The Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini is a deeply moving tale about two young boys named Amir and Hassan who are good friends, but differs in both ethnic race and social status. The story is set in the 70′s in a district in Kabul where they experience many events such as the fall of the Afghan monarchy, experiencing hardships as they immigrate to Pakistan to the United States and the rise of the Taliban army.
The story mostly revolves around Amir who’s a Pashtun boy who dreams to become a writer someday and he’s the main protagonist and the narrator of the novel as well. Hassan on the other hand, is born as one of the Hazaran people and is the son Amir’s family servant. However, their difference in their social status doesn’t affect their friendship for in fact, Amir’s father highly approves of it. In the beginning of the story, Amir and Hassan is just like any other boy in their area who loves to play around and spend their days around kite-fighting which is pretty popular among the children. Hassan has an uncanny ability to know the precise location of where a defeated kite will land which he tends to retrieve for Amir hence the title “Kite runner.” As the story progresses, their friendship and bond grows stronger, but eventually falters as Amir’s father tends to be critical with him as he sees him as weak and a coward which greatly differs from Hassan who’s more lively and courageous and lively.
Their friendship takes a sudden turn for the worst after the incident after the annual kite-fighting tournament where Hassan was supposed to retrieve the last downed kite for Amir, but is confronted by the local notorious bully, Assef. Being outnumbered and overpowered by Assef and his cohorts, Hassan didn’t stand a chance and was severely beaten and violated. Little did he know, Amir has witnessed the whole scene, but refused to intervene since not being able to retrieve the kite would mean that his father would be less proud of him which is why he kept quiet until Hassan’s return.
This event would later haunt Amir later in his life who has settled down in the United States two decades after the incident which makes this a story of redemption for the way he treated Hassan in the past. Amir would later go on back to his homeland which has been run down with terrorist, but would be more than willing to do so in order to fulfill that goal. This journey might not just be what Amir had expected because it may unravel more things that could make his return to Pakistan to become even more tragic.
This novel has themes of friendship, father-son relationships, betrayal, guilt and redemption which has been blended beautifully in order to create a deeply moving story that could touch the hearts of any person regardless of their race, religion or gender. Khaled Hosseini’s Kite Runner is definitely worth the read and if being the number one in the New York Times’ bestsellers list for over two years or having a motion picture doesn’t convince you otherwise, then I don’t know what is.
Author Bio: Sherry Franklin has a deep passion for writing and she’s been writing articles for various websites and blogs. She’s also writer for a well-known online paper writing company and you can ask her to get a couple of essays written for you if you need help.
The article is contributed by Jasmine Bowen. Jasmine’s professional debut was at age 9, selected out of 70 children to perform beside Lenny Graf in his “Rainbow” Tour. Jasmine broke into the film industry at 16, in the action movie Jamie and Eddie: Souls of Strife . The film recently won awards nationally and across the border.At 17, Jasmine moved to Toronto. She starred in Brett Kelly’s “Iron Solider”, along side Joe Estevez. She has appeared beside Donald Trump, as well as with the Black Eyed Peas, U2 and the Cliks. In theater, her passion, she has performed at Canada’s Wonderland , Nuit Blanche , the CNE, Passe Muraille, Buddies, and worked with Canadian Stage as part of their 2012 Gym Artist Group in “The Loyalists.” She hosted “The Elephant in The Room” on REMICTV for a year, and the “Cache Metals Market Overview ” on Am640 radio for 6 months. Her new show “Spots”, launches in Oct 2013.
Jasmine has recently taken her writing to the next level, publishing plays, novels, novellas and short stories under her own name, and ghost written for clients. She believes that her training as an actor helps to create more realistic character and dialogue. Her own novella series “Children of Drumania” has 2 titles out, and is due to release a third in early 2014. Acting or writing, Jasmine loves creating character and living in make believe lands. http://www.amazon.com/Jasmine-
