Kara, Zach, Frederick
The Kite Runner
Chapters 1-5
Background of Khaled Hosseini
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Born in Kabul, Afghanistan 1965
In 1980 Khaled moved to San Jose,
California & attended Santa Clara
University.
In 1988 he earned a bachelors
degree in biology.
The following year he entered The
University of California Medical
School & earned a Medical Degree
in 1993.
In March 2001 Khaled published
The Kite Runner.
http://www.khaledhosseini.com/hosseini-bio.html
Characters
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Amir: Narrator.
Baba: Amir’s father.
Hassan: Amir’s friend/servant. Son of Ali.
Ali: Servant to Baba.
Rahim Khan: Baba’s best friend and business partner.
Assef: Neighborhood bully.
Vocabulary
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1. Hazara: “They are reputedly descendants of the Mongolian conqueror, Genghis
Khan. They are overwhelmingly Shia Muslims, with a Sunni minority, and
comprise the third largest religious ethnic group of Afghanistan with about 10% of
its population.”
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazara_people
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2. Agha: “An honorific title for high officials used in Turkey and certain Muslim
countries.”
-en.wiktionary.org/wiki/agha
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3. Laaf: Afghan tendency to exaggerate.
4. Babalu: Boogeyman.
5. Farsi: “Modern Iranian language of Iran and western Afghanistan.”
6. Hadj: Pilgrimmage to Mecca.
7. Jan: “A word of endearment.”
-http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/The-Kite-Runner-Study-and-Homework-Help-Full-Glossaryfor-The-Kite-Runner.id-199,pageNum-97.html
Background of Chapter 1
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The narrator has a
flashback. His friend,
Rahim Khan calls him
from Pakistan to atone for
his sins, which comes into
play later in the book as a
main point. He sees a kite
in the sky and thinks about
what happened in the alley.
Background of Chapter 2
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Describes the friendship of Amir and Hassan
and how they spent their days together.
Remembers how good Hassan was with the
slingshot, which comes into play later in the
book. Baba, the main character’s father, is an
important man who is well respected and has a
mansion. Hassan and his caretaker are the
servants to Baba and Amir. Baba talks about
business, politics, and soccer. Baba has never
really liked his son Amir, because he feels like
he is weak and not masculine, and is not good at
anything. He also feels that Amir killed his wife,
because she died giving birth to him. Hassan is
made fun of because he is a Hazara and comes
from a certain ethnic group that is discriminated
against.
Background of Chapter 3
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Baba is a rich merchant and a well
respected business man who commands
attention wherever he goes and everyone
listens to him. He owned a carpet
exporting business, two pharmacies, and
a resturaunt. He marred a beautiful
woman who was highly educated & very
popular. Amir admires his father but
begrudges that he is never given the
attention of affection he wants from him.
Baba hates it when Amir cries and sees it
again as a sign of weakness. When Amir
is made fun of or hit, Hassan always
steps in and defends him. Baba says, “If I
hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my
wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe
he’s my son.”
Background of Chapter 4
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Amir disrespects Hassan and
never thinks of him as a
friend despite his dog like
loyalty to him, b/c he is a
Sunni and Hassan is a Shi’a
and he is a Pashtun and
Hassan is a Hazara. He makes
fun of Hassan and kind of
only used/him or includes
him in games when he wants
to really doesn’t think of him
as equal, just as his father did
of Hassan’s caretaker, Ali.
Background of Chapter 5
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Talks about Assef, the bully, who was half white and
half Afghani. He was a boy with racist ideals who
admired Hitler and was very violent and picked on
people. One day as Assef is picking on Hassan and
Amir, and is about to beat Hassan w/brass knuckles,
Hassan pulls out a rock and his slingshot and stops
him. Assef says this is not over & will get him back
for this comes into play twice later in the book.
Then, the Soviet Expansion of Afghanistan is also
covered in this chapter.