Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to gain the approval of his father and resolves to win the local kite-fighting tournament, to prove that he has the makings of a man. His loyal friend Hassan promises to help him – for he always helps Amir – but this is 1970s Afghanistan and Hassan is merely a low-caste servant who is jeered at in the street, although Amir feels jealous of his natural courage and the place he holds in his father’s heart. But neither of the boys could foresee what would happen to Hassan on the afternoon of the tournament, which was to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return, to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.
The Kite Runner is Hosseini’s first novel and it is widely acclaimed as a sensation. Like his subsequent novels, it is set in a peaceful Afghanistan before it is disrupted by the violence and war which forms a major part of the story. The book is semi-autobiographical – Hosseini himself left Afghanistan in the 1970s and settled in the USA.
One main theme in the book is the interplay between courage and cowardice. Hassan is treated affectionately by Amir’s father but Amir envies this as he is desperate to please his father. He ultimately does so at Hassan’s expense, and Hassan is changed by this. Although the boys were previously close, Hassan disappears from Amir’s life, leaving Amir to battle with the guilt he feels about his treatment of Hassan, in the knowledge that Hassan would never have treated him in the same way.
Hassan’s courage arises from his victimhood. Firstly, his caste and role as a servant means that he is at a disadvantage to Amir on a social level. Secondly, his fate on the afternoon of the kite-running tournament is so vicious that it is impossible to view him as anything other than a victim. I would not question that Hassan is courageous – he displays that quality throughout the book – but I wonder to what extent he is viewed as courageous simply because he has no option other than to carry on. The Hassans of the world are constantly praised for being courageous, rather than being offered help or compassion, and may therefore feel that they cannot say that they are struggling. Praise for not giving up does not heal the wound and may instead serve to bury it because the victim does not want to say that they are not as ‘courageous’ as other people perceive. That is part of the tragedy of this tale.
The Kite Runner expertly contrasts the beauty of 1970s Afghanistan and the childish optimism of the young Amir and Hassan against the devastating destruction by the Russians and later the Taliban and the debilitating guilt experienced by Amir. As with Hosseini’s other novels, The Kite Runner makes an impact and will stay with you long after you have finished it.
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