Blog #1

The Kite Runner is the book that’s taking up my time. I have so far read up to the end of the fourth chapter. The book was written by Khaled Hosseini. Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan before it became what we know of it today. Khaled’s father was a diplomat. He and his family received political asylum in the United States. He now lives in Northern California.
The main character is a boy named Amir. Other characters introduced are Hassan who is Amir’s boy servant, Baba Amir’s father, Ali who is Hassan’s dad; Rahim Khan who is a family friend, lastly the neighborhood bullies Assef and his two followers, Wali and Kamal.
So far some of the major highlights of the first seven chapters are the kite tournament that Amir won and Hassan getting raped by Assef in the hidden presence of Amir. Before the chapter about Hassan getting raped the book hadn’t caught my attention. Reading a book about a kid who is as bratty as Amir is not is not my first pick. Amir is super selfish and unappreciative. Amir is not all bad, but definitely not a good kid either. He treats Hassan with respect and shows him love, but also shows that he does not see him as an equal. This is because the book categorizes the people into two peoples, the Hazarans and the Pashtuns. But in reality there are more then two ethic groups in Afghanistan, Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen, Balch, Aimak, Pashai, Hindki, Nuristani, Hindkowans, etc. The Hazarans are normally servants to the Pashtuns. Amir being a Pashtuns and Hassan a Hazaran. The reason why Hassan was raped was because he was staying true to Amir and refused to give up Amir’s winning kite to Assef who happens to be the rapist. Amir saw everything that happened in that alley and had the opportunity to prevent what happened but was too scared to speak up and defend his friend that defended him countless time with out hesitation. And for that reason I dislike Amir and have made him an enemy.