Gerbec 1
Readers Journal #4
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Citation
“ ‘I want you to go to Kabul. I want you to
bring Sohrab here.’ he said.” (Hosseini 232). Hassan? Just like Hassan’s final sacrifice to
“ I remember he said to me, ‘Rahim, a boy
who won’t stand up for himself becomes a
man who can’t stand up to anything.’ I
wonder, is that what you've become?”
(Hosseini 233).
“I felt like a man sliding down a cliff,
clutching at shrubs and tangles of brambles
and coming up empty-handed.” (Hosseini
234).
“He had sat me on his lap when I was little,
looked me straight in the eyes, and said,
There is only one sin. And that is theft…
When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s
right to the truth.” (Hosseini 237).
Analysis
Is this going to be Amir’s final sacrifice to
Amir was to lie for him? Is this finally going
to get rid of Amir’s guilt that he’s been
harbouring all these years? To finally give
back to Hassan after all the years Hassan
had been good to Amir?
Will this be Amir’s last chance to finally
prove his father wrong? To show his father
that he can stand up for himself and the ones
he loves, and that he is courageous and more
like his father than his father knew? Will
this be the closure Amir needs to finally let
go of the past and prove to himself that he is
worthy?
Use of literary device; simile. Author is
comparing the weight of this news to a man
falling down a cliff, unable to catch a hold
of something that could stop him from
falling. Is this information the reason Amir
might choose to go and find Sohrab?
Because he is technically his nephew?
Would Amir have considered going if he
didn’t know that they were related?
Interesting to see how one of Baba’s only
lessons to Amir had turned out this way.
Amir’s father told him that to tell a lie is to
steal someone’s right to the truth, but isn’t
that what Baba had been doing to Amir all
these years? And if Rahim Khan hadn’t told
Amir, would he have ever known? Why
didn’t Baba tell Amir, especially knowing
that he was going to die soon? Would Amir
have gone the rest of his life not knowing
that Hassan was his brother? What would

“I was afraid the appeal of my life in
America would draw me back, that I would
wade back into that great, big river and let
myself forget.” (Hosseini 243).
“ ‘Take him back to Peshawar. There are
people there who will take care of him.’ ”
(Hosseini 250).
“Earlier that morning, when I was certain no
one was looking, I did something I had done
twenty-six years earlier: I planted a fistful of
crumpled money under a mattress.”
(Hosseini 254).
“Now I knew my mother had liked almond
cake with honey and hot tea, that she’d once
used the word ‘profoundly,’ that she’d
fretted about her happiness. I had just
learned more about my mother from this old
man on the street than I ever did from
Baba.” (Hosseini 263).
“ ‘You were wrong about one thing.’
Gerbec 2
have happened to Sohrab if Amir wouldn’t
have known this?
Would Amir actually be able to forget about
what he learned? Did the appeal of his
American life really outweigh the aspect of
abandoning his nephew when he needed him
most? How could Amir live with himself if
he went back to America? Wouldn’t his
guilt become greater, his questions more
overwhelming? Even if Hassan’s son wasn’t
in the picture, how could Amir just simply
forget that Hassan was his brother, that Baba
slept with his friend's wife and had his own
son as a servant?
Would Amir be able to hand the child off to
a family he doesn’t know after finally
meeting the son of his brother? Wouldn’t
Amir become attached to the child and want
to keep it for himself? Especially because he
and his wife couldn’t have children of their
own? Wouldn’t that be Hassan's wish if he
were alive? That Amir would take him back
with him to the luxuries of America for a
better life? A safer life?
Kind of ironic how twenty six years ago
Amir had done the same thing, except his
reason was to get rid of Hassan and his
father, Ali. Now, he was giving a poor
family money. Maybe as a way to clear his
conscience and make up for what he did
twenty six years earlier.
Why did Amir’s father never tell him
anything about his mother? Was he guilty
for sleeping with another woman after her
death? Was it too hard for him to speak
about his late wife because of what he had
done? Did he not tell Amir about his mother
because it was too hard for him to be lying
to him his whole life?
It’s interesting to see how much Sohrab is

‘What?’
‘He’s great with the slingshot.’ ” (Hosseini
265).
“I thought of the street fights we’d get into
when we were kids, all the times Hassan
used to take them on for me, two against
one, sometimes three against one” (Hosseini
267).
“ ‘Looks like I’ll have to settle for his
weakling of a son.’ Then he took off his
sunglasses and locked his bloodshot blue
eyes on mine.” (Hosseini 294).
“ ‘What do you want to do with him?’ he
said. Then a coy smile. ‘Or to him.’ ”
(Hosseini 299).
“What was so funny was that, for the first
time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace.
I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden
nook in the corner of my mind, I’d even
been looking forward to this… My body
was broken--just how badly I wouldn’t find
out until later--but I felt healed. Healed at
last. I laughed.” (Hosseini 303).
“The slingshot made a thwiiiiit sound when
Sohrab released the cup. Then Assef was
screaming. He put his hand where his left
eye had been just a moment ago” (Hosseini
Gerbec 3
like his father; that he’s identified by being
so good at using a slingshot. I wonder if
Amir would have been denied at the
orphanage if he didn’t know about Sohrab
and his slingshot.
Will this be the time where Amir finally
takes on Hassan’s battles for him? Where
Amir can finally give back to Hassan by
finding his son and bringing him to safety?
WIll this clear his conscience and make
Amir feel better about himself knowing he
helped Hassan once and for all?
Will this be when Amir finally sees Assef
again after what happened with Hassan?
Will Amir finally be able to fight for Hassan
and show Assef that what he did was
wrong? Or will Amir fall under his father’s
insecurities in himself and not stand up for
what was right?
Did Assef sexually assault Hassan’s son just
like he did to Hassan? Will Amir be able to
stand up and stop what would happen to
Sohrab before it was too late? Or was it
already too late?
Was this the day that Amir’s guilt would
once and for all go away? He had wanted
Hassan to hit him back and punish him with
a pomegranate all those years back, but
Hassan never did. Was this his punishment
for what he did to Hassan that day?
Abandoning him in fear of himself getting
hurt? Will Amir survive this? Why would
Amir do this to himself? If Assef ended up
killing him, Hassan’s son would be trapped
with Assef, and who knows what Assef
would do to him?
Ironic to see how twenty six years ago
Hassan, Sohrab’s father, threatened Assef
that he would sling a rock to Assef’s left eye
if he didn’t leave them alone. And now, all

304-305).
“Suddenly, I was on my knees, screaming.
Screaming through my clenched teeth.
Screaming until I thought my throat would
rip and my chest explode.” (Hosseini 361).
“It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn’t
make everything all right. It didn’t make
anything all right. Only a smile.” (Hosseini
391).
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those years later, Hassan’s son had actually
done that for him, saving Amir’s life. What
would have happened to Amir if Hassan’s
son hadn’t attacked Assef? What would
happen to Sohrab?
What happened to Sohrab? Was the aspect
of going back to an orphanage just until
Amir could take him back to America so
panicking that his heart gave out? Or was
Sohrab so against going back that he took
his own life?
Does Sohrab ever become happy again? Or
will he always be a hollow shell of who he
used to be? Do they have a full and happy
family? Without secrets, lies, or scandals?
What happened to Rahim Khan? Did he end
up dying? Or is he still alive, waiting to
receive news about Amir and Sohrab? Does
Amir and his family ever go back to
Afghanistan?