THE KITE RUNNER

BOOK REVIEW: CHAPTERS 6~10

The Best Kites in the City

Hassan congratulating Amir for winning the Kite-Fighting Tournament.

CHAPTER 6

Winter is the best time of the year in Kabul for boys. The schools are closed because of the chilly weather and boys usually spend their time flying kites. Baba takes Amir and Hassan to an old blind man to buy kites because he makes the best ones in Kabul.There is an annual kite-fighting tournament during winter. Boys battle with kites by covering strings in broken glass. When a string is cut, the kite is loose and flies away, so the boys called kite runners chase the loose kite until it falls. The last kite to stay up in the sky is the winner. Hassan is the best kite runner in Kabul because he seems to know exactly where a kite will land before it falls.

CHAPTER 7

In the winter of 1975, the kite-fighting tournament was held in Amir's neighborhood. The nearby districts competed together in this tournament. A few days before the actual contest, Baba casually told Amir that he could win. Then Amir becomes really determined to win as he thinks will earn Baba's approval. Eventually Amir and a blue kite are the last ones to be flying. They battle and with Amir's perseveration, he wins the trophy of honor without a doubt. Amir and Hassan cheer and hug in happiness but Baba motioned them to separate. The Kite Runner; Hassan sets off to bring the kite back for Amir.

Amir reels in his kite and accepts everyone's congratulations. But Amir notices that Hassan is still missing. He goes out to look for him and asks an old merchant if he saw Hassan. The merchant asks back why Amir is looking for a Hazara. Amir replied that Hassan is the son of his father's servant. Anyways the man told Amir that Hazara went south being chased by some boys. Amir searches the neighborhood and finds Hassan in an alleyway surrounded by Assef and his boys; Kamal and Wali. Hassan was holding the blue kite. Assef told Hassan that they would let him go if he gave the blue kite to them. Hassan refused and was not shaken. Hassan believes that Amir and he are friends. Ultimately, Assef and his boys charged Hassan. Amir wanted to say something but stayed quiet and watched what was going on.

Suddenly, Amir remembers that they were fed from the same breast of a Hazara woman called Sakina. He recalls some memories with Hassan and dreams that he is lost in a snowstorm. When the snow is gone, the sky is filled with kites. Amir looks back at the alleyway  where the bullies pinned Hassan to the ground without his pants. Wali told Assef that this is sinful but Assef replies back saying Hassan is only a Hazara. Assef then took his own pants down. Amir hesitated to do something but ran away. Fifteen minutes later, Amir noticed Hassan coming towards him and he pretends that he was looking for him all this time. Hassan came crying and bleeding. Both the boys stay shut of what happened and Hassan passes Amir the kite. When they returned home, Amir weeps in Baba's chest while Baba hugged Amir.

Baba's concern regarding Amir was that he could not stand up for himself. Baba was scared that he would be the same when he grew up. Amir misunderstood this and didn't help Hassan thinking that Baba would be proud of him and forgive him for his mother's death, if Amir won the contest and brought back the opponent's kite. Amir did exactly the opposite of what Baba wanted him to be; to stand up bravely like the event that happened that day.

CHAPTER 8

After the event, Amir and Hassan spent less time together. Baba and Amir took a trip to Jalalabad and stayed at the house of Baba's cousin. Af the large traditional Afghan dinner, Baba boasts that Amir won the kite contest but Amir didn't enjoy it because of the weight that pressurized him for his guilt. After dinner, they all lied down together. Amir couldn't sleep and loudly announced that he saw Hassan getting raped. But nobody was awake to hear it and Amir's feeling of guilt continued. The narrator wrote that this was the night when he became an insomniac. When they returned back home, Hassan requested Amir to walk up the hill with him. As they walked, Hassan asked Amir if he could read to him. Amir changed his mind and went back home.

