The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
Contributed by Youlanda Mill
Chapter 4
Summary

Baba’s father adopted Ali after his parents were killed by a drunk driver. Even though the two were close enough to play together, the religious/ethnic differences stood in the way of true friendship — barriers that transitioned to the next generation. Even though Amir and Hassan spend a lot of time together, there is no confusion about the master-servant dichotomy. One day, as Amir is reading a story to the illiterate Hassan, he comes up with his own version of it. Encouraged by Hassan’s liking of the new version, Amir goes on to write his first short story.

Excited, he tries to share his story with Baba, who ignores him. Rahim, on the other hand, takes the story and encourages Amir to keep on writing. He then goes on to wake Hassan and reads what he had written. Despite lacking education, Hassan finds a plot hole in the story.

Analysis

By going back in time to explore the relationship between Baba and Ali, the narrator draws a parallel that connects the two generations together. Little has changed in the way of socio-political circumstances from the time Ali was a child himself. Despite Amir being very close to Hassan, he does not consider him a friend — at least not openly. The narrator also notes that Baba was born in the same year Zahir Shah became the king of Afghanistan. Socio-political conflict is an important theme in The Kite Runner and this chapter establishes a political timeline for readers to follow. The chapter is also important for its exploration of irony, first in Amir’s story and then in the actual story of The Kite Runner. The irony in Amir’s story comes from a man who discovers he can turn his tears into pearls, only to end up crying for murdering his wife. The irony in Amir’s life has illiterate Hassan pointing out a plot hole to the educated Amir.

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