Kite Runner Study Guide
Whom does Amir meet who once knew his mother?
A homeless beggar who was a university professor that taught his mother at college.
What does Rahim give Amir?
A photo of Hassan and his son and a letter from Hassan to Amir
How did Hassan's son get his name?
After Hassan's favorite character in a children's story
Who is Ali?
Ali is Baba's servant, life-long friend, and Hassan's father. He had polio as a child that left him with a twisted, atrophied right leg that is sallow skin over bone with little in between except a paper-thin layer of muscle. He walks with a limp and his lower facial muscles were paralyzed so he is unable to smile. Ali is a quiet shy man. He was an orphan that was taken in by Baba's father and Baba and Ali have been great friends and grew up together.
What celebration do Amir and his family attend?
Amir and his family go to the park to celebrate the Afghan New Year's Day on the first day of spring with others from Afghanistan
What does Amir discover at the American embassy when trying to get information about adopting Sohrab?
Amir discovers that the process of getting Sohrab will be nearly impossible. The embassy suggests that he just give up. A lawyer Amir hires also suggests the same thing.
Why does Amir get so angry when his father refers to Assef as Assef jan?
Amir gets so angry with his father because the term "Jan" is one of endearment that he never uses for his own son.
What is the significance of Amir's injury to his lip?
Amir has the same scar that Hassan had with his harelip
What does Amir do to get Ali and Hassan in trouble?
Amir hides his birthday money and watch under Hassan's mattress in order to accuse him of stealing.
Compare and contrast the type of homes Amir and Hassan live in.
Amir lives in a mansion, while Hassan lives in a shack off of Amir's house.
What "bargain" does Amir make with God?
Amir promises that he will fast, pray, and make a pilgrimage if Sohrab can only live.
Amir tells Rahim at first that he cannot go to Kabul because he has a wife in America, a home, a career, and a family. What makes him change his mind and go to Kabul?
Amir realizes that his actions years ago prevented Hassan from having those same things in his life.
Describe Amir's birthday party.
Amir's birthday is extremely extravagant. After his kite running victory, Baba decides to put on a large celebration for his son, inviting over 300 hundred guests, hosting a band, and providing mass amounts of food and drink. Amir is showered with gifts that he does not appreciate because of his guilt.
How did Amir's family come to know Ali?
Amir's father is friends with Ali and hired him and Hassan as their servants.
Describe Amir's relationship with his father after winning the tournament.
Amir's relationship with his father is greatly improved after winning the tournament. Hisfather makes an attempt to spend time with Amir and treats him with more respect.
What occurs between Amir and Hassan at the top of the hill in the cemetery?
Amir, full of guilt and sorrow, attacks Hassan with pomegranates to goad him to throw back. However, Hassan does nothing and accepts the attack. Once Hassan leaves the hill, Amir falls to his knees and weeps over his past actions.
What did Amir's father build during Amir's early childhood?
An orphanage.
Who is the man with the sunglasses?
Assef
What gift does Assef give Amir for his birthday?
Assef gives Amir a biography of Adolf Hitler.
Why does Amir compare the look in Hassan's eyes while Assef is hurting him to the look in the lamb's eyes before it is killed for food?
Because Hassan and the lamb looked so helpless.
Why does Amir want to win the kite tournament so badly?
Because he wants his father to be proud of him.
Why do people have bloody hands after flying a kite?
Because they use tar glass to make the string and it ends up cutting their hands.
Why does Amir leave the hospital in Peshawar and go to Islamabad?
Farid thinks that Amir will not be safe in Peshawar. He knows the Taliban have friends and he is worried they will come looking for Amir. As soon as Amir is able to walk, they leave for a safer city.
What does Amir have to do to "earn" Sohrab?
Fight Assef
What is Rahim's dying wish?
For Amir to rescue Hassan's son from the orphanage in Kabul and bring him to Pakistan
Why could Amir be arrested for treason?
For not fighting with his fellow Muslims and leaving to live in America
How does Hassan act in the weeks following the kite fighting tournament?
Hassan acts depressed and tired in the weeks following the kite fighting tournament. After finishing his chores, he sleeps and avoids talking with Amir.
What do Hassan and Ali give Amir for his birthday?
Hassan and Ali give Amir a new, expensive copy of his favorite book of stories, Shahnamah.
