Kite Runner Quotes

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Notes

Quote

Chapter One:
“I looked up at the twin kites. I thought about Hassan. Thought about Baba. Ali. Kabul. I thought of the life I had until winter of 1975 came and changed everything. And made me what I am today.” (pg 2)

Chapter Two:
“I can still see Hassan up on that tree, sunlight flickering through the leaves on his almost perfectly round face, a face like a Chinese doll chiseled from hardwood: his flat, broad nose and slanting, narrow eyes like bamboo leaves, eyes that looked, depending on the light, gold, green, even sapphire I can still see his tiny lowset ears and that pointed stub of a chin, a meaty appendage that looked like it was added as a mere afterthought. And the cleft lip,

just left of midline, where the Chinese doll maker's instrument may have slipped; or perhaps he had simply grown tired and careless.” (pg 3)

Chapter Three:
“Self defense has nothing to do with meanness.

You know what always happens when the neighborhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fends them off. I've see it with my own eyes. And when they come home, I say to him,”How did Hassan get that scrape on his face?' And he says, 'He fell down. 'I'm telling you, Rahim, there is something missing in that boy." (12)

Chapter Four:
“Sometimes, my entire childhood seems like one long lazy summer day with Hassan, chasing each other between tangles of trees in my father's yard, playing hide and seek, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians,insect torture with our crowning achievement undeniably the time we plucked the stinger off a bee and tied a string around the poor thing to yank it back every time it took flight.” (28)

Chapter Five:
“We stayed huddled that way until the early hours of the morning. The shootings and explosions had lasted less than an hour, but they had frightened us badly, because none of us had ever heard gunshots in the streets. They were foreign sounds to us then. The generation of Afghan children whose ears would know nothing but the sounds of bombs and gunfire was not yet born. Huddled together in the dining room and waiting for the sun to rise, none of us had any notion that a way of life had ended. Our way of life. If not quite yet, then at least it was the beginning of the end.”

(pg.34)

Chapter Six:
“I wasn't going to fail Baba. Not this time"
(pg. 57)

Chapter Seven:
“Nothing was free in this world, Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba. Was it a fair price?” (pg.77)

Chapter Eight:

“After the kite tournament, he came home a little bloodied and his shirt was torn. I asked him what had happened and he said it was nothing.” (pg 81)

Chapter Nine:
“I saw that Hassan had told him. He had told him everything, about what Assef and his friends had done to him, about the kite, about me. Strangely, I was glad that someone knew me for who I really was; I was tired of pretending.” (pg.106)

Chapter Ten:
"Think of something good," Baba said in my ear. "Something happy. Something good. Something happy. I let my mind wander. I let it come: Friday afternoon in Paghman. An open field of grass speckled with mulberry trees in blossom. Hassan and I stand ankle-deep in untamed grass, I am tugging on the line, the spool spinning in Hassan's calloused hands, our eyes turned up to the kite in the sky..." (pg.122

Chapter Eleven:
“Baba loved the idea of America. It was living in America that gave him an ulcer.” (pg. 125)

Chapter Twelve:
“The man is a Pashtun to the root. He has nang and namoos.’ Nang. Namoos. Honor and pride.”( pg.145)

Chapter Thirteen:
“Every woman needed a husband. Even if he did silence the song in her.” (pg,178)

Chapter Fourteen:
“Come. There is a way to be good again"
(pg.192)

Chapter Fifteen:
“Peace at last. But at what price?"
(pg.201)

Chapter Sixteen:
“Those thorny old barbs of guilt bore into me one more, as if speaking his name had broken a spell, set them free to torment me anew”. (pg.202)

Chapter Seventeen:
"I felt like a man sliding down a steep cliff. (pg.222)

Chapter Eighteen:
“He’s staying right here with us, where he belongs. This is his home and we’re his family” (pg. 225)

Chapter Nineteen:
"I feel like a tourist in my own country..."
(pg.231)

