A Look At The Two Main Characters

Hassan (left), Amir (right) pictured in The Kite Runner movie (2007)

Amir- is the main character in the novel The Kite Runner.   As the story begins, Amir is an adult living in California.  He flashes back to his childhood growing up in Afghanistan as the only son of a rich businessman.  Amir is passionate about reading and writing stories even though his father does not approve of these activities as he wishes his son were more athletic like Hassan, the son of his servant.   Hassan and Amir become best friends and spend most of their time together.  The relationship becomes estranged when Hassan is raped and Amir who is there hidden away without anyone seeing him, does not come to his rescue.  He feels guilty for not intervening and avoids his friend and eventually tries to get Hassan and his father fired so he would not have to see them.  At 18 Amir and his father flee to the United States after the Soviets invade Afghanistan. He graduates high school in California and later attends University specializing in English. He marries Soraya but the couple cannot have children.  He writes novels for a living and lives in an expensive neighbourhood.  He eventually returns to Afghanistan to find out that Hassan was his half- brother and sets out to find his nephew who is now an orphan, to atone from his past sins.

Hassan- is Amir’s best childhood friend and later the reader learns he is also his half-brother.  This character is born with a harelip, which results in his father Baba giving him away to his servant Ali because he does not want the embarrassment of a less than perfect son.  People think that Hassan is a Hazara (a Middle Eastern race) and he is tormented by the other children.   As the son of a servant he has a very different lifestyle then his half- brother Amir who benefits from social class and wealth.  Hassan also has to deal with an obvious facial deformity, but in actual fact he is a character with incredible integrity and strong physical abilities.  He never lies and is known for being the best kite runner in the city.   It is ironic that both these qualities are valued highly by his real father and are not qualities that Amir possesses.  The turning point in the story is when Hassan is raped by Assef with Amir watching which causes the friendship to fall apart.   Hassan wonders why Amir is distancing himself from him and tries to repair the relationship without success. The reader later learns that Hassan is killed by the Taliban while trying to defend Baba’s old house.  He also has a son Sohrab who is now an orphan.