The Kite Runner

Chapters 1-4 Reading Guide

Terms to Know

 King Nadir Shah: Mohammad Nadir was the king of Afghanistan from 1929 until he was assassinated in 1933…Mir Ghulam Mohammad Ghobar, one of Afghanistan's most respected historians, describes Mohammad Nadir's rule as tyrannical. Nadir pinned ethnic groups against one another, (Tajiks and Pashtuns), raped, destroyed, and pillaged the Shamali area to the north of Kabul. (from www.afghan-web.com)

 Hazara: one of the four main cultural groups in Afghanistan; often considered as second class citizens

 Pashtun: another of the four main cultural groups in Afghanistan; often considered to be the superior class

 Buzkashi: Afghan national sport; sometimes referred to as “goat dragging”

 Zahir Shah: Afghan king after Nadir Shah; last king of Afghanistan

 Shahnamah (Rostam & Sohrab): Among the great works of world literature, perhaps one of the least familiar to English readers is the Shahnameh: ThePersian Book of Kings, the national epic of Persia. This prodigious narrative, composed by the poet Ferdowsi between the years 980 and 1010, tells the story of pre- Islamic Iran, beginning in the mythic time of Creation and continuing forward to the Arab invasion in the seventh century. (from www.Amazon.com)

 Mashallah: “praise god;” often used like “hooray!”

 Inshallah: “if Allah wills”

Questions/Topics for Discussion

Chapter 1 1. Do a close reading of chapter one. What information do you learn from this chapter? Chapter 2 2. What is immediately evident about Hassan & Amir’s (the narrator) relationship in chapter two? Who seems to have the power? Why? 3. What is Amir’s relationship with his father like? 4. If you had to use one word to describe Hassan and Ali’s house, what would that word be? 5. What is something Amir and Hassan have in common? How do they respond differently to their situations? 6. In this chapter, we are introduced to two different ethnic groups that make up part of the Afghanistan population. What are these two groups? What are their differences? 7. What important “brotherhood” do Hassan and Amir share? 8. What do Hassan and Amir’s first words hint about their characters?

Chapter 3 9. Describe Baba in your own words. 10. Discuss Amir’s jealousy towards Hassan. 11. Amir recalls a trip to the lake he took with his father. What can you tell about Amir and Baba’s relationship from this scene?

12. “You can’t love a person who lives that way without fearing him too. Maybe even hating him a little” (Hosseini 15). Respond to this quote. 13. What is Baba’s view of Amir’s religious teachers? 14. How does Baba define sin? 15. Baba claims that something is “missing” in Amir. What is he talking about? Chapter 4 16. How did Ali and Baba become acquainted? Meaning, what is Ali’s backstory? 17. Why does Amir say that he and Hassan could never be “friends”? 18. What words were carved on the pomegranate tree and the entrance of the cemetery? 19. Discuss Amir’s cruelty towards Hassan as it is seen in this chapter.

20. “Words were secret doorways and I held all the keys” (Hosseini 30). Respond to this quote. 21. What is Amir’s first short story about? What is its message?

22. “Most days I worshipped Baba with an intensity approaching the religious. But right then, I wished I could open my veins and drain his cursed blood from my body” (Hosseini 32). What does Baba do to make Amir feel this way? Vocabulary

Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues

Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the sentence. Use any clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and write what you think the underlined words mean on the lines provided.

1. Everyone agreed that my father, my Baba, had built the most beautiful house in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, a new and affluent neighborhood in the northern part of Kabul.

______

2. People had raised their eyebrows when Ali, a man who had memorized the Koran, married Sanaubar, a woman nineteen years younger, a beautiful but notoriously unscrupulous woman who lived up to her dishonorable reputation.

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3. People had raised their eyebrows when Ali, a man who had memorized the Koran, married Sanaubar, a woman nineteen years younger, a beautiful but notoriously unscrupulous woman who lived up to her dishonorable reputation.

______

4. I have heard that Sanaubar's suggestive stride and oscillating hips sent men to reveries of infidelity.

______

5. But polio had left Ali with a twisted, atrophied right leg that was sallow skin over bone with little in between except a paper-thin layer of muscle.

______

6. It said the Hazaras had tried to rise against the Pashtuns in the nineteenth century, but the Pashtuns had "quelled them with unspeakable violence."

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7. As confided to a neighbor's servant by the garrulous midwife, who had then in turn told anyone who would listen, Sanaubar had taken one glance at the baby in Ali's arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked with bitter laughter.

______

8. They would leave with the bag tucked out of sight, sometimes drawing furtive, disapproving glances from those who knew about the store's reputation for such transactions. ______

9. I cried all the way back home. I remember how Baba's hands clenched around the steering wheel. Clenched and unclenched. Mostly, I will never forget Baba's valiant efforts to conceal the disgusted look on his face as he drove in silence.

______

10. Baba nodded and gave a thin smile that conveyed little more than feigned interest.

______

Part II: Determining the Meaning -- Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions.

1. _____ Affluent a. Daydreams

2. _____ Notoriously b. Pacified: quieted or suppressed

3. _____ Unscrupulous c. Having no conscience or principles; oblivious to what is right or honorable

4. _____ Reveries d. Not real; pretended

5. _____ Atrophied e. Wasted; withered; shriveled

6. _____ Quelled f. Boldly courageous; brave

7. _____ Furtive g. Excessively talkative in a rambling, roundabout manner, especially about trivial matters

8. _____Garrulous h. Secret; sly; shifty

9. _____ Valiant i. Generously supplied with money, property, or possessions; prosperous or rich

10. _____ Feigned j. Known widely and usually unfavorably known