Chapter Twenty:
“The trek between Kabul and Jalalabad, a bone-jarring ride down a teetering pass snaking through the rocks, had become a relic now, a relic of two wars. Twenty years earlier, I had seen some of the first war with my own eyes. Grim reminders of it were strewn along the road: burned carcasses of old Soviet tanks, overturned military trucks gone to rust, a crushed Russian jeep that had plunged over the mountainside. The second war, I had watched on my TV screen. And now I was seeing it through Farid's eyes.”
(pg.243)

Chapter Twenty One:
“I leaned against the gray stone gateway to the cemetery where Hassan had buried his mother.” (pg.264)

Chapter Twenty Two:
“My body was broken--just how badly I wouldn't find out until later--but I felt healed. Healed at last." (pg.289)

Chapter Twenty Three:
“The impact had cut your upper lip in two, he had said, clean down the middle. Clean down the middle. Like a harelip.” (pg.297)

Chapter Twenty Four:
“There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood.” (pg.293)

Chapter Twenty Five:
“For you, a thousand times over,' I heard myself say.” (pg.371)

Analysis

This quote provides some foreshadowing with the future plot. It also shows suspense with the references of things changing the narrator as who he is today. It hints at other characters,with referencing them in. It also lets the readers know there will be flashbacks within the story. A family theme is universally expressed. It reveals the narrator's personality, that he is thoughtful. The kites must be symbol and something that connects him to his family.

This quote describes hassan’s facial features so now we have a better understanding of what he looks like. This shows that with Hassan’s cleft lip, he faces some troubles Amir doesn’t. A theme of reminiscence is expressed. It also hints at some things about his family that we might hear about in the plot. It shows that Aamir is very observant. The Chinese doll maker is a metaphor about his mom, maybe having a rough pregnancy.

This quote shows the relationship between Baba and Amir. It also shows some of Amir’s personality characteristics such as, timid, quiet, and sticks to himself. It also shows Baba’s personality is mean and sturdy. This gives us an understanding of Amir wanting to impress Baba. Hassan cares a lot for Amir and won’t let him get hurt. Baba cares for amir, but compares him to himself and just wants him to stand up for himself.

This quote shows that Hassan and Amir are like brothers. Life is very good for them in the summer and they have no troubles. A theme of brotherhood is there and how close they are. That at this time life is very calm for them, and a sense of foreshadowing that soon there will be no more peace in the plot and Hassan and Amir won’t be friends anymore.

This quote shows character development of Baba, Ali, Hassan, and Amir, that they all love each other like family. They work through everything as family. This quote gives foreshadowing that there will be lots of violence later on in the story, “....They were foreign sounds to us then.” This also gives a theme of war, and the aspect of what was happening inside their country. There was a lot of war and poverty going on in their country during this time.

Amir thinks if he wins the kite tournament, he will finally win over Baba’s love and become the favorite. He’s always fighting for attention from Baba, because Baba likes Hassan more. He also thinks that winning it will stop Baba of thinking of his failures and become more affectionate towards him. So he was gonna win the tournament

This quote shows Amir deciding if he should betray Hassan, to leave him during his rape. Amir would do anything to win the love from Baba. Is it worth leaving Hassan during this awful thing that happens to him, or keep going and to win. This will dictate what happens in the plot, do they stay friends after Hassan finds out Amir betrayed him?

This shows character development that Hassan can face problems by himself, yet Amir is a coward for not opening up to what actually happened and acting against it. Amir feels guilty for leaving him while he was being raped and trying to show remorse by asking what happened. It is reflective by showing that Amir does know what in fact happened.

This relieves Amir because it relieves his guilt of not running away when Hassan needed help. Amir hadn’t told Hassan he saw what happened and decided to run away. Ali decides to leave because he feels it would be safer for Hassan and that’s what Amir wanted; to be away from Hassan. This is character development for Ali, to be able to leave where he was taken care of but cared more for his son, to move.

When Baba and Amir are escaping to Pakistan in a oil tanker, they are are both sick and tired. When Baba reminds Amir to think of happy times, Amir immediately thinks of Hassan. This is nostalgic, there were bad memories but they will always have all the great memories of growing up together. This shows the brotherly love they will always have, no matter what happens.

