THE KITE RUNNER
Danielle Preedy and Isobel Cox
Systematic Framework
Terminology
Nouns
Key questions for analysis
What abstract and concrete nouns are used and why?
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Semantic fields
Discourses
What dynamic verbs are used and what is their effect?
What descriptive and emotive adjectives are used and why?
What is the effect of the use of the adverbs?
What fields of meaning are REALLY important in a text?
What discourses are employed? Does the text use and explore
patriarchal/feminist/sexist/racist/ageist discourses?
Alliteration
What is the EFFECT of the alliteration? What words/images/ideas does it
emphasize?
Onomatopoeia
What is the EFFECT of the onomatopoeia? What words/images/ideas
does it emphasize?
Assonance
What is the EFFECT of the assonance? What words/images/ideas does it
emphasize?
Syndetic and asyndetic lists
How and why does the text use lists?
Figurative language: metaphors What striking comparisons are made in the text? What do they make you
and similes
think/feel/see?
Figurative language:
How and why do the writers personify specific objects?
personification
Syntax: word order
What words go at the beginning and end of sentences and why?
Register: tone
Phonology: sounds
How informal/formal is the text and what is its tone?
What sounds does the text create and why? Look at the use of alliteration,
Chapter 23
Summary
In this chapter, Amir wakes up in hospital after the
incidence between him and Assef when he attempts to
rescue Sohrab. He has a numerous amount of injuries,
including a split lip which makes him think of Hassan.
He also receives a letter from Rahim Khan, explaining
more about his brotherhood with Hassan, about Baba and
the fact that he knew about Hassan’s rape.
At the end of the chapter, Amir leaves the hospital and
drove back through Peshwar. He falls asleep and dreams
of the good things from his childhood and thinks about ‘a
way to be good again.’
Chapter 23
Key Extracts
“We are in the Sulaiman Mountains of Baluchistan and Baba is
wrestling the black bear. He is the Baba of my childhood, Toophan
agha, the towering specimin of Pashtun might…He looks up at me and
I see. He’s me. I am wrestling the bear.”
“I kept thinking of something else that Dr. Faruqi had said: ‘The impact
had cut your upper lip in two’ he had said, ‘clean down the middle’.
Clean down the middle. Like a harelip.”
“Baba saying that the only sin that mattered was theft. ‘When you tell a
lie you steal a man’s right to the truth.’ Rahim Khan on the phone,
telling me there was a way to be good again. A way to be good
again…”
Chapter 23
Questions
What does Rahim Khan’s letter reveal and what
does he think about Baba’s actions?
How does the writer present Amir, physically and
mentally, when he is in hospital?
What is so significant about the Amir’s cut lip?
Why are Amir’s dreams significant?
Chapter 23
Analytical/Creative Response
Analytical:
How does Hoessieni create sympathy for the main
characters in chapter 23?
Creative response:
Write a diary entry from the point of view of Sohrab,
explaining and describing his thoughts and feelings while
he is in the hospital room with Amir.
Chapter 24
Summary
In this chapter, Amir and Sohrab are staying at a hotel and
Sohrab goes missing. Amir looks for him and manages to
find him at a mosque. Sohrab says that he feels dirty
because of what has happened to him, but Amir comforts
him and they go back to the hotel.
Amir and Sohrab go to talk to someone about Amir being
able to adopt Sohrab and take him back to America, but
they are told that it is virtually impossible. Amir finds out
that the only way it will work is to send Sohrab back to an
orphanage for a while. Sohrab is distraught and does not
want to go back, and at the end of the chapter, Amir finds
Sohrab in the bath surrounded by blood as he has tried to
kill himself, and quickly calls an ambulance.
Chapter 24
Key Extracts
“A kinship exists between those who’ve fed from the same breast. Now,
as the boy’s pain soaked through my shirt, I saw that a kinship had
taken root between us too. What happened in that room with Assef had
irrevocably bound us.”
“Then I did what I hadn’t done in fifteen years of marriage; I told my
wife everything. Everything. I had pictured the moment so many times,
dreaded it, but, as I spoke, I felt something lift off my chest.”
“I pushed the door open. Stepped into the bathroom. Suddenly I was on
my knees, screaming. Screaming through my clenched teeth.
Screaming until I thought my throat would rip and my chest explode.”
Chapter 24
Questions
Where is Sohrab found and what happens when
he is?
What happens when they talk to someone about
the adoption?
Why is the phone call to Soraya important?
Why does Sohrab attempt suicide?
Chapter 24
Analytical/Creative Response
Analytical:
How does Hosseini use speech, especially between
Amir and Sohrab, for effect in this chapter.
Creative Response:
Imagine you are Amir writing a letter to Hassan to tell
him all about what has happened and how you feel.
Creative Response for 23 and 24
Creative:
Write a 3rd person narrative to describe the events of both
chapters 23 and 24 from the view of an outsider.
Chapter 11
Summary
This chapter introduces us to Baba and Amir’s new life in
America. We learn that Baba now works in a petrol station, a
huge contrast to his previous lifestyle. Amir is just graduating
high school to go to college to do medicine. On the night of the
graduation, Baba takes Amir out for dinner and a drink, where he
buys everyone in the bar a drink. Baba buys Amir a car as a
graduation gift. Amir tells his father that he still wants to do
writing, however Baba does not want him to. Amir has made his
decision and stands by it. Amir describes where he drives,
through the different neighbourhoods all the way to the ocean,
he describes the first time he saw the ocean also. Amir sees
America as a land of hope and opportunity. Amir and Baba begin
to go to a flea market on a Saturday an sell items for profit. One
day, Baba and Amir meet General Taheri and his family. This
includes his daughter Soraya, who Amir experiences an instant
liking too. Amir carries on thinking about her all evening.
Chapter 11
Key Extracts
“I think I’ll major in English”
“If for nothing else, for that, I embraced America.”
“My heart stuttered at the thought of her. Soraya Taheri. My
Swap Meet Princess”
Chapter 11
Analytical/Creative Response
Analytical:
How does Hosseini explore the theme of love and tension
between father and son in this chapter?
Creative Response:
Write a letter from Baba to Rahim Khan back in Afghanistan
telling him about his new lifestyle in America.
Chapter 12
Summary
After around one year, Amir finally builds up the courage to
speak to Soraya, whilst her father is away. He only speaks
to her in the following weeks when General Taheri is away,
one time whilst they are speaking Amir gives Soraya one of
his stories, General Taheri returns and throws the story
away. Baba is diagnosed with lung cancer however refuses
any treatment. Baba falls even more ill and goes into
hospital, several people visit him including General Taheri.
Once Baba is back home, Amir asks if he will ask General
Taheri for Soraya’s hand in marriage , Baba goes the next
day. General Taheri accepts, and Amir speaks with Soraya
on the phone. Soraya tells Amir of a man she ran away with
when she was young. Amir admits that it bothers him but it
does not affect him wanting to marry her still.
Chapter 12
Key Extracts
“Would you like to read one of my stories?”
“Baba asked him where he was from. Dr. Schneider said
Russia. Baba lost it.”
“I envied her. Her secret was out. Spoken. Dealt with. I
opened my mouth and almost told her how i’d betrayed
Hassan, lied, driven him out, and destroyed a forty-year
relationship between Baba and Ali. But I didn’t. I suspected
there were many ways in which Soraya Taheri was a better
person than me. Courage was just one of them.”
Chapter 12
Analytical Question
Analytical:
How does Hosseini show the blossoming relationship
between Amir and Soraya in this chapter?
Creative Response:
Write a diary entry by Soraya, about her first few meetings
with Amir and what she believes are her father’s feelings
towards him.