Manchester 1

Lily Manchester

Ms. Beach

Honors English 10

26 October 2011

The Kite Runnerby Khaled Hosseini

SOAPSTone

Speaker

  • Amir
  • First Person, “I”
  • Pashtun, Sunni Muslim
  • Khaled Hosseini, the author, portrays himself in many aspects through the character Amir.
  • Amir is a privileged Afghan boy born in 1963. Hosseini was born in 1965 also in Afghanistan.
  • Most of Amir’s childhood is consumed in the Wazir Akbar Khan district of the northern part of Kabul, similarly to Hosseini, whose boyhood was spent in Kabul.
  • Amir’s father, Baba is a wealthy and successful businessman. Hosseini’s father worked for the Afghan Foreign Consul.
  • Amir’s mother, Sofia Akrami, to whom he never knew, taught classic Farsi literature at the university like Hosseini’s mother who taught Farsi and history at an all girl high school in Kabul. Similarly, Soraya’s mother also taught Farsi and history at Zarghoona High School for girls in Kabul.
  • Amir and Hassan’s friendship symbolizes that of Hosseini and Hossein’s.
  • Amir possesses a strong friendship with his servant’s son, Hassan. The two play, laugh, and create many memories together throughout the early years of their lives. Khaled Hosseini’s relationship with Hossein Khan is exemplified through Amir and Hassan’s ironic friendship.
  • Hassan is a servant for Amir and his family for he often participates in the daily chores for the Sahib’s. Hossein Khan did this too. He was a cook for Hosseini’s family and originated from the rugged mountains of central Afghanistan.
  • Amir and Hassan’s daily agenda is often filled with hobbies of all sorts, however one in particular is reading. Amir frequently reads poems, riddles, and stories to Hassan, as did Hosseini to Hossein. Hosseini even taught Hossein to read and write.
  • Amir and Baba depart for the United States in March of 1981 after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Being a diplomat at the Afghan Embassy Hosseini moved throughout the 1970’s. However, when the 1980’s arrived along with the Russians in Afghanistan, Hosseini’s family also fled to the United States of America.
  • Amir ends up in Freemont California, while Hosseini in San Jose.
  • Amir and Baba receive a new life in America and are forced to start over facing many obstacles concerning money, sickness, and food. Amir’s father over works himself as an assistant manager at a gas station, in order to overcome these obstacles. Khaled Hosseini faced similar hindrances. Because they had lost their property in Afghanistan and had to begin a new life in America, his father juggled many jobs in order to eventually get their family back on their feet.
  • In 1983, Amir graduates from high school, a year prior to Hosseini’s in 1984. Following high school, Amir attends Ohlone Junior College in Fremont. He then attends San Jose State to pursue his passion for writing as an English major. Hosseini attended Santa Clara University followed by medical school at the UC San Diego School of Medicine where he received his medical degree.
  • Amir finishes his first novel in 1988, achieving his dream of becoming a writer. His story is about a father-son relationship set in Kabul. Hosseini publishes his first book, The Kite Runner in 2003.
  • With many Afghans in need after the extensive period of political oppression, upon request, Amir decides to project manage a hospital in Rawalpindi to treat Afghan refugees. Similarly, The Khaled Hosseini Foundation was established by Hosseini himself. Itwas a result of a life-altering journey he made in 2007 and 2009 to Afghanistan. The foundation also collaborated with the UNHCR to fund projects benefiting Afghan refugees, as well as the women and children who had majorly suffered.
  • Amir lives in San Francisco with his wife Soraya and his nephew, Sohrab. Khaled Hosseini lives in Northern California with his wife and two children.

