Hassan and Amir

The Kite Runner
Section B: 1. Summary
The first section of the book was mainly about the call Amir received last summer from a friend in Pakistan named Rahim Khan. Rahim Khan asked Amir to come to Pakistan to see him.
Next in the second section, while looking through history books, Amir discovered information on the Hazara. They had a war during the nineteenth century, but it was brutally suppressed by the Pashtuns. The book mentions some of the derogatory names they are called, including mice-eating and flat-nosed, and says part of the reason for the enemy is because the Hazara are Shia Muslim while the Pashtuns are Sunni Muslim.
Furthermore, Baba tells him that there is only one sin: theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Murdering a man, for instance, is stealing his life. He calls Mullah Fatiullah Khan and men like him idiots.
Finally, the story jumps back in time to 1993, two young men who are driving while drunk and high hit and kill Ali’s parents. Amir’s grandfather takes the young Ali in, and Ali and Baba grow up together. Baba, however, never calls Ali his friend. Similarly, because of their ethnic and religious differences, Amir says as a child he never thought of Hassan as a friend. Amir often read to Hassan, who was illiterate under their favourite tree.

2. Questions * How would you describe the relationship between the two boys? What makes them so different in the way they behave with each other? * What is it that makes Amir inflict small cruelties on Hassan? * Why didn’t Hassan go to school like Amir instead of cleaning the house and getting groceries every morning? * What is Amir and Hassan’s favourite tree named? * How would you describe Baba as a man with power in Kabul?

3. Important Passage
“That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.” (Pg.1)

This passage said by Amir, story opener that talks about the time he betrayed his best friend Hassan in an alley in Kabul. The reason I chose this passage because i believe everyone has their own past no matter if it’s good or bad. It is like something attach with our life. Some people think the past is the past; just let it fade out and don’t mention about it or even they try to forget it. However somehow the past claws its way out and the harder you try to forget it, the more it will stick in your head in a long term. But there’s a solution is to fix the past; just simply find out that person who you feel guilty for and reward them by helping them to do something that they need help with or explain why you did it. Then everything will work out and you won’t feel guilty for what you did anymore.

4. Personal Response
The story starts off in the present and going back in times when Amir and Hassan were just kids and they were bestfriend. To be honest, the first time i read this novel; i thought it was just as boring as other novels that i’ve read. However, the novel just talked about these two interesting little boys throughout the novel until they grew up and got married. Plus i watched the Kite Runner Movie and i t also helped me to understand about this novel alots. Eventhough Amir sometimes act a bit less humanity towards Hassan but Hassan seems to be really nice and love Amir forever as a bestfriend. This really reminds me of my childhood when i used to be rude to my mates when we’re playing but at the end of the day we peace and bury what happened in the past.