What shocking news does Rahim tell Amir?
Hassan is Amir's half brother.
How does Hassan try to rekindle his relationship with Amir?
Hassan tries to rekindle his relationship by hiking with Amir. They walk up a hill to their pomegranate tree and Hassan asks Amir to read a story to him. He again makes an attempt to rekindle their relationship by asking Amir to go to the bakery with him.
Who shows up at Amir's old house one day in an old blue burqa?
Hassan's Mother, Sanaubar
What does Hassan do to save both himself and Amir from Assef?
He arms his slingshot and points it at Assef's face threatening to make him one-eyed.
Amir and his father are enjoying their new relationship until Amir asks him a question that angers him. What is this question?
He asks, " Baba, have you ever thought about getting new servants?"
Why does the man at the orphanage say he has never seen Sohrab?
He believes they're part of the Taliban
What does Amir buy at this celebration?
He buys a kite like the ones in Afghanistan so he can fight the other kites already flying in the sky.
What did Sohrab do to himself?
He cut his wrists with Amir's razor to commit suicide
Why does Amir start laughing when he is in so much pain?
He finally feels at peace since the winter of 1975.
Why does Farid try to kill the director of the orphanage?
He finds out that he is selling children for sexual purposes to the Taliban
What happens at this celebration that makes Sohrab smile?
He flies a kite with Amir. The two fight another kite and win the tournament.
What does Amir give to Farid for helping him on his journey to find Sohrab?
He gives him all the money Rahim left, a little over $2,000.
Where does Sohrab go when he runs away from the hotel?
He goes to the large mosque, Shah Faisal.
What does Amir's father get Hassan for his birthday?
He hires a plastic surgeon to fix Hassan's cleft lip.
Why is Sohrab scared to go with Amir to America?
He is afraid that Amir will get tired of him, or that Amir's wife won't like him.
What does Sohrab to do when he enters the room when Amir sees him for the first time?
He is forced to dance to music. He is wearing a demeaning outfit and has bells strapped to his ankles.
What is Assef's reputation around town?
He is known as the bully everybody does what he says. He has a couple of followers.
What happens to Hassan after he has caught the last fallen kite from the tournament?
He is raped by Assef.
What skill did Hassan learn later in life?
He learned to read and write.
What happened to Rahim Khan?
He left town when Amir did and left only a note and keys to a safety deposit box behind for Amir when he returned
What does Amir have to wear as he travels to Kabul?
He must wear traditional Afghan clothing and a fake beard
What does Amir do when he sees what is happening to Hassan?
He runs off instead of helping.
What does the director of the orphanage say happened to Sohrab?
He says that Sohrab was sold to a Taliban official
What suggestion does the immigration lawyer give to Amir as his best chance of getting Sohrab out of Afghanistan and into America?
He says the best way to bring Sohrab home would be to relinquish him to an orphanage and start the paperwork through a private adoption agency after they do a home study.
What did Amir say as he lay awake in the room of sleeping relatives in Jalalabad?
He says, " I watched Hassan get raped."
How does Amir react the first time he sees the Taliban?
He stares at them and is chastised by Farid afterwards.
What does Sohrab do at the hotel each night before bed?
He takes a very long, hot bath.
What does Sohrab say he wants?
He tells Amir he is tired of everything and that he wants his old life back.
How did Rahim get the scar on his face?
He was at a soccer game when a man with the Taliban hit him in the face with his gun.
How did Ali die?
He was killed by a land mine.
How did Hassan die?
He was shot in the street by the Taliban
What does Amir say happened to him at the age of twelve?
He watched Hassan get raped and didn't do anything.
With what project does Amir get involved?
He works to raise money and get grants for a hospital on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border.
What is phyiscally odd about Hassan?
His cleft lip.
What signs from his childhood does Amir think of that support this idea that his father isalso Hassan's father?
His dad paid for Hassan's harelip to be fixed, he never missed his birthday, he called Hassan family when Amir asked him if he would ever get new servants,and he cried the day Ali and Hassan left.
Amir thinks Wahid's children are envious of his wristwatch so he gives it to them as a gift. What does Amir later discover they really want?
His food
Describe some of Amir's most severe injuries.
His mouth is wired shut from a broken jaw, he has a ruptured spleen, several broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken bone around his eye socket, several missing teeth, a spilt upper lip, and many cuts
Assef says, "Too late for Hitler, but not for us." What does he mean?
