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The Kite Runner
Khaled hosseini.
- Study Guide
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The Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini that was first published in 2003 .
Read one-minute Sparklet summaries, the detailed chapter-by-chapter Summary & Analysis, the Full Book Summary, or the Full Book Analysis of The Kite Runner .
- Sparklet Chapter Summaries
Summary & Analysis
- Chapters 1–3
- Chapters 4 & 5
- Chapters 6 & 7
- Chapters 8 & 9
- Chapters 10 & 11
- Chapters 12 & 13
- Chapters 14 & 15
- Chapters 16 & 17
- Chapters 18 & 19
- Chapters 20 & 21
- Chapters 22 & 23
- Chapters 24 & 25
- Full Book Summary
- Full Book Analysis
See a complete list of the characters in The Kite Runner and in-depth analyses of Amir, Hassan, Baba, Ali, Sohrab, and Assef.
- Character List
Literary Devices
Here's where you'll find analysis of the literary devices in The Kite Runner , from the major themes to motifs, symbols, and more.
- Protagonist
- Point of View
- Foreshadowing
- Metaphors & Similes
Questions & Answers
Explore our selection of frequently asked questions about The Kite Runner and find the answers you need.
- What happened to Hassan in the alley?
- Why does Rahim Khan lie about the American couple?
- What is the significance of Ali’s first wife?
- What are Ali and Hassan's distinct physical characteristics?
- Why do Amir and Baba go to America?
- Why does Amir sometimes treat Hassan badly in childhood?
- Why doesn’t Amir help Hassan in the alley?
- Why does Amir want Hassan to hit him with pomegranates?
- Why does Amir want Hassan to leave Baba’s household?
- Why does Amir ask Baba if he has seen Amir’s new watch?
- Why does Hassan lie about stealing Amir’s watch?
- Why does Amir accept Soraya even after she tells him of her past?
- Why did Baba lie about Hassan being his son?
- Why does Rahim Khan disappear?
- Does Amir redeem himself?
Find the quotes you need to support your essay, or refresh your memory of The Kite Runner .
- Important Quotes Explained
- Male Friendship
- Betrayal & Redemption
- Racism & Ethnicity
- Chapters 4–5
- Chapters 6–7
- Chapters 8–9
- Chapters 10–11
- Chapters 12–13
- Chapters 14–15
- Chapters 16–17
- Chapters 18–19
- Chapters 20–21
- Chapters 22–23
- Chapters 24–25
By Character
- The Cleft Lip
- Afghanistan
- San Francisco
Quick Quizzes
Test your knowledge of The Kite Runner with quizzes about every section, major characters, themes, symbols, and more.
- Full Book Quiz
- Chapters One to Three
- Chapters Four and Five
- Chapters Six and Seven
- Chapters Eight and Nine
- Chapters Ten and Eleven
- Chapters Twelve and Thirteen
- Chapters Fourteen and Fifteen
- Chapters Sixteen and Seventeen
- Chapters Eighteen and Nineteen
- Chapters Twenty and Twenty-One
- Chapters Twenty-Two and Twenty-Three
- Analysis of Major Characters
- Plot Overview
- Themes, Motifs, and Symbols
Get ready to ace your The Kite Runner paper with our suggested essay topics, helpful essays about historical and literary context, a sample A+ student essay, and more.
- Historical Context Essay: The Kite Runner and The Taliban
- Literary Context Essay: Coming-of-Age Stories
- What Does the Ending Mean?
- Mini Essays
- Suggested Essay Topics
Further Study
Go further in your study of The Kite Runner with background information on Khaled Hosseini and the novel, movie adaptations, links to resources around the web, and suggestions for further reading.
- Khaled Hosseini and The Kite Runner Background
- Movie Adaptations
- Related Links
- Suggestions for Further Reading
The Kite Runner (10th Anniversary Edition)
The kite runner (sparknotes literature guide).
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The Kite Runner Thesis Statements and Essay Topics
Below you will find four outstanding thesis statements / paper topics for “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini that can be used as essay starters. All four incorporate at least one of the themes found in “The Kite Runner” and are broad enough so that it will be easy to find textual support, yet narrow enough to provide a focused clear thesis statement. These thesis statements offer a short summary of “The Kite Runner” in terms of different elements that could be important in an essay. You are, of course, free to add your own analysis and understanding of the plot or themes to them. Using the essay topics below in conjunction with the list of important quotes from “The Kite Runner” our quotes page, you should have no trouble connecting with the text and writing an excellent essay.
