Lit Analysis The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini

     The novel "The Kite Runner" is about a boy who grows up and find out that if you bury your problems then one day they will resurface with bigger consequences. Amir starts off as a boy living in Afghanistan with Baba (his father), the servants Ali and Hassan. Amir and Hassan are best friends but a series of unfortunate events lands the on different paths; Amir and Baba flee to America while Ali and Hassan flee out of town. Amir struggles to adapt but eventually ends up marrying the princess of the flea market, Soraya. Soon after Baba dies due to lung cancer. Amir gets a call one day and hears that Hassan was killed by the Taliban along with his wife and their son was sent to an orphanage. Amir is also told that he and Hassan were brothers and so he goes back to Afghanistan to find his nephew Sohrab. When he arrives he finds that Sohrab was taken by the Taliban headed by Amir and Hassan's childhood enemy. Amir and Assef fight and Sohrab intervenes and helps Amir escape. Amir and Sohrab recover but are told that Sohrab would have to stay behind and lead him to attempt suicide. Once back in the States Sohrab does not talk but one day at the park Amir buys a kite and does Hassan's signature move. As the kite flies away Sohrab smiles and Amir takes off after it.
     The theme of the novel is to face your demons when they first occur. Amir could have stopped Assef but didn't and he regretted it for the rest of his life. All three of their lives would have been extremely different if something would have done at that moment.
      The tone ranges so much during the novel. It is very positive and happy-go-lucky when Amir and Hassan win the kite tournament but drops down to grim and somber when Hassan is raped or when Baba dies.
       When I finished the novel I was in tears. I had been on an emotional train wreck and it finally was over. I sympathized with Amir but was understanding of Hassan. Both of them seemed like people that I had met and I will never forget these two dynamic characters. I felt as if I was in the same room when Assef  tried to kill Amir. This was the most realistic novel I had ever read and it is now my favorite.