Kite Runner
Chapters 4-5
Mr. Bratkowski
Summary
• Ali and Baba grew up together.
• Amir and Hassan enjoy going to the cemetery to
read, although Hassan is illiterate.
• Amir begins writing his own stories.
• Daoud Khan replaces Zahir Shah as ruler.
• Assef threatens Amir and Hassan defends Amir.
• Baba hires a plastic surgeon to repair Hassan’s
cleft palate.
Character List
List of Characters:
• Baba
• Ali
• Hassan
• Rahim Khan
• Assef
• Kamal
• Wali
• Dr. Kumar
Character Captain
Assef
• “If you were a kid living in the Wazir Akbar
Khan section of Kabul, you knew about Assef
and his famous stainless-steel brass knuckles,
hopefully not through personal experience. Born
to a German mother and Afghan father, the
blond, blue-eyed Assef towered over the other
kids. His well-earned reputation for savagery
proceeded him on the streets” (Hosseini 38).
• ‘“I’ll ask the president to do what the king didn’t
have the quwat to do. To rid Afghanistan of all
the dirty, kasseef Hazaras’” (Hosseini 40).
Main Idea and Theme
• Main Idea – Courage
• Theme – It takes courage to defend the ones you
love from harm or wrongdoing.
Literary Luminary
Allusions
• “ We saw Rio Bravo three times, but we saw our favorite
Western, The Magnificent Seven, thirteen times. With
each viewing, we cried at the end when the Mexican kids
buried Charles Bronson – who, as it turned out, wasn’t
Iranian either” (Hosseini 26).
Irony
• “The swelling subsided and the wound healed with time.
Soon, it was just a pink jagged line running up from his
lip. By the following winter, it was only a faint scar.
Which was ironic. Because that winter was the winter
that Hassan stopped smiling” (Hosseini 47).
Vocabulary
• Feigned (31) – Verb
• Sentence • Hone (32) – Verb
• Sentence -
Questions
• How does Amir truly feel about Hassan when he is
honest with himself? Explain your reasoning with
evidence from the book.
• Compare and contrast Amir and Hassan’s
personalities. How are they similar and different?
• How are Amir’s relationships with Baba and Rahim
Khan different? Explain your thoughts with details
from the book.
• How does the author use foreshadowing to give hints
about what will happen later in the plot? Explain
with examples.
• Why is it significant that Amir and Hassan play in a
graveyard? What do you think Hosseini is trying to
show us with this detail?