The Kite Runner, spanning Afghan history from the final days of the monarchy to the present, tells the story of a friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Though raised in the same household and sharing the same wet nurse, Amir and Hassan grow up in different worlds: Amir is the son of a prominent and wealthy man, while Hassan , the son of Amir's father's servant, is a Hazara. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them. When the Soviets invade and Amir and his father flee the country for a new life in California, Amir thinks that he has escaped his past. And yet he cannot leave the memory of Hassan behind him.
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. His father was a diplomat in the Afghan Foreign Ministry and his mother taught Farsi and history at a high school in Kabul. In 1976, the Foreign Ministry relocated the Hosseini family to Paris. They were ready to return to Kabul in 1980, but by then their homeland had witnessed a bloody communist coup and the invasion of the Soviet Army. The Hosseinis sought and were granted political asylum in the United States, and in September 1980 moved to San Jose, California. Hosseini graduated from high school in 1984 and enrolled at Santa Clara University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology in 1988. The following year he entered the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, where he earned a medical degree in 1993. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai medical center in Los Angeles and was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004.
In March 2001, while practicing medicine, Hosseini began writing his first novel,The Kite Runner, which was published by Riverhead Books in 2003. That debut went on to launch one of the biggest literary careers of our time. Today, Khaled Hosseini is one of the most recognized and bestselling authors in the world. His books, The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, and And the Mountains Echoed, have been published in over seventy countries and sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. In 2006 Khaled was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Inspired by a trip he made to Afghanistan with the UNHCR, he later established The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, a nonprofit, which provides humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan. He lives in Northern California with his wife and two children.
Annotating a Text: Read Actively Reading actively helps you get to know the text better, how it makes its meaning and affects, understand its inner workings, and builds a relationship with that text. 1. Emotional sparks (immediate responses) 2. Figurative Language, Tone, Diction, Syntax, Imagery 3. Pattern and Repetitions (motifs) 4. Turns and Shifts (narration, dialogue) 5. Genre (textual features) 6. Allusions and Connections 7. Questions and Difficulties
BIG IDEAS AND ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS CHARACTER Characters in literature allow readers to study and explore a range of values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and cultural norms represented by those characters. SETTING Setting and the details associated with it not only depict a time and place, but also convey values associated with that setting. STRUCTURE The arrangement of the parts and sections of a text, the relationship of the parts to each other, and the sequence in which the text reveals information are all structural choices made by a writer that contribute to the reader’s interpretation of a text. NARRATION A narrator’s or speaker’s perspective controls the details and emphases that affect how readers experience and interpret a text. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE Comparisons, representations, and associations shift meaning from the literal to the figurative and invite readers to interpret a text. LITERARY ARGUMENTATION Readers establish and communicate their interpretations of literature through arguments supported by textual evidence.
Dear Friends, Many readers see my novel, The Kite Runner, as a book about Afghanistan, a story of its violent recent past, its tragedies and upheavals, culture and resilient people. They tell me that this book opened for them an intimate window into my troubled homeland, and that news stories about Afghanistan suddenly registered with them on a deep and personal level. They ask me if this was my intent in writing this book. And I tell them it was. But not that first day, in March of 2001, when I sat to write the opening words of this book. For me, writing has always been, first and foremost, about storytelling. The Kite Runner came about simply because I was bewitched by a story.
A story of guilt and redemption, brutality and kindness, sin and forgiveness, a story of the doomed friendship between two boys, one rich, one poor, one flawed, the other pure, with Afghanistan and her own tale of brutality and kindness as the backdrop. It was always, first and last, about story. And stage has always been a unique and powerful medium for storytelling, direct and intimate, organic and spontaneous. And so I thank American Place Theatre for selecting the story of Amir and Hassan, two boys who lived in my mind and are dear to my heart. I am grateful and thrilled. Thank you for honoring me with this performance tonight. Khaled Hosseini Letter written to The American Place Theatre - April 12, 2005
The objective of the kite fight is to slice the other flier's string with your own, sending the vanquished aircraft to the ground. Kite-fighting string is coated with a resin made of glue and finely crushed glass, which turns it into a blade. The big kite-fighting day is Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, when thousands of boys and men flock to their rooftops and to the summits of the craggy hills that ring the city, carrying stacks of kites fashioned from bamboo and brightly colored tissue paper, and miles of sharp string on wooden spools.
