Amir
What city does Amir live in?
What facial deformity does Hassan have?
A harelip or clef-lip.
Name 3 out of the 5 themes of the novel.
Resilience of the human spirit
Fathers and sons
Guilt and redemption
Man's inhumanity
Discrimination and prejudice
What is the setting of the first part of the novel?
Afghanistan.
Who wins the kite fighting tournament in Winter of 1975?
Amir and Hassan
Why does Amir believe Baba hates him?
Because Amir's mother died while she was giving birth to him.
Who does Hassan work for?
What theme does this quote fall into?
"In fact, you bother me more than this Hazara here. How can you talk to him, play with him, let him touch you?" he said, his voice dripping with disgust. (Hosseini 44).
Discrimination and prejudice
Who wrote The Kite Runner and when was is published?
Khaled Hosseini wrote the novel.
The Kite Runner was published in 2003.What are the two presents that Baba gives Amir for his birthday?
A red bike and a wrist-watch.
Why does Amir plant some money and his watch under Hassan's mattress.
Amir does this because he wants Hassan to be dismissed from the household. He does this because he feels guilty about what he witnessed and wants escape his feelings by no longer seeing Hassan.
What phrase does Hassan call to Amir as he was running after the blue kite?
"For you a thousand times over!" (Hosseini 71)
What does Baba gift Hassan? Why is this ironic?
Baba gifts Hassan a surgery to fix his harelip. This is ironic because after the winter of 1975, Hassan no longer smiles.
What is the population of Afghanistan as of 2016? (rounded)
The population of Afghanistan is ~33 million people.
What does Assef foreshadow when he confronts Amir and Hassan?
He foreshadows that he will do something bad to Hassan.
Amir feels guilty about what he witnesses in the alleyway. What does he confess when his family is asleep?
"I watched Hassan get raped" (Hosseini 91)
What does the pomegranate tree symbolize for Hassan and Amir? (two symbols)
The pomegranate tree represents two different aspects of Amir and Hassan's friendship. The first being the strength/formation of their friendship with the carving of "Amir and Hassan, sultans of Kabul" into the bark. The second symbol being the end of their friendship when Amir throws pomegranates at Hassan.
What theme does this quote fulfill?
"I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba." (Hosseini 82)
Man's Inhumanity
What are the legal and illegal economies in Afghanistan?
Legal: agriculture and animal husbandry
Illegal: growth & exportation of opium
What does Amir wonder when Baba confronts the Russian soldier? Why does Amir think that?
Amir wonders if Baba is really his father. He wonders this because Baba defends a woman from getting sexually assaulted by the solider, but Amir couldn't defend Hassan when he was sexually assaulted.
What did Baba do that Amir had never seen and scared him? Why did Baba do this?
Baba cried. He cried because he was so overwhelmed with the loss of Ali and Hassan.
Why does Hassan lie for Amir about "stealing" the money and the watch? What does this show about Hassan's character?
Hassan lies because he is still loyal to Amir. However, Hassan walks away with some power in this situation because he and Ali made the choice to leave the household.
Loyalty is compared and contrasted throughout the novel. When you think of the differences in loyalty that Amir and Hassan possess, what literary device does their loyalty fall into? Explain your reasoning.
Juxtaposition. Hassan is extremely loyal to Amir, and has shown that on multiple occasions. Hassan's unwavering loyalty is juxtaposed against Amir and how he continually treats Hassan poorly and fails to confess what he saw.
What is the official religion in Afghanistan? What percent of the population practices this religion? What are the two denominations?
Islam is the official religion. 99% of the population practice Islam. The two denominations are Sunni and Shias.
What does Amir mean that "this is was no Hindi movie" (Hosseini 115)? What is the significance of his thoughts?
Amir says this because he is comparing his life to a Hindi movie he watched with Hassan. If Amir's life was a Hindi movie, he would run out in the rain, pull Hassan out of the car and apologize to him. However, he does not do this, and watches as Hassan is driven away. Amir is sorry, but didn't not act on his feelings and apologize to Hassan.