The Kite Runner Analysis

The illegitimate son of Baba and Amir’s half-brother (which he didn’t knew until after Hassan’s death), Hassan was a truly good and beautiful person even though he's had his fair share of hard times. In my opinion, Hassan has it tougher than Amir from the beginning. Not only did Hassan lose his mother (like Amir), his mother flat-out rejected him But Hassan, unlike Amir, is a selfless and joy-filled creature. They spent most their childhood together playing games, reading books and flying kites until that fateful day where he was deprived of his pride. Hassan had a very good relation with Baba as it would later prove out to be his father as well. After the war stricken years, Rahim Khan asked him to come back to the house in Kabul and agrees after thinking about it. He felt that he was near Amir by living in that house and that he’s loyal. His loyalty and integrity are the essence of his character. He and his wife were slaughtered by the Talibans in the earlier part of 2000, thus ending the life on an inspiring individual.

Throughout the novel there are many examples of how when Hassan was loyal to Amir it resulted in him being hurt tremendously, all of that shows how you should not be loyal to your best friend in every situation. The first example of this is when Hassan and Amir win the kite tournament and Hassan goes to run the last kite for Amir. On Hassan's way back to Amir he is chased down and cornered by Assef and his crew. Assef is haggling Hassan and saying that if he just gave them the kite he could walk away unharmed but Hassan stays loyal to Amir and does not give up the kite. Amir finds out where Hassan is and is listening in the shadows: ¨Even from where I was standing, I could see the fear creeping into Hassan's eyes, but he shook his head.

Amir cannot stand to look at Hassan and seeing the lamb-like eyes, so to make himself feel better about the situation, he frames Hassan. Amir is upset that Baba forgives Hassan but it is ironic because he is the one doing the sinful act and yet again it is Hassan who is saving and protecting Amir. These unfaithful acts are not in fact an act of selflessness but and an act of selfishness. Everything Amir is doing is for himself. He only cares about his own feelings but never is he putting himself in others people’s

Though Hassan was his best friend, Amir feelt that Hassan, a Hazara servant, was beneath him. He passively attacked Hassan by mocking and taunting him. Amir never learned how to affirm himself against anyone because Hassan always defended him. All of these factors lead to Amir not being able to stand up for Hassan when he needed him most.

Hassan is a sweet, kind hearted boy who only wants the best for everyone he loves. Even without a formal education he has an old soul and wisdom which he learned from his father Ali. Both him and his father would do anything to help Amir and Baba, the two families are very close even with the class barrier between them. This class barrier is partially why Amir is such a self centered, approval seeking child. Amir is bitter to Hassan especially when he gets approval from Baba instead of Amir; this makes Amir turn into a spiteful person trying to get back at Hassan.

Even if he is afraid, he is loyal to Amir, regardless of the consequences. Hassan is not only loyal, but he is also courageous. He will stand up for Amir without any fear. For example, in chapter eight,

Throughout Amir’s childhood his best friend was Hassan. Hassan would do anything for Amir including standing up to Assef and taking blame for things he didn’t do. Even though Hassan was a loyal and honest friend to Amir, Amir was not the same in return. He would do things to tease and trick

This belief stemmed into a deep rooted jealousy of Hassan, and is one of the reasons why as a child Amir was so unkind. Amir had a good friend in Hassan, someone who never strayed from his side and always put the needs of Amir before himself. “But if I asked, really asked, he wouldn’t deny me. Hassan never denied me anything.” Amir was constantly pushing his limits with Hassan, seeing just how much he would do for Amir.

When Amir was looking for Hassan after the kite flying contest he is talking to someone asking if they had seen him. He refers to Hassan as “our servant’s son” (69). He and Hassan are best friends at home through their entire childhoods. Despite this, he still does not even refer to him as a friend to society; to the people around him Hassan is just his servant. Then later in the novel after he has witnessed Hassan getting raped, he does not want Hassan to be living with them anymore. He asks Baba “have you ever thought about getting new servants?” (89). He tries to exile his best friend for no reason at all even though they have been through everything together. This is the foundation of Amir showing this theme of exile towards Hassan, and it only gets worse. Hassan begins to notice what Amir is doing and tells him “I don’t know what i’ve done, Amir agah I wish you’d tell me. I don’t know why we don’t play anymore” (88). He ignores Hassan and shuts him out into exile even though all he has done is be loyal to Amir. Soon after Amir wants to completely exile Hassan and get him out of his home for good. Amir decides to frame him so he “lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted [his] new watch and handful of Afghani bills under it” (104). Amir lets Hassan take the blame for this act completely and exiles him out of his life forever. Hassan even writes to him but Amir does not respond. Amir exiles Hassan and shows the theme of exile through his actions toward Hassan throughout the

Amir was ashamed and didn’t want to face Hassan. Amir also advised Amir’s dad that they get new servants. Amir’s dad was mad and wanted to hit Amir. He said Ali and Hassan were like their family. Amir tried to teach Hassan not to be so loyal.

Throughout the novel Amir constantly test Hassan’s loyalty. Amir wants to know if he can rely on Hassan when he needs him and at times does not

Instead of trying to reconcile with Hassan, he commits another act against him; he falsely accuses him and gets him thrown out of his home. These actions build up in Amir’s heart and cause guilt and

To Hassan, Amir is his best friend and even an idol for that matter of fact. Hassan’s loyalty is endless even when Amir pushes Hassan too far. We could see that when Amir accuses Hassan for stealing money and Hassan accepts it. This shows Hassan still remains loyal to Amir because he

he wants with and not let him have a say. “Hassan never wanted to, but if I asked, really asked, he wouldn't deny me (Hosseini 4).” Amir didn’t really care about Hassan’s feelings and thoughts and basically calls him easy, but if Hassan opposes him then Amir will pull that “servant” card. He’s using Hassan’s admiration for him as an advantage for him to make Hassan do whatever he wants. Hassan can’t say no to him because Amir’s father has helped his father and him enough. Plus, Hassan doesn’t want to lose Amir because Amir the only person that

Hassan does a lot of things for Amir even if Amir isn’t being the best of friends. For example, Hosseini writes different instances where Hassan was there for Amir. When Hassan lies to Baba about the stolen money so then amir wouldn't get in trouble.