Their awkward relationship continued. Hassan couldn't hold it and asked what he did wrong to Amir. Amir told Hassan to stop harassing him. After that, the boys avoided each other even more. One day, Amir asked Baba when they would get new servants, Baba became furious and shouted that he would never replace Ali and Hassan. Baba was ashamed by this question. Amir spent hours alone in his room when school started.  One day, Amir asked Hassan to walk up the hill with him.They sat under a pomegranate tree.  Amir began attacking Hassan with pomegranates and waited for Hassan's revenge. Instead, he crushed the fruit on his forehead and left after asking whether Amir was satisfied. Hassan proved his love and loyalty to Amir.

In the summer of 1976, Amir turned thirteen and Baba invited more than 400 people to his birthday party. Baba made Amir greet all the guests personally at the party. Assef arrived and acted politely as he joked with Baba. He told Amir that he chose the gift himself. When he opened the gift, it was a biography of Hitler which he threw away. In discomfort, Amir embarrased Baba by showing rudeness to Assef. Amir sat in the dark at the party, until Rahim Khan showed up and began chatting with Amir. Rahim told Amir that he was in love with a Hazara and was about to marry her but his father was enraged and sent the girl and her family away. He said it was for the best and gave him a leather-bound notebook for writing his stories. He consoled Amir a little saying he was always there to listen. As fireworks alarmed the party, both Amir and Rahim rushed back to the house where Amir saw Hassan serving drinks to Assef and Wali.

CHAPTER 9

The morning after Amir's birthday, he opened his presents. As he opened them, he thought to himself that either Hassan or he would have to leave. Later, Ali gave Amir a gift. It was the newest version of "Shahnamah" which was the book of stories which Amir read to Hassan. The next morning, Amir took his birthday money and a watch that Baba gifted him and put them under Hassan's mattress. He told Baba that Hassan stole them and to his surprise, Hassan lied that he stole them. This is when Amir realized that Hassan saw Amir in the alleyway merely watching. Baba forgave Hassan but Ali insisted that they must leave. Baba pleaded Ali to stay with them but Alit refused and left in the rain, as Amir watched from indoors.

Amir's guilt led him to things that resulted in a loss of Baba's approval. Rather than gaining what he extremely desired, Amir lost the happiness he had. At first he tried to stay away from Hassan because he was a reminder of his cowardice and selfishness. But they met each other often because Hassan was part of the household. One of Amir's constant fears is realized: Hassan emerges as the stronger and better person. Amir drove them away by plotting Hassan into sins. But Hassan sacrificed himself again despite knowing that Amir didn't do the same for him when he was raped. But the most poignant image of injustice toward Hazaras is the moment Amir witnessed Hassan serving drinks to Assef and Wali from a silver platter. Assef didn't express any remorse or shame during the encounter. Instead he grinned at Hassan.

CHAPTER 10

It is March 1981 in the novel. Amir and Baba are in the back of a truck with several other Afghans. They are on their way to Pakistan. The ride made Amir sick but he was worried he could be embarrassing Baba. They left home in the middle of the night for they couldn't trust anyone. The rafiqs, or comrades as the narrator called them have divided society. The truck driver, Karim, had a business arrangement with the soldiers guarding the road. But when they arrived at the checkpoint, the Russian guard eyed a woman in the truck and said the price of passing would be some time with the lady. Baba didn't allow it. the Russian threatened to shoot Baba but another Russian officer stopped him. After they passed the checkpoint, the husband of the woman kissed Baba's hand. When they arrived in Jalalabad, they had to switch trucks but Karim didn't tell them that the truck broke last week. Baba got angry and attacked the driver.

For a week, Baba and Amir stayed with the refugees in a basement.Amir recognized Kamal, who looked sick and depressed with his father. Amir overheard Kamal's father and Baba's conversation of the reason why Kamal is so weak. Four men caught Kamal and when he came back to his father, he was bleeding "down there". Kamal no longer speaks, he only stares. 

Finally, Kamir found a truck to take them to Pakistan. It was a fuel truck and the air inside was thick with fumes making it difficult to breathe. But they still arrived in Pakistan. Once they were out of the truck, Kamal's father screamed because Kamal stopped breathing. Kamal's father attacked Karim, wrestling Karim's gun away. Before anyone could have act, Kamal's father put the gun in his mouth and shot himself down.

TO BE CONTINUED...