The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

the kite runner

Summary:Jajuba

Sin and the quest for redemption draw the parameters of our life. For Amir too it had been one long suffering from childhood till he grew a man and sought his salvage in the ruins of his life. Born and brought up in a wealthy and renowned family in Kabul, Amir was unaware of the advantages, which fell his way by his birth. His mother was a rare combination of beauty and brains. She had been the greatest asset and win for his father and also the reason for the gulf that stood between father and son. She died giving birth to Amir and his father couldn’t forget that. For Amir father was a pillar of strength and courage. He was a true Pathan in his virile spirit and bearing. He was a man liberal beyond extent. Just as he would rail against superstitions, he would build with utter dedication an orphanage for the poor. He was a man from whom none returned empty-handed. Being his son Amir often felt he possessed neither his father’s magnanimity nor his courage. It was Hassan who always saved him from the teasing boys of the neighborhood.

Hassan was the only playmate and companion that Amir had since childhood. Hassan’s family had served them for three generations. The allegiance that they bore was one of a kind. If Amir had lost his mother by death, Hassan had lost his by her waywardness. Seven days after his birth Sanobar disappeared with a man. Amir was told that they were breast-fed by the same woman and hence they were more of brothers. But Amir would have none of it. He felt that it was beneath his place to have a Hazara boy for his brother. He was a Pathan, the ruler and Hassan was a Hazara, the ruled. But what disconcerted Amir was his father’s deep affection for Hassan of which Amir at times was deprived. Amir would often put Hassan to the test of his loyalty for him. He would claim absurd things of Hassan, which he would perform obligingly. Amir enjoyed the little power he could wield over Hassan, often though he knew that Hassan gave in to him not out of fear but of love. With Hassan though he made the most of his childhood till the fatal day that doomed him forever into sleepless nights and nightmares. It was the annual kite flying day and for Amir the last chance to win his father’s heart.

He won the chase as he snipped kite after kite till only his one floated gloriously in the sky. Hassan was running after the winning kite with which Amir had promised to make a gift to his father. He grew impatient of Hassan’s return with the trophy and went down to hunt him. In a deserted alley he found Hassan cornered by Asef, the sadist and self-proclaimed big brother of the neighborhood. He saw how vehemently Hassan refused to surrender the winning kite to Asef and how brutally he was beaten and raped for that. Amir witnessed it all, dismayed at his own cowardice to step into Hassan’s rescue. To rid himself of the guilt he heaped on himself more guilt by accusing Hassan of stealth. As always Hassan read into his thoughts and without a word of vindication left with his father Ali the place where he was born. While Afghanistan fell into bloodshed and violence Amir and his father fled to America. A new life awaited them there.

With his penchant for writing Amir became an established writer. He married the outcast Soraya and helplessly watched his father being nibbled away by cancer. Only in America did the father-son bond strengthen and he bore the loss of his father with difficulty. Yet amid the din and bustle of life the pangs of guilt remained. Being childless even after years of marriage he was hardpressed with a sense of sin. And then like the deus ex machina his father’s friend Rahim Khan beckoned him to Pakistan. Meeting the ailing Rahim, Amir came to know of a shocking truth. Hassan was his half-brother. All his years of discrimination and justification set heavy on him. It made him question his father’s honesty. He found himself on a journey to retrieve Hassan’s son from Afghanistan. It was in this journey that his life wouldcome to a full circle. He found Sohrab in the clutches of a beastly and sadistic Taliban official. He was none other than Asef. Once again like his father Sohrab became his savior. They fled and took shelter in Islamabad. They struck a rare friendship. Sohrab began to trust him and Amir felt cleansed of some of his guilt. But he yet had to pay a heavier price.

As Amir failed to convince Sohrab of his love he found the child slip away into a state of torpor. Though Amir took him along to the States, though Soraya took him as their own child yet he stood unresponsive. Hassan with his martyrdom had initiated him on the journey of sin and redemption and by gaining Sohrab’s love would he be able to redeem himself. When he saw a glint of a smile on Sohrab’s face he ran the kite for him for in his happiness lay his freedom.

The Kite Runner Originally published in Shvoong: http://www.shvoong.com/books/novel-novella/619632-kite-runner/