SHORT SYNOPSIS: the Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Begins with a Man Named Amir Who Gets

SHORT SYNOPSIS: The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, begins with a man named Amir who gets a phone call from a man from his past, calling him back to his hometown in Kabul. The first half of the novel is a flashback to his childhood in Kabul, and Amir tells of his friendship with a servant boy named Hassan and his desire to win Baba, his father’s, approval. In an attempt by Amir to win his father’s approval, he and Hassan enter the annual kite-flying contest, and win. Hassan run’s the kite, because it brings great honor to Amir and his family if he wins the contest and catches the losing kite. Amir follows far behind, ends up watching Hassan get raped by their enemy Assef, and does nothing about it. This leaves Amir in his father’s good wishes, but feeling too guilty about betraying his best friend to enjoy it. Amir lies to his father, and Hassan’s family is fired by Baba. The book skips over a few years to the Russian invasion, and Baba and Amir leave Pakistan and move to San Francisco. In America, the tensions between Baba and Amir are resolved when Amir finds a girl respectable enough to get married, and makes his father proud in the final stages of his cancer. Baba dies, and Amir gets the phone call aforementioned. Amir flies back to Kabul and learns that Hassan, whom he hadn’t seen since that day, was a victim of the Russians and that Amir must go save Hassan’s son Sohrab in order to right the wrongs of his past. Sohrab is currently being held captive and raped by Assef, and after a huge fight Amir and Sohrab leave. After the fight, Amir’s inner guilt finally feels resolved, and Amir and his wife adopt Sohrab. Amir’s inner conflict is resolved, and the rest of the loose ends of the novel are tied up in the last chapter or so.

ARCHETYPAL FUNCTION: Amir, the main character in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, fits the archetypal role of the flawed hero. Amir is a very realistic, human character. As a young boy, Amir looses the respect of his father because he is so emotional, and that sort of thing went against the society of Kabul. After watching a man get trampled to death Amir began to cry, but he says of Baba that he “will never forget Baba’s efforts to conceal the disgusted look on his face as he drove in silence”(page 25). Amir, like the flawed hero, also has flaws that almost prove to be his undoing. While Hassan was being raped, Amir has two choices; to stay, or to run. “In the end I was a coward…I was afraid of getting hurt” (page 77). His cowardice leads him to abandon his friend in his time of need, and leaves him with an intense guilt that he must live with for the rest of his live. Psychologically, his cowardice and his guilt about it almost prove to be his undoing. Amir also must face obstacles that appear to be insurmountable. During the Russian invasion, Amir and Baba skirt death multiple times while they attempt to leave the warring country. Amir says to himself many times as he’s leaving that he doesn’t think he can make it through to America. However, they make it through and he moves on to live in America. Another trait of the flawed hero is that they must face their obstacles with both fear and courage. Ever since that day with Assef in his childhood, the man has always struck fear within Amir; and as he faces him again in his adulthood, the very same fear he felt as a child returns. But he “remembered how envious I’d been of Hassan’s bravery…now it was my turn” (page 286). He was determined to avenge all of the awful things Assef did to Hassan, and this brought him more courage than anything else. The final criteria that Amir must meet is that he must overcome his obstacles and obtain humility. After his fight with Asssef, Amir begins to laugh because of the irony that his body would feel so broken, but that his mind would feel so whole. “What was funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace” (page 289). It was the first time since he watched Hassan get raped that he had felt like he had finally paid for his sins. Through this, and the gain of Sohrab, Amir gains a humility like that he had never felt before. Another character from a work of literary merit that fits the criteria of the flawed hero almost as well as Amir is Briony Tallis, from Atonement. Briony fits every criteria of the flawed hero, except for the last one; Briony never feels the absolvement for the actions of her past that she feels guilty about. Both Amir and Briony spend the rest of their lives trying to find peace from the inner turmoil they feel over their actions as young children, for their actions before they truly knew what the consequences would be.

HOW TO SPEAK LIKE AMIR AGHA:

STEP 1: Speak in small, simple sentences while around adult figures in your life. -Example 1: (To Ali, Hassan’s father) “If you have to.” Page 81. -Example 2: (To Baba) “I guess so.” Page 83. -Example 3: (To General Taheri) “I write fiction.” Page 139. Due to his youth being spent in Kabul, Amir learned long ago that one must speak respectfully, and simply, to any adult or figure of authority you interact with. Kabul has a culture that reveres their elders, and even through his move to America and chance to fit in with society there, he always speaks simply and respectfully to any adult he may meet.

STEP 2:Open up and say what you’re really feeling around people you feel connected to, like your best friend or your wife. -Example 1: (To Hassan) “I’ll tell you what I want you to stop doing. I want you to stop harassing me. I want you to go away.” Page 30. -Example 2: (To Soraya) “I thought you might want us to have a place of our own.” Page 172. While Amir typically keeps most of what he is thinking to himself, when he’s with Hassan or Soraya he lets himself loose a little bit. He’ll talk about his emotions, his opinions, his hopes and dreams and wishes. His sentences get longer and his word choice is much more informal.

STEP 3: While speaking to your enemy, use clipped sentences and vague fragments. -Example 1: (To Assef) “I have my reasons.” Page 285 The angrier Amir gets, the worse his diction gets. He looses the ability to communicate his thoughts effectively and becomes hyperaware of his surroundings…it’s almost as if he forgets how to speak.

STEP 4: If you’re speaking to a child, speak soothingly and comfortingly. -Example 1: (To Sohrab) “You’re not dirty, and you’re not full of sin…I won’t hurt you…I promise.” Page 320 -Example 2: (To Sohrab) “What can I do, Sohrab? Please tell me.” Page 354 Due to how fragile Sohrab is, Amir has no option but to treat him carefully and try to soothe his pain. Before Sohrab Amir never really had a chance to talk to a child of his age before, and the way he treats him carries over to various other children he encounters. His syntax gets more complex, but his words get simpler and he makes sure that Sohrab understands everything he tries to say.

STEP 5: Remember quotes from your best childhood friend and re-use them decades later on someone different. -Example: (To Sohrab) “For you, a thousand times over.” Page 371 This is exactly what Hassan told Amir right before he went to run the winning kite, a proof of Hassan’s loyalty to Amir. Technically, it’s the last thing Hassan spoke to Amir before he was raped and everything changed for the two of them, and that mark of loyalty has been burning in Amir’s mind ever since. How poetic that it’s what Amir tells Hassan’s son, decades later.

Overall, these all prove that Amir is an introvert. He’d much rather think and write complexly, and speak simply, than try to clutter up his speech with big words and long sentences. Every word he says holds a specific purpose, and not a single line of his dialogue is wasted. Amir’s simple diction is a reflection of his intellect and thought, and would be beneficial to use especially while talking with children or adult figures.