The Kite Runner

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The Kite Runner

• Chapters 4 - 6

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Chapter 4 Summary.But in none of his stories
did Baba ever refer to Ali as his friend.

• This chapter opens with Alis story. Baba and Ali
  grew up as quasi-brothers, just like Amir and
  Hassan a generation later. But despite their
  closeness, Baba never considered Ali his friend
  just as Amir never considered Hassan his.
• At the same time, all these years later, Amir
  says Hassan is "the face of Afghanistan" to him.

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• Hassan is Amirs servant and therefore, does not
  go to school. After school, Amir would read to
  Hassan, who loved books despite his illiteracy.
• One day Amir tricks Hassan by pretending to read
  a story to him while actually telling his own
  story. When Hassan declares that it is the best
  story he ever heard, Amir writes a story,
  bolstered by the enthusiasm.
• He goes to show Baba but he is not interested.
  Instead Rahim Khan takes, later declaring that it
  is a story that has achieved irony.

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• Amir is so upset with his fathers lack of
  interest that he wishes Rahim Khan was is father.
  This thought causes him to vomit with guilt.
• He reads the story to Hassan who loves it but
  reveals an obvious plot hole, to Amirs
  astonishment.
• At this moment, gunfire erupts in Kabul and
  suddenly Afghanistan changed forever.

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Commentary ch.4
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• The fact that Babas own father was a
  well-respected judge underpins Amirs feelings of
  inadequacy when it comes to his masculinity.
• His whole experience and perception of
  Afghanistan is Hassan but despite this he knows
  that nothing can change their social status and
  separation.
• We learn that Baba gives the boys an equal weekly
  allowance. He treats them both the same which
  will become an issue for Amir in later chapters.
• The motif of the tree is important. The eat
  fruit from it on blissful summer days. It may be
  a symbol for Afghanistan itself. That is, that
  at this point in their lives they eat from the
  fruit of this tree, just as the Afghani people
  enjoy the fruits of a peaceful and prosperous
  country.

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• We are introduced to a darker side of Amir, one
  that teases Hassan and only bestows upon him
  broken and unused toys in recompense. Is this
  adding to his guilt?
• The major theme of this chapter is friendship.
• Amir also provides further insight into his
  relationship with Baba. He fails to see the
  tragic side to a Persian tale that tells of a
  father who unwittingly kills his son, believing
  that all fathers harbour a desire to kill their
  sons.

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Chapter 5 Summary....that was the winter that
Hassan stopped smiling.

• Before Amir could respond to Hassan's criticism
  of his story, gunfire erupted outside. When Baba
  comes home, Amir saw fear on his father's face
  for the first time. He was even glad for the
  violence for a moment, because Baba held him and
  Hassan close.
• The events of that night, July 17, 1973, were a
  precursor to the end of life as Afghanis knew it.
  What would follow was the Communist coup d'etat
  of 1978, followed by the Russian occupation
  beginning in December of 1979. Afghanistan had
  gone overnight from a monarchy to a republic.

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• Tired of listening to the radio news, Amir and
  Hassan went to climb their favorite tree. On the
  way, a young "sociopath" named Assef and his
  friends confronted them. He said that he wanted
  to finish what Hitler started and rid Afghanistan
  of Hazaras. He called Amir and Baba "a disgrace
  to Afghanistan" for taking in Hazaras.
• Just as Assef threatened to punch Amir with his
  brass knuckles, Hassan pointed his slingshot at
  the bully and threatened to take out his eye.
  Assef and his friends retreated, but promised to
  come back for Amir and Hassan later.

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• On Hassan's birthday, Baba summoned him to the
  house as usual to collect his present. To Hassan,
  Amir, and Ali's shock, Baba had hired a plastic
  surgeon to correct Hassan's harelip.
• Amir was jealous that Baba was giving Hassan such
  special attention. The surgery went well and
  Hassan could finally smile an unbroken smile.

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Commentary ch.5
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• In Chapter Five, war and political turmoil enter
  the story. Even as a child, Assef is the bastion
  of this theme because he is a violent person who
  has no regard for others' emotions or suffering.
• This chapter is also notable for its portrayal of
  Hassan as a loyal, courageous and inferior
  person, everything that Amir is not. The author
  emphasizes the moral nature of his story here.

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Commentary ch.5
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• From the beginning of the novel, Amir understands
  that things beyond his control have great
  influence over his life. When war enters the
  story, this fact becomes clearer than ever.
  Suddenly, no one is safe, no matter what
  privileges they have or what they believe anyone
  can be killed by a stray landmine, bomb, or
  bullet.
• The riots in 1973 were a comparatively gentle
  precursor to the devastation that would follow
  under the Russian occupation and then the
  Taliban.

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Chapter 6 Summary.In Kabul, fighting kites was
a little like going to war

• Amir loved the icy season because the school was
  shut down for its duration. But he loved winter
  even more because then he flew kites with Baba,
  the only activity that consistently brought them
  closer.
• Every year Hassan and Amir took part in a kite
  tournament. Baba would take the boys to a
  specialist for their kites. Amir recalls how it
  would annoy him that they were treated equally
  and that he could not be his fathers favorite.

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• Hassan was an exceptionally good kite runner.
  Once, Hassan convinced Amir to run the opposite
  way that a fallen kite was floating and sit under
  a tree with him to wait. While they sat, Amir
  taunted Hassan a little.
• Amir was unsettled to see Hassan's face change
  the way it sometimes did, as though there was an
  unfamiliar, sinister, hidden face behind his
  usual expression. After that uncomfortable
  moment, however, Hassan's face changed back to
  normal and the coveted kite came floating into
  his open arms.

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Summary

• Amir became determined to win so that he could
  finally prove to Baba that he was a winner and a
  worthy son.
• Amir promised to buy Hassan a television set one
  day. Hassan responded that he would put it on the
  table in his and Ali's hut. Amir was dismayed
  than Hassan had accepted his fate of always
  living in the hut and being a servant. As though
  he read Amir's mind, Hassan told him, "I like
  where I live."

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Commentary Ch. 6
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• The opening of chapter six firmly establishes
  winter as its setting. It is definiant and
  unchangeble both in the text and in the
  narrators memory.
• The narrator tells us that in Afghanistan there
  is a difference between rules and customs. The
  kite tournament was a good example of this.
• Kites are an important symbol throughout. Here
  they symbolise the paper-thin slice of
  intersection between the two spheres of Baba and
  Amir.

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Commentary Ch. 6
WRITE THIS INTO YOUR NOTEBOOK!

• Kites are also a symbol of war and of simpler
  times.
• The kites above Kabul as Amir tests a naive
  Hassan are a symbol of his transcendant view of
  friendship.
• Amir, once again, tests Hassans loyalty,
  ironically and symbolically under a sour cherry
  tree.
• More foreshadowing and emphasis on the narrators
  guilt with Babas line But better to get hurt by
  the truth than comforted with a lie.

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Sources

• http//www.gradesaver.com/the-kite-runner/study-gu
  ide/section2/
• Cambridge Wizard Student Guide, 2006

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Activity for now

• Write one page on the writers use of imagery to
  create specific moods or frame specific attitudes
  in the opening six chapters.

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Homework

• Writing
• Write a one page response for the following
• Discuss the fact that the characters' names have
  particular meanings, Rahim compassionate,
  Hassan handsome, Amir prince.
• DUE September 7th