Larger Occasion

  • The Declaration of Independence of Afghanistan declared the nation independent in 1919.
  • From 1919 through 1929 King Amanullah introduced reforms with the purpose to modernize Afghanistan. Revolts occured in response by Conservative religious groups.
  • After, Amanullah abdicated, Nadir Shah became king on October 17, 1929.
  • September 6, 1953, King Zahir Shah (Nadir Shah’s son) succeededthe throne.
  • Former Prime Minister Daoud deposed King Zahir Shar and proclaimed Afghanistan a republic. In July of 1973, Daoud became president.
  • The Peoples Democratic Party (a party founded on Marxism) of Afghanistan executed Daoud in 1978. Thus, a coup de’etat installed the second republic, a Communist regime, led by President Noor Mohammed.
  • On December 21, 1979, partly in support of the Marxists, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.
  • The United States and other countries began sending arms in 1980 to Afghan resistance groups fighting the Soviets.
  • In 1981, an alliance known as mujahedin formed by five Afghan resistance groups. Followed by fighting between the mujahedin and the Soviets stationed in Afghanistan.
  • Beginning in May of 1988, the United States, the U.S.S.R., Pakistan, and the government in Kabul signed an agreement that began withdrawing Soviet forces from Afghanistan.
  • The mujahedin then fought the Afghan government led by PDPA member, Najibullah, in 1989 through 1992.
  • Najibullah however resigned in 1992 and the mujahedin elected Rabbani as president.
  • Suppressed ethnic rivalries resurfaced after the Communists departed, therefore civil war broke out in 1992 continuing through 1996.
  • General Massoud took control of the northern provinces in March of 1992.
  • In 1994, the Taliban, largely made up of Pashtuns, began to gather followers throughout Southern Afghanistan.
  • On September 27, 1996, the Taliban took Kabul and that same year they took Jalalabad.
  • A Northern Alliance led by Ahmad Massoud and made up of non-Pashtun ethnic groups of Afghanistan united in order to fight the Taliban in 1997.
  • In July of 1998, the Taliban attacked Mazar-i-Sharif, killing around six thousand Hazaras.
  • On September 9, 2001, Ahmed Shah Massoud’s assassination took place and the confirmation of the occurrence arrived on September 13.
  • Supported by the Taliban, Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda attacked the United States on September 11, 2001.
  • The United States asked in response for the Taliban to hand over Osama bin Laden. However, when they refuse, the United States began to bomb Afghanistan on October 7, 2001.
  • On November 9, 2001 after a month long of bombing, the Northern Alliance regained control of the Mazar-i-Sharif.
  • The Taliban abandoned Kabul overnight on November 13, 2001, and the forces of the Northern Alliance entered the capital.
  • December 22, 2001, Hamid Karzai swore in as the leader of an interim government. He became the first person to take power in Afghanistan peacefully in thirty years.

Immediate Occasion

  • Sofia, Amir’s mother, died giving birth to Amir in 1963.
  • Hassan was born in 1964. The same year his mother, Sanaubar left.
  • Amir was raised by his father in Wazir Akbar Khan district in the northern part of Kabul. He spent much of his days playing with Hassan.
  • In 1974, Hassan celebrated his birthday and Baba gave him the gift of a surgery to remove his harelip.
  • July 17, 1973, Amir, Hassan, and Ali were awoken in the nighttime to the sounds of bombs. When they awoke the morning after the scare, they found the monarchy was a thing of the past and a republic had formed. However, the republic speaking of women’s rights and modern technology, barely affected Kabul.
  • Assef attacked Amir and Hassan, but Hassan threatened to shoot him with his slingshot and Assef stressed it had been a big mistake.
  • In the winter of 1975, Amir and Hassan won a kite-fighting tournament containing several other districts, it had been the biggest competition in 25 years.
  • The same night of the kite tournament, Hassan was raped by Assef and Amir does not interfere.
  • Amir celebrated his thirteenth birthday in 1976. He then hidAfghani bills and his new watch under Hassan’s mattress.
  • Hassan claimed to have stolen the things and although Baba forgave him, Ali and Hassan chose to leave and go to Hazarajat where their cousin lived.
  • In March 1981, Baba and Amir fled to Pakistan due to the Soviets occupying Kabul. They believed it would be safer in Pakistan. In order to escape, they had to cross the Khyber Pass into Peshawar.
  • Baba and Amir spent six months in Peshawar waiting for the INS to issue their visas. They then escaped to Fremont California where their safety was more promising.
  • They moved into an apartment, bought a car, and Baba began work at a gas station.
  • In 1983, Amir graduated from high school at the age of twenty, Baba bought him a Grand Torino as a graduation gift.
  • Amir enrolled in junior classes to major in English.
  • In 1986, Amir married Soraya.
  • Soon after the marriage, Baba died of cancer.
  • Amir attended San Jose and declared his English major and in 1989 he published his first book and went on a five-city book tour.
  • Amir and Soraya tried to have a child but Soraya was diagnosed with unexplained infertility.
  • Amir and Soraya bought a Victorian house in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights.
  • In June 2001, Amir received a call from Rahim Khan. Rahim told him he was sick and Amir left for Pakistan a week later.
  • Upon his arrival, Amir discovered Hassan and Farzana’s death at the hands of the Talibs. He also learned from Rahim that Baba had been Hassan’s father, not Ali. Thus, he returned to Kabul in search of Sohrab, his nephew.
  • In Kabul, Amir was confronted once again with Assef, however this time he is forced to fight. He was fighting to earn Sohrab and to recompensate for his previous sin against Sohrab’s father.
  • Sohrab shot Assef in the eye with a slingshot and the two escaped. Amir however faced serious injuries to which he was hospitalized.
  • Upon his departure of the hospital, Amir headed to Islamabad. There he battled the American Embassy in attempt to adopt Sohrab.
  • Soraya and Amir got Sohrab a humanitarian visa and despite Sohrab’s attempted suicide, the two returned back to America.
  • On September 11, 2001, The Twin Towers collapsed due to an attack by Al Queda. America in response bombed Afghanistan causing the Talibs to hide. Americans including Amir and his family discovered a new outburst of patriotism in their country.
  • In March 2002, celebrating the Afghan New Year,Amir flew a kite again. This time however, he did not watch Hassan run it, he ran it himself and Sohrab watched.

