Kite Runner Book review

Kite runner Assignment

The main protagonist Amir has a very interesting relationship with his father Baba, he once thought, "You can't love a person who lives that way without fearing them too. Maybe even hating them a little." (Amir) Throughout the book The Kite Runner the main protagonist Amir is constantly trying to attain his father love and acceptance. However his father's love is focused more on their servants Hassan and his father Ali which later we learn that Hassan is actually Baba’s son, but since he is the son of a servant girl, for Baba to be still respected no one could know. This creates a secret relationship that takes Baba’s focus off of Amir and onto Hassan. A recreation of this has been created in the 2007 film adaptation(screenplay written by David Benioff) to the book, but has not fully grasped the character growth of Amir and himself becoming his own person. Throughout the book Amir is developing and showing his strength through words. This is very simple for him to do because he is a writer. In the book The Kite Runner Amir grows and becomes his own person through the experiences he has, when he chooses to use his words when talking to the director of the orphanage. He also displays this when Hassan was rapped and Amir’s only weapon was words and he couldn’t use it. Later on in the book when Amir is older and he uses his words instead of becoming violent when speaking to Assef and with defending his cousin Sohrab against his father in law. These are the ways Amir discovers his own power, which is the power of words.

When Amir was looking for Sohrab he went into an orphanage where he suspected Sohrab was. It was a very frustrating situation for Amir because the director wasn’t telling him much because he thought they wanted to hurt the boy. Instead of Amir getting physically aggressive or tough like Baba he was calm and used the power of his words so extract information from the man. Amir said, “Look, I knew Sohrab’s father. His name was Hassan. His mother’s name was Farzana. He called his grandmother Sasa. He knows how to read and write. And he’s good with the slingshot. There’s hope for this boy, Agha, a way out. Please open the door.” (Amir) This approach that Amir used shows his progression in becoming his own person, opposed to what Baba’s approach may have been which could have been more aggressive or since he is known to be trusted he could respond insulted because it is as if the people are not trusting him. The reason why Amir had to use this approach was because the director did not know whether to trust Amir or not, but Baba was already trusted so did not have that issue. The other reason why Amir chose this approach was because since he is a writer and his power in in his words. This shows the beginning of Amir’s growth in becoming his own man and demonstrating power in his own way. The other reason why Amir was able to convey this message so clearly was because since he was in America for so long he was able to develop his power of words and was now able to convey this effectively. Also it made the reader feel as if Kabul was a foreign place because it had been about 100 pages since Amir had been there which gets the reader thinking and also makes it feel like a long time for the protagonist and the reader. The movie does not have this because if it did it would be a 5 hour movie and because it does not show that change in time the movie lacks in being able to show Amir’s growth. Due to his independence and him standing up for something he believes in his father would be proud which is what he wanted from the beginning.

After the kite fight Hassan ran to get the kite that Amir had just caught but got cornered into a wall by Assef the main antagonist in The Kite runner. Amir went looking for Hassan and found him getting rapped. This scared both boys for the rest of their life, and many people would argue that Amir was not Hassan’s true friend because he didn’t do anything, but Amir’s power is words and at that exact moment he didn’t feel his words could do anything so instead of doing what Baba does and goes in bold and strong, so Amir did nothing. Due to the fact that Hassan knew Amir had watched this and done nothing he felt embarrassed and alone. Earlier in the book Assef said, “Afghanistan is the land of the Pashtuns. It always has been, always will be. We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our Blood.” (Assef) When Assef said “Flat nose” he was referring to Hassan and when the author did this he foreshadowed that Assef would do something to Hassan. Some would say Amir was warned and the fact that he didn’t do anything was the opposite of growth and did not help him become his own person. This is incorrect though because since he was a child he did not have very much confidence to begin with and since he was powerful and persuasive through his voice which was not viewed among children as powerful, Amir felt that there was nothing he could have possibly done. The book had dream sequences and internal thinking that told the reader what was going on inside Amir’s head. This helped strengthen the reader's understanding that Amir was growing and discovering the power of language. The movie lacks this section of the novel which takes away from the film, which makes the film impossible to show that Amir grew and discovered the power of words. This was because he was growing internally more than externally, he leads up to his strength, it does not just come out of nowhere. For this reason the way Amir responded to Hassan getting raped and his later comprehension of the event actually strengthened himself growing as his own person and defining what it is to be powerful for himself.

To get Sohrab back from the Taliban Amir must first speak to the captain, which happened to turn out being Assef. Instead of making demands aggressively, he used his words in a calm tone and did not use aggression. Assef tells the guards that if Amir leaves the room then he can leave because he has earned his freedom. Assef then beats Amir and Amir does nothing, and Sohrab ends up shooting his slingshot at Assef’s eye and Amir and Sohrab leave safely. This is what happened in the book, however in the movie Assef does not tell his guards to let Amir leave if he wins the fight. Since he did not tell them that when Amir leaves there is a gun fight and that takes away from the scene that has just occurred. It changes the focus from Amir’s personal strength and development and shifts it to a gunfight and an action scene. For this reason the book demonstrates that Amir grows as a character more in the book rather than the movie.

Sohrab was Hassan’s son and when Amir went to Afghanistan to see Rahim Khan before Rahim died he told Amir that Hassan and his wife was killed but Hassan’s son was still alive. After Amir got Sohrab from the Taliban he brought him back to America and Sohrab was living with Amir and his wife. Hassan was something called a Hazara and they were considered to be lower than the average Muslim. Amir’s wife's father was named general Taheri and he was considered to be a higher class well respected Muslim and was not pleased when Amir brought him home. He said “Amir Jan, you’re going to tell us why you have brought back this boy with you?” (General Taheri) THe general had said this to Amir in a stern and parenting voice because General Taheri was concerned people would talk about a Hazara boy living with his daughter and he found the embarrassing and degrading. Amir’s response is the most prominent example of his growth and him not doing what his father considers power, but what his speciality of power is. Amir says, “ You see, General Sahib, my father slept with his servants wife. She bore him a son named Hassan. Hassan is dead now. That boy sleeping on the couch is Hassan’s son. He’s my nephew. That’s what you tell people when they ask.” (Amir) This shows Amir’s growth and his differentiation from his father's way of power because his father would have been more physical and maybe slightly more aggressive. Not physical violence, but just aggressive language, opposed to Amir’s approach which was very calm and truthful. This is demonstrated in numerous other ways throughout The Kite Runner, which further strengthens the idea that throughout The Kite Runner Amir continues to grow and become his own man which his father would be proud of.

"Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft... When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness... There is no act more wretched than stealing, Amir." (Baba) Amir’s father is a strong and powerful man and throughout the book The Kite Runner Amir discovers that the strength his father had is not the only kind of strength. Amir finds strength in words when he defends Sohrab against General Taheri and gives his father in law justification for why Sohrab is living with him. He also finds strength in his words when he is talking to the director of the orphanage and while he is meeting with Assef for the ability to bring Sohrab back to America. Finally the last example of when Amir shows development in the power of words is when he actually says nothing while Hassan is getting raped. He does this because since his power is in words and this was a physical confrontation he felt there was nothing he could do. The movie does not convey the message that Amir develops power through words and for this reason the book is better than the movie.