The Kite Runner Reader Reflection
Ian Thompson
January 15, 2020
The Kite Runner is a novel written by Khaled Hosseini, being published in 2003. In the
reader reflection, only knowledge from Chapters 1 and 2 are intentionally used.
While reading, I had reactions that stood out. In the story, Amir and Hassan are described
to have thrown mulberries at a German Sheperd that was missing an eye. Reading this disturbed
me, as I perceiving that bullying animals is very cruel. It is especially the most injustice when
such animal is not permitted to retaliate. Furthermore, the dog was already suffering from
missing an eye. Another event was when Amir explained that Hassan was born a ‘happy child’.
This was saddening, as it is explained in detail that Hassan had been and still was being bullied
greatly by everyone around him, including his caretaker during his birth.
There were encounters with things that had puzzled me while reading as well. At the
beginning of the book, the term ‘harelipped’ was used as an adjective for Hassan. I was not
confused about what it meant, but more for the fact that I have never heard of that word before.
A different part that had me thinking was when Amir stated he had enough time as a kid to
eavesdrop on grown-ups for two hours per occasion. It made me wonder what other things he
could have done as a kid at that time. Was he just curious? Or did he have nothing more
entertaining to do.
While progressing the story, I noted there were many hints towards one significant event
which occurred to the protagonist, Amir. In chapter one, it sounded like the mind of a military
veteran. He had thoughts like “There is a way to be good again”, and was recalling events that
were bugging him from decades ago. He also recalls how that year ‘changed everything’,
referring to the event. Later on, there are hints of where the setting is during that time; overall
indicating they lived in the Middle-East, which indicators; such as a gift saying “Allahu Akbar”,
being an Arabic sentence. Having a relative which visited Mashad, Iraq, which suggests they
could have visited from nearby. He also states he is a Pashtun, which is of Iranian ethnicity. With
the assumption, they are in the Middle-East and knowledge that this event occurred in the winter
of 1975; we could link this to the Shatt al-Arab conflict which occurred during that year. On top
of this, the story suggests the relevance of racism being a theme; making the thesis that Amir had
experiences within a Middle-East war as a juvenile likely true.