Audience

  • Khaled Hosseini writes to those battling inner guilt having to do with their past

Khaled Hosseini writes to ignorant Americans

  • Khaled Hosseini writes to individuals who have faced political oppression
  • Khaled Hossein writes to those who quickly condemn those who have committed wrongs against others

Purpose

  • Khaled Hosseini writes to those battling inner guilt having to do with their past to encourage them to seek redemption in order to overcome their nagging pain.
  • Khaled Hosseini writes to those battling inner guilt having to do with their past to display the significant amount of others who fight a similar battle.

Khaled Hosseini writes to ignorant Americans to provide them with a better understanding of the cruelty and danger faced by individuals worldwide, especially the Afghanis under the Taliban.

Khaled Hosseini writes to ignorant Americans in hopes to not only help them realize the oppression, but to do something about it.

  • Khaled Hosseini writes to individuals who have faced political oppression to empathize with those who have gone through conflicts similar to his own.
  • Khaled Hosseini writes to individuals who have faced political oppression to provide them with his own perspective, helping them come to terms with their own oppression like he does.
  • Khaled Hossein writes to those who quickly condemn those who have committed wrongs against others to discourage them from doing so and encourage them to empathize.
  • Khaled Hossein writes to those who quickly condemn those who have committed wrongs against others to promote them to step back and look at the greater situation.

Subject

“Winter of 1975” (1)

“kites” (1)

 “Kite runner” (2)

“Hassan” (2)

“Kabul” (4)

“Pashtun” (9)

“Hazara” (9)

“Brotherhood” (11)

“Amir” (11)

“Afghanistan” (17)

“Pomegranate tree” (27)

“Mashallah” (32)

“writer” (33)

“Russian” (36)

“slingshot” (42)

“scar” (46)

“lie” (54)

“monster” (60)

“memory” (73)

“look of the lamb” (76)

“America” (136)

“Published novelist” (183)

“Taliban” (198)

“Northern Alliance” (199)

“Sohrab” (211)

“Mazir-i-Sharif” (213)

“polaroid photograph” (215)

 “orphanage” (251)

“nephew” (255)

“Ghazi Stadium” (257)

“prayer” (269)

“Assef” (281)

“Suicide” (332)

“hospital” (350)

“promise” (355)

“Twin Towers” (362)

“San Francisco” (362)

“smile” (370)