This is Baba thinking that america is some great, free land where you just become rich and are handed out great opportunities upon arrival. Then when he actually gets there it's hard and doesn’t live up to his expectations, and very stressful that it's almost like getting an ulcer. A metaphor of pain. I’m sure he can’t stop thinking about Hassan and Ali who they had to leave. He doesn’t live the same life he lived in Iran, where he was treated like royalty.

Baba tells Amir not to try to offend General Taheri by trying to engage with Soraya in the wrong ways, honor and pride is extremely important to the Pashtun men. This means you have to be extremely polite and show extreme respect in order to marry Soraya. This foreshadows Amir trying to win over the whole Taheri family to get to Soraya. Amir wants to do everything right to win over the General. This shows how much Soraya means to Amir and how deeply in love he is.

There was a double standard for afghanistan culture. In their culture, a woman's sole purpose is to serve men. They can’t do anything but be married, even if they’re unhappy. Like Jamila Taheri singing career had to stop for when she married the general. All she wanted to do was make him happy, but he did not do the same. Amir fears Soraya won’t get a husband because her running away and drug abuse prior.

This is foreshadowing for the rest of the book. It references Amir’s mistakes of leaving Hassan when he was getting raped. This a way to make Amir happy again. This also shows Rahim knows what happened the day of the kite race. This shows in the future of the plot, that there will probably be something good for Amir to do in Afghanistan.

This is Rahim Khan talking about the taliban. How at first they were seen as heroes and only good people. But in fact they realized they were mean, and harsh. They were only strict and brutal. So coming back to Hassan’s rape, when Assef said nothing was free in the world. It is very ironic he is part of the taliban. They have peace but they have to pay for it.

This quote shows the guilt that is still left in Amir’s heart, after being the reason Hassan left his home and life. They were like brothers and for Amir to do that to Hassan is the ultimate betrayal. Hassan needed Amir during that time, but they had to split ways. It stays in the back of Amir’s head for the rest of his life and he is forever guilty for it.

This symbolizes how Amir feels like his life just keeps getting worse and worse. After the rape and his dad’s death he is struggling to be happy again after all that’s happened. This is foreshadowing the past of all that’s happened before.

This shows Babas deep love for Amir and also shows that Hassan meant a lot to Baba. It foreshadows that Hassan was actually
Baba’s son and not Ali’s son. It explains so much, Baba always felt guilty for lying so he paid so much more attention to Hassan to make up for it.

Since Baba and Amir left as soon as the russians invaded their country, Amir didn’t see what they did or what it was like to live there during this revolution. How bad the poverty is or how bad everyone is treated there by the soldiers.

This is Amir experiencing what the war did to his city. On his journey from Kabul to Jalalabad, he experiences what the first and second city ruins left on those cities. This is shocking because in America it is nothing like this. It foreshadows that life here is nothing but easy and it will be difficult to get Sohrab back home to be his kid.

This is very nostalgic After Amir experiencing all these memories in the place he grew up, he has a hard time with the Hassan memories.

After he abandoned Hassan during that sensitive time, he knew Hassan always trouble with his mother. When his mom came back to him, he grew so close to her. At her grave, he is happy but very heavy hearted he lost her.

Amir meets Assef, who is now a taliban leader and beats him up wearing brass knuckles. Again, physically Amir is hurting but mentally he is healed because now he doesn’t feel guilty for not stopping Hassan’s rape. Amir feels he was punished for his wrong doing. He feels like it was owed to him and isn’t angry for it happening. Something he deserved after leaving Hassan during his rape.

The beating left many emotional scars and one big physical one. A scar down his lip almost exact to Hassans. This makes the situation seem like it really was payback after all. After Hassan was always bullied for his lip looking that, now that Amir has it, they really are equals. It's nostalgic when Assef would bully Hassan for

it.

There are tons of kids where Sohrab lives, but with the extreme poverty and the torture of war, no kids get to have a real childhood. Most have to try to provide for their family and can’t focus on being a kid. So for Amir to want Sohrab to come and live with him in America to experience a real childhood of sports and having fun.

This is what Aamir says during the kite running competition for Sohrab. This is because it's what Hassan said to Amir when he won the competition when they were kids. It's a conclusion that pulls together that Sohrab is meant to be Amir’s new Hassan.