The journey begins when Hosseini transports his readers into Amir's memories of the fatal winter in 1975 with the character being only the age of twelve when it occurred. The authors use of diction and imagery cause us the readers to question what happened at this time and what does it do to cause Amir to have not only his life changed but another's as well.
From chapters 1-8 we are brought back and forth from this fatal winter in 1975 through the constant imagery the author weaves into Amir's narrating. As a reader, it brought fear to me since it involved innocent Hassan. I realized this from the various explicit foreshadowing and clues left by the author, "Hassan and I fed from the same breasts... under the same roof we spoke our first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name... I think the foundation for what happened at the winter of 1975-and all that followed-was already laid in those first words" (Hosseini, page 10). The author gives us readers clear insight into how this event brought in the regret done to someone who had had "a brotherhood" since they fed from the same breasts (pg 10). Already establishing the relationship between both characters had me question how one event can bring an end to such a relationship and change everything after it. The author also translates Amir's voice to be one of regret whenever thinking back to that fatal time. The became clear to me of the author creating this precise event to be the climax of the novel since that moment was the one in which would change Amir as a person forever and determine where his life would head in relation to the his faithful servant Hassan. Being brought so early in the novel created a mood of mystery causing me to have anxiety toward this event since the author brings us into the confused Amirs' memories of his companion Hassan.
Our narrator Amir struggles inwardly to whether or not accept the idea of Hassan being his friend or seeing him as just his servant. The author lets us be apart of Amir's entangled thoughts over the issue molding one of the themes, upper class against minority. So who is this upper class and who is the minority in terms of the book's setting? This book was set in the time where Amir's kind and Hassan's were determined a life of luxury or servitude only from their own DNA. Bloodlines in their culture were respected and your ancestry determined your success or failure. Nothing got past these people.
Looking into some research I tried to discover who were these two "different classes". Amir being Pashtuns, Sunni Muslims, and Hassan's being Hazara, Shi'a Muslim.
- "A Pashtun is a member of the predominant ethnic group of Afghanistan and parts of western Pakistan. There are an estimated 42 million Pashtun people. The Pashtun people clearly out-number the Hazaran people.” "The difference in Religion of the Pashtun and Hazara are two different branches of Islam which is one reason for the conflict with one another. The language of the Pashtun people is Pashtu, which is one of the two official languages in Afghanistan." http://fensti.freehostia.com/Engl180/KiteRunner/Tribes.html
Looking at this information it became clear to why these Hassan was looked so badly at by the other kids and had to serve as a servant to Amir and his father. The constant struggle Amir has to accept Hassan or not causes him to do things by first impulse in order to save whatever image he may have or as I see it the upper-hand. Getting to know this side of Amir gets me to be understanding of why he must struggle with this but it's disappointing how he just accepts his confusion due to the dark shadow upon him for the approval and love of his cold father. I sensed Amir knew of the close relationship he had with Hassan but chose to throw away this brotherhood in order for him to get close to his father. Jealousy got the best of young Amir. Reading of how find Amir was of Hassan this fondness not only came from Hassan's undying loyalty to him but the fact that Hassan gave him the attention he craved and was very ignorant to certain things since he was not allowed to be educated at school. This gave Amir a sort of feeling of power against Hassan but the author always brought back Amir's envious comments of Hassan being so great and more worthy of a son for his Baba. This to me was somewhat shocking to me and humorous since in reality Amir is missing the big picture. His jealousy blinded him to the fact of Hassan being born into a life where he wasn't blessed with the right to an education, to be a normal kid in a nice home; not some mud hut or doing the chores for another child his own age.
This subject if all molded around the theme of the relationship between father and son; also the fact that these two boys are motherless in different ways. This affects the story line and the characters of Amir and Hassan on so many levels. Amir doesn't realize the good life he has since he feels responsibility for "killing" his mother at birth and his own thinking of that his father hated him for it and that was why he wanted his father's forgiveness. Unlike Hassan, Hassan must have felt unwanted from his mother just running away leaving him behind with his poorly physical father. I began to see how being motherless in different ways can create a different character trait in a person as they begin to mature. I feel as if Hassan accepted his mother leaving in enabling him to move on and grow from it. It must have helped him to see what blessings he does have and be thankful for them. Amir on the other hand must have only felt guilt and responsibility of the loss of his mother. Being a child he couldn't accept that fact that things like that cannot be prevented therefore it wasn't his fault. Taking on this fault caused him to be blinded of the nice things he had and focus only on the relationship with his father. Idolizing Baba was the only way Amir could try to make up for the death of his mother and being so different from his manly father. If only Amir's father can show some love for his son's writing talents I feel Amir would have felt more settled as a child and not always on edge to try to gain approval all the time. Amir received somewhat of a good father figure through Rahim Khan, Baba's best friend. Even so, Amir did notice how his father would "pass the son towel" to Rahim when Amir was doing something his father didn't take interest to. Like his son's writing, "Baba went on staring me down, and didn't offer to read... As always, it was Rahim Khan who rescued me... Baba shrugged and stood up. He looked relieved, as if he too had been rescued by Rahim Khan" (Hosseini, Page 27). Not taking interest or even attempting to take the interest in his own son's work caused Amir's crave for approval just to grow causing him to even sacrifice Hassan that winter in 1975.
Hassan's father Ali on the other hand, showed love and care. Not being able to provide his only son with anything he desired like Amir's father did, he instead established religion on his young son and taught him to appreciate all they had. Different foundations can mold a child into being one who overpasses their tragedy then just accepting it. That is also where I can trace where Amir's envy for Hassan came into play.
In Chapter 11, Baba stated that there are only three real men in the world, America, Britain, and Israel. Looking into the events in the 70s and 80s and the Cold War, these countries were basically the Allies of those other countries being attacked. They set aside their own issues and put in a helping hand. A real man helps out another not matter what the situation, he sacrifices himself for one in need. Living in America our culture is fighting for freedom not only in our country but in any other country that is being stripped of its freedom. Amir questioned himself whether or not he was really Baba's son since in the moment when his brother like companion was being brutally raped and needed Amir's help; all Amir could do was run away in fear of himself getting hurt and loosing the blue kite as a trophy to gain his father's approval. In terms of acceptance, Amir was looking his father to accept him for being a coward in order for him to ease the painful fact that he wasn't a real man in the winter of 1975 and helped out Hassan. Baba lived the philosophy of this real man even putting his own life in danger to save a woman his didn't even personally know from being raped by a cruel Russian officer when trying to go across the border. Being a real man today and in the book is defined to be one who faces the challenge directly to stand by their belief no matter what the cost. Just like the story of Baba wrestling the black bear, he gained honor by standing by the "real man code" and faced the challenge and overcame it.
