AP English Literature and Composition

MAJOR WORKS DATA SHEET

Title: _Kite Runner________________________Author: _Khaled Hosseini___________________Date of Publication: _May 29, 2003___________Genre: _Fiction____________________________

Biographical Information about the Author

NA

Historical Information about the period of publicationNA

Characteristics of the Genre

NA

Plot Summary

Describe the author’s style An example that demonstrates that style

Memorable QuotesQuotation Significance

“For you, a thousand times over.”

“I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right:

Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the

lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.” 

“My body was broken—just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later—but I

felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed.”

“It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn’t make everything all right. It

didn’t make anything all right. Only a smile. A tiny thing… But I’ll take it.”

Hassan says this to Amir when he is about to retrieve the kite where he gets raped, and this phrase is the basis of Hassan’s love toward Amir as

well as the line that haunts Amir for many years.

This quote personifies Amir as a child while he runs away from Hassan’s rape scene. He is a coward whose only goal in life is to gain his father’s love. It shows the complicated feelings and guilt that will be the

driving factor in his adulthood.

Amir has finally stood up against Assef like he should have done all those years ago during Hassan’s rape, and although he was brutally

beaten, he won in spirit because he had finally defended Hassan through Sohrab.

Amir has done his best to attain redemption through Sohrab, and after Sohrab attempted suicide and stopped talking, this smile at the end of

the novel gives Amir hope for the future, hope for true redemption, hope for true happiness for their makeshift family, and hope for

Hassan’s memory.

CharactersName Role in the Story Significance Adjectives

Amir

Baba

Hassan

Ali

Sohrab

Assef

Rahim Kahn

Soraya

Protagonist

Amir’s father

Amir’s childhood friend

Hassan’s “father”

Hassan’s Son

Hassan’s rapist

Baba’s close friend

Amir’s wife

Growth and Forgiveness

Redemption, secretly Hassan’s father, emotionally withdrawn from Amir which causes him to

try to earn his father’s love, moral example for Amir

Gets raped: Amir’s source of guilt, Amir’s friend and

brother, loss of innocence

Pretends to be Hassan’s father, sets example for Hassan

Substitute for Hassan in Amir’s path towards redemption

Rapes Hassan and abuses Sohrab, Amir’s final step

toward redemption, beats Amir

Serves as father figure for Amir as child, tells Amir of what

happened to Hassan and the truth of Amir’s father

Helps Amir begin his journey toward self-forgiveness by

having him tell her what he did

Selfish, jealous, coward Caring,

repentant, courageous, self-

sacrificing

Loving, strong morals, secretive,

independent, proud, remorseful,

respected, charitible

Honest, loving, forgiving, happy,

loyal, innocent

Hard-working, loyal

Secluded, alone, afraid, traumatized

Perverted, bully, racist

Fatherly, trustworthy

Supportive, Loving

Setting Significance of opening scene

Set in the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, Afghanistan in the 1970’s (Amir and Baba live in a very nice home-they are very wealthy)

Fremont, California, 1980’s in a run-down apartment with Baba

Victorian House in San Francisco, late-90’s and 2000’s (Amir, Soraya, Sohrab)

Peshawar, 2000’s, Baba finds Sohrab

Sets the story up as a flashback Introduces characters: Rahim Khan, narrator,

Hassan Provides suspense and questions to answer:

what happened the winter of 1975 that changed everything?, Who is Hassan?, Why does the narrator need to be “good” again?

Significance of ending/closing scene

Provides a sense of hope that Amir and Sohrab will form a stronger bond

Indicates that Amir finally forgives himself and sought the redemption he wanted for betraying Hassan, he’s finally doing something he loves again: running kites

Sohrab’s smile shows that Amir’s attempts to open his adopted son up are finally working

Symbols

Old AP Questions

07: How a character’s past affects his or her present life, betrayal

08: Foil character that affects the main character, childhood and adolescence

09: symbols, political and social issues

Possible Themes

Redemption Culture contrasts (Middle East vs. United States/California) Family relationships (Amir and Baba, Amir and Hassan, Amir and Soraya) Betrayal (Amir betraying Hassan in the alley, Baba betraying Amir by lying to him his whole life)