Topic #1: The influence of Afghan culture and historical events
The setting for this book is in three places. The first is Amir’s childhood in Afghanistan. Then at the beginning of violent conflicts, Baba and Amir leave Afghanistan for America. Baba goes from being a wealthy man to a poor immigrant. The third part of the book is about Amir’s return to Afghanistan and his discovery that it has changed. While the book is fiction, some of the work is inspired by Hosseini’s own life and experiences. There are many examples of Afghan culture and outlines of real events that took place in Afghanistan over the past several decades. It is significant that this book shows a much different country from the one that is often presented in the American media. Address the differences and similarities of Afghanistan events and culture in the book and in media coverage.
Topic #2: The significance of the title
At the beginning of the book, Hassan is Amir’s kite runner. They are very close friends and actually half-brothers, though neither is aware of that fact. Then Amir sees Hassan being raped by Assef and does nothing about it. This incident slowly drives a wedge between Hassan and Amir. Amir is forever haunted by the memory. Then he is contacted by his old mentor, Rahim Khan, that there is an opportunity for redemption. When he arrives back in Afghanistan, he is told that Hassan had a son who was sent to live in an orphanage when Hassan and Farzana are both dead. Amir visits the orphanage only to learn that Sohrab has been taken already. He tracks down the man who has Sohrab and discovers that it is actually Assef. In many ways, it is like his past has come back full force. Assef has repeatedly raped and abused Sohrab. He has also allowed others to do the same. Amir gains custody of Sohrab after allowing Assef to beat him. He eventually returns to America with Sohrab, who is damaged in many ways. Toward the end of the book, Amir becomes Sohrab’s kite runner. The relationship has come full circle. However, does Amir ever truly redeem himself from saying nothing when Hassan is raped? Describe how things would have been different if Amir had spoken up, even if it was afterward to an adult.
Topic #3: The parents’ secret
Although Amir and Hassan are supposed to be friends, Amir believes that Hassan is the son of his father’s servant. Because of this, he does not understand and is often jealous of how much his father, Baba, seems to prefer Hassan over Amir. He does not interfere or speak up when Assef rapes Hassan. He tries to frame Hassan for stealing money and jewelry. Many years later, after Hassan is dead, Amir finds out that they were actually half-brothers. He deals with many emotions over not having been told sooner. Given the way that events turned out, would things have been different if Amir and Hassan had known? Would Amir have been kinder to Hassan or would it only have increased his jealousy? Amir states in the book that Hassan knew him better than anyone. Explain how the relationship would have changed if Amir and Hassan had been given that important knowledge.
Topic #4: Child sexual abuse
In the book, Assef’s character represents several of the evils in our society. Among them are rape, pedophilia, and bullying. Assef rapes Hassan at a young age. He finds ways to harass and intimidate Amir. As an adult, he adopts children so that he can abuse and rape them. Amir allows Assef to beat him up at the end of the book so that Amir can take Sohrab with him. This final act of abuse toward Amir is what Assef wanted to do for a number of years. Assef seems to escape prosecution for his various crimes. Explore how this fits in with the other events of the book.
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Essays on The Kite Runner
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May 29, 2003, Khaled Hosseini
Novel; Bildungsroman, Drama, Historical Fiction, Coming-of-age Drama
Assef, Rahim Khan, Sanaubar, Soraya, General Taheri, Sohrab, Amir, Hassan, Khala, Baba, Farid, Farzana, Ali
The story has been based on Khaled Hosseini life in Afghanistan before he left for the United States.
Father-son relationship, courage, friendship, childhood, change of regimes, guilt and redemption
The Kite Runner is a challenging book to read since it speaks of guilt and redemption, true friendship, and the changes that a person is going through decades later. Most importantly, it is the run of events that run from the fall of Afghanistan's monarch to the refugees era, and the Taliban regime. The red line is the friendship and the way how human relationships change. It has a complex setting through the decades when the main protagonist Amir, a young boy, is telling about his life, his relationship with Hassan and the events that he could not prevent.
The Kite Runner is a story of Amir and his father who are living in Kabul, Afghanistan. They belong to a major ethnic group called Pashtuns. Amir's best friend is called Hassan who lives with his father, yet they belong to a minor ethnic group called Hazaras. Even though the boys belong to different groups, they are the best friends. As the events unfold, Amir is unable to rescue Hassan from a tragedy that takes place due to lack of courage, which is his guilt years later. As Amir grows up, he moves to the United States where he learns that his friend's (Hassan) son is in the orphanage. Saving the boy with his wife, Amir finds redemption.
