Papers On The Kite Runner

Among some of the more controversial topics regarding high school and middle school academics is the issue of including explicit and potentially inappropriate content in course curriculums, and amidst these discussions sits The Kite Runner, one of the most commonly challenged books in the past decade. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, was published in 2003 and tells the story of Amir’s coming-of-age in Kabul, Afghanistan starting in the late 1970’s. Amir lived with his father, Baba, and their two servants, Ali and Hassan. Amir lived a peaceful life until the coup of the Afghan government, which brought political instability to the country. Hassan was a Hazara, an oppressed minority in Afghanistan, which often brought him and Amir trouble with their racist bully, Assef. One of Amir’s favorite activities was battling kites, where two kites attempt to cut the other kite’s string and the losing kite is chased and retrieved by kite runners. After Amir wins a kite-battling tournament, Hassan, being one of the best kite runners in Kabul, chased after the losing kite through the neighborhood. Amir soon goes to look for Hassan, and finds him pinned in an alleyway being raped by Assef. Amir …show more content…
Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1965 and shared many similarities with Amir: both had Hazara servants, enjoyed kite fighting, and fled Afghanistan to California at the dawn of the Soviet-Afghan War ("Khaled Hosseini Biography -- Academy of Achievement"). Like Amir, Hosseini eventually became a successful writer after moving to California, although Hosseini was practicing medicine while he was writing The Kite Runner (Hosseini, “Biography”). Soon after it was published, The Kite Runner was on multiple bestseller lists and won numerous awards, including the Boeke Prize, Alex Award, and American Library Association Notable Book (Hosseini, “Book