The Kite Runner: Sample Essay

How does Hosseini tell the story in Chapter 17?

The whole of Chapter 17 is narrated by the protagonist of the story, Amir. We see that he has travelled all the way from America to meet his old friend, Rahim Khan at his current residence in Pakistan. Rahim Khan has aged and the fact that his posture seems uncomfortable for him shows the kind of physical pain he is going through. The conversation between Rahim Khan and Amir takes place in the evening, and it has been specified that “the sun was beginning to set, glittering red through the cracks of the ramshackle buildings.”It can be interpreted that the setting of the sun implies the end of a major burden in Amir’s life or how Afghanistan as a country has turned to ruins or has “cracked” at the mercy of the Taliban.

Amir again goes into flashback mode, and thinks of what he had done and what was under his control in the winter of 1975. As Rahim Khan speaks, Amir almost relives his childhood as he remembers all the people who once meant the world to him. He hears names of people he himself hasn’t uttered for years together – Hosseini says, “Time can be a greedy thing.”  Immediately, we see the regret in Amir’s eyes and how he repents the many things he could have done when he had the time, but alas, it is too late.

It is soon understood that Rahim Khan has called Amir to speak about Hassan. When he hands Amir the envelope, there is a certain desperation with which he tears it opens and stares at its contents for a whole minute. It goes to show how much Hassan means to Amir, even though he may not display his affection for him – infact, there are times when he behaves like Hassan does not exist.

Suddenly, the entire narration shifts to Hassan as Hosseini cleverly introduces a letter handwritten in Farsi. The childlike handwriting conveys the innocence filled in Hassan and how he truly is the epitome of lifelong friendship and endows forgiveness upon Amir. The Afghanistan we see through Hassan’s eyes is horrifying and crude. The letter reads, “Always the killings.” This one sentence makes the reader reflect how brave Hassan is, to have kept watch over Baba’s palatial house in the absence of Rahim Khan, when he knows the Taliban could punish him over charges of trespassing. This makes Amir look cowardly and insecure; Baba’s foreshadowing is true, that Amir has never stood up for himself, and perhaps he never will. Hassan describes his dutiful son and the health of Rahim Khan to Amir in a way that makes one feel that absolutely no time has passed since they last met. There seems to be a magical connection between Amir and Hassan, almost like brotherhood. In short, Hassan has pumped into the letter all the years of vacuum that Amir has spent in the US. At the end, Hassan says he expects Amir to visit Kabul one day – this goes to show how the theme of hope is so prevalent in the entire story, and how much depth it gives to the Amir-Hassan relationship.

The narration shifts back to Amir once the letter ends, and we see that Amir enquires about Hassan and his family. Rahim Khan says that the Taliban accused Hassan and his family to be trespassers in Baba’s house and that “he was a liar and a thief like all other Hazaras.” This one line brings back to us the rigidity that lay in the Afghani caste system and how nothing, be it wars or mayhem could change the one fact that Hazaras were an inferior caste, the irony being that Hazaras were in actuality much more courageous in comparison to Pashtuns, like Amir. Unabashedly Rahim Khan gets to the point and amidst Amir’s cries, announces that Hassan is dead. This completely unexpected twist in the story opens new arenas and dips the novel as a whole into uncertainty. Khan goes on to add how they killed Hassan’s wife Soraya on the claim of ‘self-defence’.

Later the topic of Sohrab pops up and we see how he is being cared for in an orphanage in Karteh-Seh. Rahim Khan requests Amir to go rescue Sohrab from the orphanage and bring him to a old American pair living in Peshawar, stating they had clean accommodation and that he didn’t want Sohrab to turn into just another Afghani orphan. The fact that Amir believes this to be impossible shows how his nature of selfishness has not changed and the insecurity of leaving behind his great life and budding career in the US is a sharp contrast to the late Hassan.

Amir touches a nerve when he says he is ready to pay for someone to go bring Sohrab safely to Peshawar. The instinctive man Khan is, he exclaims how material benefits have never been his interest and how it is essential that only Amir do the deed. “What I’m asking from you is to grant an old man his dying wish.” The line speaks volumes of how Rahim Khan has fought for people’s rights and the ‘right cause’ – and even death cannot stop him.

It is apparent Rahim Khan is literally pleading Amir to go save Sohrab from treacherous Afghanistan. The fact that being the writer in the room, Amir is speechless shows the fear gripped inside and his being unsure as to whether he will be able to pull off this one task.

In an attempt to convince Amir to take up this challenge, Rahim Khan bares all; Ali’s sterility and Baba’s past come thrashing down at Amir. A completely unprecedented twist and fact is brought up to the forefront. It all comes tumbling back, the realisation of how Baba had wanted Hassan’s harelip operated upon, the constant feeling of Hassan’s absence back in the US and last of all, the shame at what he had done in the winter of 1975 – he hadn’t betrayed just another Hazara boy: he had betrayed his half-brother.

Naturally, Amir’s blood boils at the fact that none of the people who knew of this secret had revealed to Hassan his true identity. Physically, Hassan died a miserable Hazara’s death, while psychologically Amir is dying the death of an ashamed brother and betrayer.

Clearly, society has played an important role in these characters lives. Hassan is denied his true identity out of fear of what others would say and the consequences have been irrepressible. Baba has actually committed the biggest sin in his own eyes – the sin of theft.

Now that the cat is out of the bag and Amir is in complete disbelief as to his life being “one big lie”, the reader wonders whether Amir will take up Rahim Khan’s challenge with a vengeance, considering Sohrab isn’t just a Hazara servant’s son; he is his own nephew.