Childhood In The Kite Runner

In the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Amir told the story of his life in the past that eventually lead up to his present life. In his childhood he had things he struggled with both physically and mentally.
In this book, Kite Runner, Amir faced some difficult times. One of the first things he had a hard time dealing with as a child was a boy named Assef. Assef was the most selfish and ruthless boy throughout the neighborhood in which they lived in. To Ali, Amir’s best friend’s dad, Assef was the one who tortured him the most for being a Hazara (a servant). “‘Hey Babalu, who did you eat today? Or when he felt inspired he would say, ‘Hey, you flat-nosed Babalu, who did you eat today? Tell us you slant-eyed donkey!’” (Hosseini 38). This quote shows how mean Assef could be to anyone, he did not care who it was or how old they were. Assef was especially mean to Amir’s best friend, Hassan. Assef was very cruel to Hassan. Assef made Hassan very scared. He called him names and hurt him often.
Years later, when everyone grew up and had gone their separate ways, death had come upon some of the people Amir was closest to. Baba, Amir’s father and Ali had died. Hassan and Farzana (Hassan’s wife) had

been shot. Amir had received a call from Rahim Khan, Baba’s close friend, and asked Amir to go back to Afghanistan. Amir was living in the United States of America at the time. Rahim had asked Amir to rescue Sohrab, Hassan and Farzana’s son, from being abused by the Taliban.
When Amir returned to Afghanistan, he had found that Assef had become the leader of the Taliban. Unfortunately, Assef had already gotten to Sohrab and done “bad things to him”. Assef soon realized why Amir was back in Afghanistan and told him he could keep Sohrab, but only if they could settle an old fight that had been started when they were younger. “Assef put down his prayer beads. Reached in a pocket of his black vest. What he fished out of that pocket did not surprise me one bit: stainless-steel brass knuckles” (Hosseini 287). This quote from the book shows Assef actually wanting to finish Amir with his brass knuckles he used to hurt him with when they were younger.
“Assef narrowed his eyes… ‘How can you call him your friend?’ ‘But he’s not my friend!’ I almost blurted.

‘He’s my servant!’ Had I really thought that? Of course I hadn’t, I hadn’t. I treated Hassan well, just like a friend, better even, more like a brother… when Baba’s friends came to visit with their kids, didn’t I ever include Hassan in our games? Why did I play with Hassan when no one else was around?” (Hosseini 41). This particular quote is showing how Amir would have acted if he did not keep his mouth shut and what he would actually do in a time of danger when he is with Hassan being teased about it. Unfortunately, Amir mentally struggled with Hassan being a Hazara. He knew Hazaras were servants and he did not like it when someone asked if they were

friends.
There are themes in every book. In the Kite Runner the theme is as you grow up, you start to realize the mistakes you had made. There are passages in the book that show Amir regretting his decisions he had made.
In the book the Kite Runner, Amir was faced with physical problems he had to deal with and mental problems that were going on in his life. He was faced with the problems of Assef and having a thought in his mind that he was friends with a Hazara.