Pride In The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini’s award-winning book The Kite Runner recalls the story of a boy named Amir and how he survived the horrors of Afghanistan. The story starts off in 1975 during a time of peace where Amir and his father, Baba, are one of the richest people in all of Kabul. Amir struggles with the fact that he is nothing like his father and thinks his father hates him because his mother died when giving birth to Amir. Amir’s only friend is Hassan who is a servant in their house. Amir will never admit to being friends with Hassan, despite always hanging out with him. Hassan would always stand up for Amir whenever he gets bullied. This includes the incident where Hassan pulled his slingshot on the neighborhood bully, Assef. Assef has a deep hatred

Hassan encounters Assef who then sexually abuses him as the ultimate form of disgrace. Amir sees this all happening but cannot muster up the courage to go and help Hassan. This encounter becomes a knot in Amir’s heart that he can’t untie, and it leads to Amir wanting to be separated from Hassan. Hassan and his father, Ali, end up wanting to leave because of the incident, and the scar from that incident haunts Amir all the way until later in his life when he is given a chance to redeem himself. Amir and Baba are forced to leave Kabul because of Russian communist control and go to America. After many struggles, Amir finds a wife but he suddenly gets a call from an old acquaintance in Kabul, Rahim Khan. He is the one who inspired Amir to be the writer that he became today. Rahim calls and says Hassan and his wife has been killed while his son Sohrab has been abducted by the Taliban. Afghan is now occupied by the Taliban during the time of the call. Amir sees this as a time to redeem himself and overcome his fears for his one true friend, Hassan. This leads Amir on a terrifying journey back into Kabul in order to retrieve Sohrab from the terrible situation he is

Before reading the Kite Runner, I had always thought that Afghanistan has been a war-ridden country. I never knew there were nice areas like Kabul and well-developed houses like the one Baba and Amir live in. Even now, I’m sure the beauty of the country is still there, but it has been corrupted by evil humans that are destroying the livelihood of others. I still find it incomprehensible when trying to understand how groups like the Taliban even start to form. I wasn’t aware of how badly they treat their own population. The Taliban would kill someone for even looking at them the wrong way. I have always perceived these middle eastern countries as hardly inhabitable places, but in Afghans case, it is the people that make it hard to live there not the country itself. I remember being surprised reading about how Baba had a Mustang. I wasn’t even aware they had cars in the first place. All these preconceptions have been formed from the media that dehumanizes countries like Afghanistan. Reading the Kite Runner has allowed me to see through this and realize that Afghan is not just a country full of terrorists. There are beautiful houses and compassionate people that both struggle to survive under Taliban