Hitler was defeated, he believes that the land belongs to the Pashtuns just as Hitler believed that the land belonged to the Germans.
Where do Hassan and his family stay when they move back to Amir's home with Rahim?
In the small hut Hassan was raised in
Why doesn't Farid go with Amir to meet with the man in white with the sunglasses to ask about Sohrab?
It would be too dangerous
What is Karim's job?
Karim is a guy who smuggles people out of Afghanistan.
Describe the Afghanistan Amir sees upon his return.
Poverty is everywhere. Most of the city is destroyed, and the Taliban roam the streets looking for trouble.
Who is Rahim Khan?
Rahim Khan is Baba's business partner and best friend.
How does Amir find out Rahim Khan is sick?
Rahim calls Amir and asks him to come to Pakistan to see him.
What story does Rahim tell Amir on his birthday?
Rahim tells Amir the story of his engagement to a Hazara servant women.
What happened to Amir's mother?
She dies of hemorrhaging while giving birth to Amir.
What happened to Hassan's mother?
She ran off with a clan of traveling singers and dancers
What good news does Soraya give Amir?
She tells him her uncle who works for the INS is going to be able to get Sohrab into the country immediately and without any problems.
Describe how Amir is finally able to leave the room and get away to safety with Sohrab.
Sohrab finds a brass ball and shoots Assef in the eye with his slingshot
What does Amir discover when he goes into the bathroom to talk to Sohrab?
Sohrab is bleeding and unconscious in the tub.
Describe how Sohrab acts once in America.
Sohrab is silent. He never speaks to anyone and takes up very little space. He sleeps all the time and sometimes it is hard to remember he is even there.
What does Sohrab's new room in America look like?
Soraya decorated Sohrab's new room with sheets showing brightly colored kites. She also made a growing chart on the wall and had a wicker basket overflowing with toys.
Even though it is really hot, what are all the soccer players wearing?
Sweatpants
Amir planned on leaving Sohrab with the Caldwell family in Pakistan. Why does Amir suddenly have to change his plans and become responsible for Sohrab?
The Caldwell family doesn't exist.
In what way does Amir stand up to the General for the first time?
The General calls Sohrab a Hazara boy, and Amir stands up to him telling him never to use that term in his presence again.
What happens at half time during the soccer game?
The Taliban stone two people to death for adultry
What does Amir look for when he climbs the hill to the cemetery where he and Hassan used to play?
The carving on the treeHe looks for the carving on the pomegranate tree that says, "Amir and Hassan, the Sultans of Kabul."
How does Amir find Sohrab since Sohrab is gone form the orphanage?
The director of the orphanage tells Amir and Farid that the Taliban official will be at the Ghazi Stadium tomorrow
What was the cause of all the gunfire and bombing that took place after Amir read Hassan his story?
The king Zahir Shah, was away in Italy. In his absence, his cousin Daoud Khan had ended the King's forty year reign with a bloodless coup.
Who is Farid?
The man driving Amir to Kabul
What do Amir and Farid see two men haggling over in the street?
The men are "haggling" over an artificial leg being sold on the black market.
What prompts Amir to write his first story?
The shooting that took place in Chapter 5.
What significant historical event happens a few months after Amir returns to America?
The twin towers in New York City fall on September 11, 2001.
Amir's father says there is only one sin in the world. What is it?
Theft
What type of lifestyle do the Afghan people live in Pakistan?
They are very poor. Some open businesses, but they are struggling to stay alive in very crowded areas.
How did the people of Afghanistan react when the Taliban took control of the country?
They were so happy they celebrated and danced in the streets.
What is the best prize to have during the kite fighting tournament?
To be the last kite flying and to catch the last kite.
How does Amir's father react when Ali quits?
When Ali quits, Amir's father weeps because he loves Hassan and Ali and does not understand their reasoning behind leaving
Farid is resentful of Amir and treats him with contempt. What makes him suddenly change his attitude?
When he finds out Amir is trying to rescue an orphan and get him to safety
What does it mean to "run" a kite?
When the string is cut they chase after it to catch it when it lands.
What favorite pastime does Amir have that his father just can't stand?
Writing.
What is every kid's favorite season in Kabul?
winter