diligently to prepare for battle. The winter of 1975 is the last time Amir would see Hassan run a kite.
Chapter Seven
The boys prove to be an extraordinary kite-flying team and win an important competition. Hassan takes off to run the kite, but when he doesn't return, Amir sets out looking for him. He finds him trapped in an alley by Assef and his henchmen. Paralyzed with fear, Amir stands by and watches Assef brutally rape his best friend.
Chapter Eight
Amir hides his shame by sometimes acting with indifference and sometimes becoming hostile toward Hassan, damaging their longtime friendship. A constant reminder of his own dishonor, Amir wishes Hassan were out of the picture.
On his thirteenth birthday, Baba throws Amir a lavish party and invites schoolmates that include Assef and Wali. Hassan endures further humiliation by having to serve drinks from a silver platter to his smug molesters.
Chapter Nine
The party and presents bring no joy and his father's attention feels empty. Choosing selfish desires over the welfare of Ali and Hassan, Amir hatches a plan to frame Hassan for a theft he didn't commit.
His plan backfires. Hassan admits to the crime and Baba graciously forgives him. Ali knows of Amir's betrayal and decides to leave their employ. It's a relief to Amir, but brings great pains to Baba, who openly weeps in sorrow.
Chapter Ten
The Russian invasion renders Afghanistan unrecognizable. Baba and Amir flee the city, smuggled in trucks across the Pakistani border. Kamal, one of Hassan's assailants, is among the refugees, looking broken and withered. Kamal's father whispers that the young man was once brutally sodomized by four men.
To endure the last leg of the trip inside a fuel tanker, Amir recalls happier times flying kites with his best friend. He and Baba survive the arduous journey, but Kamal isn't so lucky. He dies in transit. Grief-stricken, Kamal's father grabs a gun, shoves the barrel into his own mouth, and pulls the trigger.
Chapter Eleven
Baba likes the idea of America, but living in Fremont, California, in the 1980s is a different story. The antithesis of their cushy life in Kabul, the two settle in a small, dingy apartment and work menial jobs. After nearly two years, Baba isn't adjusting to the culture, but for Amir, America is a place where he can forget.
Every Sunday, father and son drive to the San Jose flea market to earn extra money. One day, Amir is introduced to General Taheri and he sees Soraya, the general's graceful daughter, for the first time.
Chapter Twelve
Amir longs to speak to the pretty girl but always loses his nerve. Besides, he must consider the young woman's reputation, for one misstep could ruin her chances of finding a suitable partner.
Baba's hacking cough is diagnosed as terminal lung cancer. Baba wants his son settled, so, on Amir's behalf, he asks the general for his daughter's hand in marriage. Although happy about the union, Soraya won't agree to wed without confessing to Amir that she's not a virgin. He assures her that it doesn't matter to him, but stops short of disclosing his own dark secrets.
Chapter Thirteen
Lafz — the rite of "giving word" — is a joyous day for Baba and Amir. Amir and Soraya plan a short engagement knowing Baba doesn't have long to live. The couple is married in a traditional wedding. During the ceremony Amir wonders if Hassan is married, too.
Baba dies weeks later and Amir can't imagine what will happen to him without his father's guidance. Amir pours himself into his university studies while penning his first novel. When Amir's book is published, the couple decides to start a family, but Soraya can't bear children. The denial of fatherhood is further proof that Amir's punishment continues.
Chapter Fourteen
Rahim Khan, Amir's childhood mentor, is dying in Pakistan and begs Amir to come. Rahim implies that returning to his homeland can help Amir conquer his demons and find peace. That night, Amir dreams of Hassan running with a kite and looking over his shoulder, yelling: "For you, a thousand times over!" He packs his bags.
Chapter Fifteen
Looking out the window of the airport taxi, Peshawar reminds Amir a lot of Kabul. Standing outside the home of Rahim, he rings the doorbell and a thin, bony man answers the door. Reunited after so many years, Rahim asks permission to speak of Hassan, and Amir agrees to listen.
Chapter Sixteen
After Baba and Amir flee Kabul, Rahim takes over the house, but he's lonely and needs help maintaining it. He finds Hassan and his wife, Farzana, living together in a nearby village. Ali was killed by a land mine two years earlier. He urges the couple to return with him to Kabul and they accept. Coming full circle, Hassan moves back into the mud hut where he was born twenty-three years before.