According to the author, the book became so popular because it "connects with them in a personal way, no matter what their own upbringing and background" are. The book became the best seller at The New York Times for more than two years. It is believed that the September 11 tragedy has contributed to the novel's admiration in the United States since it has allowed people to see the Afghan culture. The story has also been inspired by the news story about Taliban's banning the kite flying in the country, which has inspired Khail Hosseini for the title and some parts of the story. The short version of the book has been rejected by some publishing houses. The Kite Runner is the first English publication written by the Afghan author. The author did not return to his home country Afghanistan until the time when the book was published. Hosseini believes that his novel is a love story because love is the main protagonist.
“For you, a thousand times over” “It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime...” “There is only one sin. and that is theft... when you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth.” “When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.” “I opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had. But I didn’t.”
This book became an important example of friendship and living with the guilt that took place as the lack of courage and being brave. As the multi-generational story, it deals with many sides of culture, family life, human relationship, discovering different cultures, and staying true to who you are. The author shows the way Amir grows and how he finally finds his self-identity that he has been seeking so long.
The book, according to the author, is about seeking love and finding it in everything, about friendship, about looking back, and finding redemption and one’s self-identity. While this novel is quite challenging and might even bring up tears while reading, it serves the role of a powerful story about being sincere and earning trust. One can write an essay about it by focusing on cultural, social, or even political aspects as the book runs from the 1970s to 2002.
1. Aubry, T. (2009). Afghanistan meets the amazon: reading the kite runner in America. PMLA, 124(1), 25-43. 2. Jefferess, D. (2009). To be good (again): The Kite Runner as allegory of global ethics. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 45(4), 389-400. 3. O'Brien, S. (2018). Translating Trauma in Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner. Transnational Literature, 10(2), 1-A5. 4. Jocius, R. (2013). Exploring adolescents’ multimodal responses to The Kite Runner: Understanding how students use digital media for academic purposes. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 5(1), 4. 5. Kai-fu, C. (2019). A Study of Amir's Psychological Change in" The Kite Runner". English Language Teaching, 12(5), 190-193. 6. Du, J. (2017). A journey of self-actualization of Amir in The Kite Runner. English Language and Literature Studies, 7(3), 90-93. 7. Ghafoor, S., & Farooq, U. (2020). Can subaltern be heard: an analysis of the kite runner and the thousand splendid suns by Khalid Hosseini: can subaltern be heard. International Review of Literary Studies, 2(1), 29-38. 8. Hunt, S. (2009). Can the West Read? Western Readers, Orientalist Stereotypes, and the Sensational Response to The Kite Runner. 9. Adhikary, R. P. (2021). Crisis of Cultural Identity in Khaled Hosseini‘s The Kite Runner. Scholar Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Science, 5, 179-187.
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The Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini that was first published in 2003 . Summary Read one-minute Sparklet summaries, the detailed chapter-by-chapter Summary & Analysis, the Full Book Summary, or the Full Book Analysis of The Kite Runner . Sparklet Chapter Summaries Summary & Analysis Chapters 1–3 Chapters 4 & 5 Chapters 6 & 7 Chapters 8 & 9
The first is Amir’s childhood in Afghanistan. Then at the beginning of violent conflicts, Baba and Amir leave Afghanistan for America. Baba goes from being a wealthy man to a poor immigrant. The third part of the book is about Amir’s return to Afghanistan and his discovery that it has changed.
The Kite Runner is a challenging book to read since it speaks of guilt and redemption, true friendship, and the changes that a person is going through decades later. Most importantly, it is the run of events that run from the fall of Afghanistan's monarch to the refugees era, and the Taliban regime.
The Kite Runner is a novel containing sociological and psychological issues. The story describes how the social barrier between Pashtuns and Hazaras in Afghanistan society makes a coward and inferior boy such Amir, the main character, experiencing a lot of conflict. Conflicts experienced by Amir lead him to experience anxiety.
In the kite runner Khaled Hosseini uses Amir’s character development and his actions to show the theme of being on a journey for redemption, and finding it in the most unexpected places. In the kite runner Khaled Hosseini uses the development of baba and Amir to teach us that it only takes one bad deed to change our lives forever End of preview.