Afghansitan Profile: In pictures https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12281711
These thematic concepts can be discussed while reading the novel and at its conclusion: • Bullying • Role of books, literacy • Friendship, guilty & redemption • Fathers & sons • Coming of Age • Resilience of the human spirit • People's inhumanity to people • Discrimination, prejudice, bigotry, class structure • Master/slave relationships: loyalty & devotion vs. duty
Characters, Thoughts, Conversations, Actions, Effects, Looks, Symbols, Motifs, Structure, Setting, Conflict, Narration, Events, Choices
Thematic Concept (abstract): Forgiveness Theme (message): Learning to forgive is part of the maturing process. How theme can be revealed:
What to think about: 1. Connections: text to text, text to self, text to the world. Compare and contrast your book to others you’ve read, to situations or people in your own life, to events in history or the news. 2. Characters: Do you like the main characters or not? Why? Do you have any advice for them? Comment about the narration. Who’s telling the story? 3. Social questions: Looks for race, gender, or class inequalities and injustices. Who has the power in the story and how is it used? What do you think?
4. Setting: Is it realistic? Does it fit the story? 5. Dialogue: Is it realistic? Can you “hear” the characters talking? Could you change the dialogue? 6. Emotions: How were you emotionally involved in the story? 7. Literary devices: Does the author use flashbacks and foreshadowing effectively? 8. Themes: To what extent is this a morality tale? 9. Ending: Would you have liked the book to end differently? How?
The Kite Runner Chapters 1–9 Chapters 10–13 Chapters 14–24 Chapters 23–25 and Conclusion
Chapters 1 – 9 Discussion questions: What do you think of Amir’s statement that “Afghans cherish custom but abhor rules”? What do you think the difference is? Do you think that discrimination had anything to do with Amir’s decision not to help Hassan? Or do you think he was just frightened? Or do you think it was something else, entirely? Why do you think Amir wants Hassan to hit him? Do you think it would make him feel better or worse? Why do you think Amir’s father forgives Hassan? Do you think he is hypocritical, as Amir feels he is?
ANALYZING A SCENE "Assef knelt behind Hassan, put his hands on Hassan's hips and lifted his bare buttocks. He kept one hand on Hassan's back and undid his own belt with his free hand. He unzipped his jeans. Dropped his underwear, He positioned himself behind Hassan. Hassan didn't struggle. Didn't even whimper. Saw the resignation in it. It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb" (80-81). Do not make the mistake of moralizing. By moralizing, I mean getting caught up in whether a character should or should not have done something - the character is not real. It is a vessel which propels certain concerns, themes, or ideas, forward. QUESTION: What is being communicated through this scene?
Chapters 10 – 13 Discussion questions: What do you think Amir means when he says that his father loved the idea of living in America, but that actually living there was difficult for him? Why do you think this would be the case? Amir says that Afghans love custom, but abhor rules. Do you think North America is different, or the same? Why? What is the difference between “custom” and “rules”? Do you think the Afghans sell at the flea market because they are poor, for the sense of community, for both reasons, or for other reasons? Do you think that Amir’s father believes anything in America is better than the life that was destroyed in Afghanistan by the revolution and the wars?
Chapters 14 – 24 Discussion questions: Why do you think the Taliban banned kite fighting? Why do you think the Taliban massacred the Hazaras? Why do you think the Taliban destroyed the Buddahs of Bamiyan? Do you think that there were clues about the truth of Hassan and Amir’s father, as Amir thinks there were when he looks back? Why do you think the Taliban does not want people to cheer loudly at soccer games, but still allows the soccer games? Why do you think they are allowed to cheer for the Taliban?
Chapters 23 – 25 and Conclusion Discussion questions: Why do you think it is so difficult for Amir to adopt Sohrab? What kind of support do you think Sohrab needs? What allowed Amir and Soraya to get a visa for Sohrab? Is it a solution for other children? Why or why not?