The Kite Runner

1. The Kite Runner Chapters 1,2,3 & 4 Thomas James Morgan & Lewis Patric Barclay

2. Chapter 1 analysis • Chapter 1 is set in San Francisco, however a lot of the text is description of Amir’s childhood and haunted past, when he grew up in Afghanistan. This shows the comparison between the two locations, and shows how well Amir has done and that Baba’s decision to move to USA was the right one for the sake of Amir and his own qualities of life. The effect of these two places always makes you compare and remember Amir’s past, which haunts him because of his regrets about Hassan and the wrong decisions he made. • We know that Amir is Hassan’s social superior as straight away when Amir first describes their living conditions, as him and Baba live in Baba’s mansion, whereas Hassan and his father , Ali, live in a smaller and more basic house In the same compound that Ali owns. • The whole novel is based around their childhood friendship, and the fact that they are so distant since Hassan and Ali moved away just before the invasion, and then Amir and Baba immigrated to the USA.

3. Key extracts • “They danced high above the trees on the west end of the park, over the windmills, floating side by side like a pair of eyes looking down on San Francisco, the city I now call home”. • This shows that Amir still has distant regrets and unfinished business in Afghanistan, as his happy memories from his childhood come flooding back to him when he sees kites at the park, but he is now living in his new home in USA. This helps Hosseini to show and highlight the dark and joyful parts of Amir's past. • “I thought of the life I had lived until the winter of 1975 came along and changed everything”. • This makes the reader intrigued into what happened in the winter of 1975, and so causes them to read on. This is also one of the main scenes and this leads Amir’s guilt to what happened in his childhood with Hassan.

4. Chapter 2 analysis • Hosseini’s description of Afghanistan always highlights the positives of the setting, this shows that Amir did love his home and therefore may not have chosen to move to USA had things stayed the way they were in Afghanistan. • Hosseini uses very detailed and clear description when describing the nature and setting of Afghanistan, the homeland of Amir and Hassan’s childhood and friendship. He also makes the setting seem innocent and pure, even though all is not well. • We know this straight away when Amir first describes their living conditions, as him and Baba live in Baba’s mansion, whereas Hassan and his father , Ali, live in a smaller and more basic house In the same compound that Ali owns. • They live together and are the best of friends, however they have very different personalities, in that Hassan would do anything for Amir and would stand up for himself and Amir, whereas Amir would not do the same for Hassan.

5. Key extracts • Hosseini’s description of Afghanistan always highlights the positives of the setting, for example “A large sliding glass door opened into a semi-circular terrace that overlooked two acres of backyard and rows of cherry trees”. • Here he is describing Amir and Hassan’s home through the character of Amir and what he sees. • “On the south end of the garden, in the shadows of a loquat tree, was the servants home, a modest little mud hut where Hassan lived with his father.” • This shows that Amir is Hassan’s social superior as he describes Hassan and Ali’s home as a modest little hut whilst he is standing in his and Baba’s mansion looking out into the courtyard.

6. Chapter 3 Analysis • • Just after the orphanage was completed and Baba delivered his speech, Amir stated that he wished all the orphans were dead. I believe this is because he lost a lot of quality time with his father and Baba also spent a lot of time and attention on Hassan • • Links to the next point where Hassan is able to skip a rock more times than Amir, 8 to be precise and in Baba’s eyes this is seen more manly so he therefore congratulates him. Amir is upset by this but as a reader we will later on find out that they are brothers so Hassan is worthy of this attention-Amir disagrees.

7. Key extracts • ‘No one ever doubted the veracity of Baba’ This represents his position as a respected father and may also link to there being a patriarchal society in Kabul at this time. • Rahim Khan was the first to refer to Baba as ‘Mr Hurricane’ due to him being ‘a force of nature’ or a ‘towering Pashtun specimen’. This may be due to the face the Rahim Khan has a lot of respect for Baba and looked up to him for guidance and assurance. This was not a private nickname either as when at parties Rahim Khan said ‘when all six-foot five of him thundered into the room, attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun’ • He states the numerous sins in the Muslim faith and Baba then states that ‘every sin is a variation of theft’

8. Chapter 4 analysis • • ‘The servant and the master’ plays a major role in the reader’s perspective of Chapter 4. It is represented in many physical ways as it is evident due to their clothing and the way they speak-not helping Hassan due to his previously cleffed lip. These are obvious to others including Assef and his friends as they always refer to Hassan as a ‘flat-nose hazara’. • As Stated by Baba, ‘in none of his stories did he ever refer to Ali as his friend’. This is similar to Hassan and Amir-not in the usual sense, anyhow. From Amir’s experience’s with Hassan, it was not easy ‘because history isn’t easy to overcome’.

9. Analysis continued • When they are away from the public eye and not surrounded by social constructs, Amir acts as a friend towards Hassan, and at some moments in time, seems jealous of him. • For example, when it is Hassan’s birthday, Baba picks them up in his new mustang and lets Hassan sit in the front-as an adult you would in some cases see this as pity or sympathy towards Hassan, but as a twelve year old boy, Amir doesn’t see it this way and you can tell by his paralinguistic features that his is not pleased to be sitting in the back and his ‘servant’ sitting in the front seat-at this moment in time

10. Key Extracts • The tale of Rostram and Sohrab is very revealing as ‘Rostram mortally wounds his valiant nemesis, Sohrab in battle, only to discover that Sohrab is his long-lost son.’ This links precisely to Amir and Hassan as they are brothers but do not know this. --------Linking concisely to dramatic irony by Hosseini-------- • 5) When telling the tale about the man who cried into a cup and created pearls, Hassan spots a very in-depth mistake. Within the tale, the man is sitting on a mountain of pearls with his dead wife in his arms and Hassan states simply; ‘why did he kill his wife-he could of just smelt an onion or something’

11. Creative response • CREATIVE RESPONSE: Write a poem from Amir’s perspective with a semantic field of neglect, linking to how he might of felt when Baba was too busy to spend time with him whilst involved with the building of the orphanage. (10) • DIARY ENTRY: Write a Diary entry from Baba’s P.O.V from when he is stressed about the orphanage opening-Night before. (10) In this response, you should…

12. Creative response: Tips POEM: • Use at least 3 verbs, 3 nouns and 3 adjectives within your poem • Try and link together Amir’s feelings and his surroundings in Kabul; Everything is portrayed by Hosseini to be fine but we know all is not well. The use of Assonance is evident. Identify in your poem how-give examples within. • Try and vary the tones of your response-different aspects of Amir’s personality need to be represented! DIARY: • Talk about his realisation of not spending time with Amir-the effects of this could be… • You could include how having Baba’s wife/ Amir’s mother there may help the two connect Explain how having here present in the opening scenes may defuse the confrontation prematurely. Therefore allowing them to get along.