Farzana is pregnant when Hassan's mother unexpectedly appears at the door. Possessing an endless capacity to forgive, Hassan welcomes Sanaubar home. She gratefully devotes herself to her grandson, Sohrab, and when his son is old enough, Hassan teaches him to run kites.
Chapter Seventeen
Amir finds a Polaroid of a smiling Hassan with his son inside a letter. The message is filled with grace and unconditional love. Asking about Hassan's whereabouts results in the realization of Amir's worst fear: Hassan and his wife were murdered by the Taliban, and their boy was taken to an orphanage. Rahim's dying wish is that Amir return to Afghanistan to find the boy and bring him back to America.
Putting everything out on the table, Rahim tells him that Ali was not Hassan's biological father, but the love child of Baba and Ali's wife, Sanaubar. Blinded by anger and confusion, Amir sees his entire life as one big lie and storms out.
Chapter Eighteen
Amir is appalled at the extent of his father's hypocrisy. After all, he'd taught him that lying was the worst thing you could do — an act of stealing a person's right to the truth. Baba stole his right to a brother.
As his fury dissipates, it's replaced by insight. He sees that he and Baba were cut from the same cloth: both betraying people they loved most in the world. What Rahim was offering was a chance to atone for his sins — and for Baba's, too. The price for redemption is a return to Kabul to find his nephew.
Chapter Nineteen
Disguised in a beard and traditional garb, Amir hires a surly driver named Farid to help him pass checkpoints. Skeptical of each other at first, the men build a strong alliance essential for carrying out the dangerous plan.
Chapter Twenty
Amir wasn't prepared for what Kabul had become: a dustbowl of rubble, beggars, and Taliban on every corner. Looking directly at a soldier could get you killed, Farid warns. An old, indigent man explained: "It's like poking a rabid dog with a stick."
They locate the orphanage where Sohrab was last seen, but they're too late: A Taliban official bought the boy about a month earlier. The director tells them where to find the official: He's conducting halftime at Ghazi Stadium the very next day.
Chapter Twenty-One
Amir and Farid drive past a dead body dangling from a rope that no one else seems to notice. As they enter Amir's old neighborhood and turn the corner, he recognizes Baba's house right away.
Climbing the hill behind the property, he remembers how he and Hassan would run to the top without breaking a sweat. The old pomegranate tree is still there. He squats and wipes away the dirt to expose the words they carved into the bark. "Amir and Hassan. The Sultans of Kabul." Farid signals that it's time to go.
Thousands of spectators fill the stadium and Taliban forces patrol the aisles. At halftime, two red trucks drive onto the field and a blindfolded man and woman are unloaded and dropped into two holes — only their heads and shoulders exposed. A tall, sinister figure steps out of a truck, walks over to a mound, and begins stoning the couple to death. Amir covers his face until the second half of the soccer match is underway. Farid passes a message to a whip-carrying Talib; it states that Amir has personal business with the tall official on the field. The message is relayed and with whispers and nods, a meeting is set for later that day.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Amir waits in a room for the man from the stadium and imagines his wife, Soraya, dressed in widow's black. The executioner shows up and sits down across from Amir. His shirt is stained with the murdered couple's blood and there are heroin tracks on his arms. Menacing and arrogant, he summons Sohrab, who's dressed in woman's clothing — a vulgar display of sexual abuse. Although the boy's head is lowered, the resemblance to Hassan is uncanny. Then the Talib asks, "What ever happened to old Babalu?" and a chill runs down Amir's spine. Assef!
Amir implores his old nemesis to turn the boy over to him and they'll go. Of course, the perverse Assef delights in toying with people. Amir is free to take Sohrab, he suggests, as long as he earns him first. The plan is simple: They'll fight to the death. But Amir knows it's a contest he has no chance of winning. As soon as the door closes, the fight begins. At some point a strange feeling of peace and healing washes over Amir and causes him to laugh, which only enrages Assef more. He's now beating him to within an inch of his life. Then both men hear a thin voice pleading and look up. Standing there is Sohrab, his hands holding a slingshot, cocked and pointed at Assef's face. The foolish man doesn't heed the boy's warning and a shot goes off, implanting a brass ball deep into the Talib's eye socket, just like Hassan had threatened to do many years ago. Amir and the boy take off running.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The list of Amir's injuries is long. He can't speak or eat solid food due to his wired jaw and upper lip, which was split right down the middle like a harelip.
