The Blue Kite

As The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini progresses, the action moves towards Amir's experience as a young adult. His dismal future begins as Hassan, his young loyal servant, is raped and Amir continues with his selfish motives which eventually leads to the loyal servants moving out. His life drastically changes after the Russian occupation of Kabul as well. He is no longer the son of a mogul in Kabul, he and his father are forced to abandon Kabul and become refugees in Pakistan with only two suitcases of possessions. The small family later moves to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1980s, where Amir's father, Baba, makes the family's living by working at flea markets and a gas station.

A blue kite appears within the story creating a symbol which finds more depth in the title (65). Amir wins the kite fighting competition which ultimately creates the much wished for bond between Amir and his father. Hassan chases after the fallen blue kite as a loyal gift to Amir, "I'm going to run that blue kite for you," (66). Hassan runs into the bullying boys who believe Hitler is god and Hazaras are the poison (40), they torment him and ultimately rape him "the blue kite resting against the wall" (75). Amir runs away failing once again to be the hero his father so desperately wanted him to be "some hero I had been, fretting about the kite. Sometimes, I too wondered if I was really Baba's son" (116). However, after the rape Hassan comes to Amir "he had the blue kite in his hands" (78). Amir goes running home "I put the kite down and walked into his think hairy arms" (79). The kite becomes a symbol for Hassan's loyalty. Amir remarks Hassan's devotion to him exemplified in his hunt for the kite "Hassan never missed any of the five daily prayers... He was going to miss prayer tonight, though, because of me" (69). Hassan could have easily ran away or given the kite to the boys and escaped the following horrific events but he didn't, Amir even uses Hassan's loyalty to win over his father. Hassan being the one he saw as the greatest competition for his father's love and affection "maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay... to win Baba" (77). Hassan continued to be loyal as Amir tortured him and went to all lengths for Hassan to get some type of revenge "I wished he'd give me the punishment I craved," (92). Hassan even lies to save Amir's reputation with his father which leads to Hassan and his father's decision to leave "this was Hassan's final sacrifice for me" (105).  The guilt that Amir carries with him of his betrayal of the boy most loyal to him "Kabul has become a city of ghosts for me. A city of harelipped ghosts" (136).

The blue kite will continue to haunt Amir as he lives through his life, especially with the intrigue that Hassan took in his story writing and Amir is finally able to pursue his story writing with the approval of his father "'Amir is going to be a great writer.' Baba said" (139).