Tone

Resentful

  • “Baba took me to Gharga Lake, a few miles north of Kabul. He asked me to fetch Hassan too, but I lied and told him Hassan had the runs. I wanted Baba all to myself” (13).
  • “I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget Baba’s sympathy. It wasn’t fair. Hassan hadn’t done anything to earn Baba’s affections; he’d just been born with that stupid harelip” (46).
  • “If I changed my mind and asked for a bigger and fancier kite, Baba would buy it for me—but then he’d buy it for Hassan too. Sometimes I wished he wouldn’t do that. Wished he’d let me be the favorite” (51).
  • “’I haven’t seen much of Hassan the last few days… That’s all it is, then, a cold?’” Questions Baba. “I [Amir] couldn’t help hating the way his brow furrowed with worry” (82).

Remorseful

  • “I wished he’d give me the punishment I craved, so maybe I’d finally sleep at night” (92).
  • “My cheeks burned and guilt coursed through me, the guilt of indulging myself at the expense of his ulcer, his black fingernails, and his aching wrists” (135).

Serenity

  • “’I don’t want to forget anymore’” (263).
  • “What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace” (289).
  • “As I spoke, I felt something lifting off my chest” (325).

Literary Devices

Simile

1)“I finally had what I’d wanted all those years. Except now that I had it, I felt as empty as this unkempt pool I was dangling my legs into it” (85).

  • Amir strives to achieve Baba’s acceptance and love all his life, even sacrificing Hassan’s well-being to achieve this. However, he realizes what he thought would bring him satisfaction will not, and on top of that, he loses his best friend. Therefore, he feels an even greater emptiness similar to the empty pool he sits over.

2)“I felt like a man who awakens in his own house and finds the furniture rearranged, so that every familiar nook and cranny looks foreign now” (224).

  • Upon Amir’s arrival to Peshawar, twenty years later, he understands the extremities to which Pakistan has changed under the Taliban’s control. Thus, he compares Peshawar to a completely foreign house, portraying the drastic difference.

Metaphor

1)“There was a monster in the lake. It had grabbed Hassan by the ankles, dragged him to the murky bottom. I was that monster” (86).

  • Amir looks at himself as a monster after not defending Hassan against Assef in the winter of 1975, portraying the guilt he feels for his actions.

2)America was a river… roaring along unmindful of the past. I could wade into this river, let my sins drown to the bottom” (136).

  • Amir embraces America because it becomes an escape for him, a place where he can forget the past and move on from his previous sins.

Personification

1)“The signs had been there to see all along; they came flying back at me now” (224).

  • After Rahim Khan tells Amir that Hassan was Baba’s son, Amir feels a sense of stupidity for not realizing this a long time ago. He begins to realize the glaring details such as, Baba hiring a doctor to fix Hassan’s harelip, Baba never missing Hassan’s birthday, and Baba barking at Amir when he had asked if Baba had ever considered getting new servants.

2)“My heart was doing pirouettes in my chest” (162).

  • Baba calls General Taheri to set up a time to meet in order to ask for the Generals permission for Amir to marry Soraya. Amir’s heart pounds very hard, revealing his nerves regardingthe question as well asthe passion he experiences towards Soraya.

Indirect Characterization

1)“I read him poems and stories, sometimes riddles—though I stopped reading those when I saw he [Hassan] was far better at solving them than I was” (28).

  • Amir’s jealousy and selfishness towards Hassan, causes Amir to stop reading to him, portraying him as ego-centric.

2)“’All that a man had back then, all that he was, was his honor, his name, and if people talked… We couldn’t tell anyone, surely you can see that’” (223).

  • Baba cares about his pride and his image, thus he puts his well-being before others, exposing his character as selfish.

Symbolism

1)“I have imagined Baba’s wrestling match countless times, even dreamed about it. And in those dreams, I can never tell Baba from the bear” (12).

  • Through Amir’s eyes, the bear symbolizes Baba, thus characterizing him as vicious and persistent.

2)“Behind him, sitting on piles of scraps and rubble, was the blue kite. My key to Baba’s heart” (71).

  • The blue kite symbolizes Amir’s key to Baba’s heart for Amir believes with the kite Baba will finally be proud of him and love him.