Rahim Khan has disappeared leaving only a note and a small key to a safe deposit box. In the note he explains he's known about the betrayal since shortly after it happened, begging Amir to forgive himself; he was only a boy. He apologizes for the secrets they kept from the brothers, but he said it was out of love. As a final request, he asks to spend his last days in quiet solitude. It's signed, "Your friend always, Rahim."
Farid believes the city is no longer safe for Amir. As soon as he's able to walk they arrange to relocate to Islamabad. An American couple lined up to adopt Sohrab can't be located, so their only option is to bring him along.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Farid drives to the capital and drops them at a hotel. The men say their goodbyes knowing they will probably never see each another again.
Exhausted from the trip, Sohrab falls asleep on the bed and Amir takes a couple of pain pills and drifts off. Upon waking, Amir realizes that Sohrab is missing. At the end of a frantic search he finds him sitting on the grass looking up at the Shah Faisal Mosque. Amir sits down beside him.
The distress over the loss of his parents' are etched on Sohrab's worried face. Questions are posed about God, punishment, and hell. Amir struggles to explain evil and tries to comfort him with assurances that Hassan would have been filled with pride to see his son stand up to Assef. Feeling a growing affection between them, Amir asks him to come live in San Francisco, but Sohrab says nothing. Later, Amir tells him they are uncle and nephew and promises he'll never send him back to the orphanage, so Sohrab agrees to come to America.
Officials at the American embassy suggest Amir give up on adopting Sohrab. Even if he got approval to take an Afghan boy out of the country, it could take years. A referral to an attorney and an unconvincing "good luck" is all they come away with.
The attorney isn't any more optimistic. Their only chance, he opines, is for Amir to place the boy back in the orphanage and wait for the proper documents. Not wanting to break his promise to Sohrab, but with no other option available, he lays out the lawyer's recommendations. The boy is inconsolable and can only be calmed by reiteration of Amir's promise not to abandon him. Conflicted and stressed, Amir closes his eyes just for a second and wakes up to a ringing phone three hours later. It's Soraya bearing good news: A friend at the INS has secured a visa for Sohrab. They can leave immediately.
Talking through the bathroom door, Amir chirps the happy turn of events then pushes the door open and steps into the bathroom. Amir can't stop screaming, even after the ambulance arrives.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sohrab is weak from the loss of blood, but survives the suicide attempt. In a low and flat voice he's tells Amir he's tired and if he can't give him back his old life, he'd rather be dead. It will be another year before Amir hears the sound of Sohrab's voice again.
They arrive in San Francisco in August of 2001. Soraya makes up a cozy room for Sohrab, with bedding decorated with kites, and with books and things to play with, but the boy shows no interest.
At dinner the next evening, General Taheri and his wife come over for dinner. When the general questions Amir about what he should say to members of the community who ask about his bringing a "Hazara boy" into his home, without hesitation, Amir stands up to his father-in-law and blurts out the story of Baba and Sanaubar and Hassan. Amir demands that Sohrab only be referred to by his given name.
In the months that follow, they try desperately to reach him, but no one can break through his wall of silence.
One rainy day in March of 2002, there is a breakthrough.
At a gathering of Afghans at the local park, Sohrab is withdrawn as usual. At three o'clock, the rain suddenly stops and a half-dozen kites appear in the sky. Amir buys a yellow kite and a spool of string and takes them over to Sohrab. Did he ever tell him that his father was the greatest kite runner anyone had ever seen? Sohrab declines Amir's offer to fly the kite, so Amir launches the kite into the air just like when he was young.
He glances down to find Sohrab standing right next to him. He holds out the string and Sohrab takes it. With necks bent they stand there until a green kite dives in and challenges them. With Sohrab holding onto the string and Amir giving instructions, the yellow kite is the last in the air! Everyone is cheering just like that day back in 1975.
Then it happens: A tiny curl forms at the corner of Sohrab's mouth. It was there for only a second, but it was there. Amir faces his nephew and asks permission to run the kite for him. Sohrab nods and Amir, taking the kite in his hands and looking over his shoulder shouts, "For you, a thousand times over."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Summary and Analysis of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Copyright © 2016 Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA.
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