The Kite Runner: Chapter Summaries, Part 1

Chapter 1
1. Amir
  1. Amir , the Afghan narrator of the novel, now lives in San Francisco.
  2. Amir receives a phone call from his father's old friend, Rahim Khan, asking him to come to Pakistan.
  3. The narrator of the novel and the main character.
2. Phone Call
  1. The phone call occurred looking back six months to the summer of 2001.
  2. The memory that he got from this phone call occurred twenty-six years ago in 1975.
3. Kites
  1. Reminds him of his boyhood friend Hassan, a kite runner with a cleft lip.
  2. Reminds him of how the events in 1975 moulded him as a person.
Chapter 2
1. Hassan
  1. Amir and Hassan were childhood friends despite Hassan being the son of Amir's family's Servant, Ali.
  2. Amir and Hassan played together as children and would annoy the neighbours and their dog.
  3. Hassan and his father lived in a hut in the grounds of Amir's house.
  4. Hassan was recognised by a soldier who claimed to have had sex with Hassan's mother
  5. Hassan's first word was 'Amir', whilst Amir's first word was 'Baba'.
2. Mothers
  1. We learn that Amir's mother dies in childbirth.
  2. Amir recounts how Hassan's mother abandoned her family shortly after giving birth to him.
  3. Hassan was born in the hut just one year after Amir's mother died giving birth to him.
  4. Hassan's mother, much younger than Ali, left her husband just five days after giving birth to Hassan.
3. Ethnicity
  1. A history book says that Hazaras, Shi'a Muslims had long been persecuted by the Pashtuns, who are Sunni Muslims.
4. Fathers
  1. Baba built the house that Amir and himself live in.
Chapter 3
1. Baba
  1. Disappointed by Amir's lack of manly attributes
  2. He was seen as a great man.
  3. Amir becomes interested in reading and writing as a way to escape his father's lack of interest.
  4. Amir recalls his father wrestling a bear and how he had three large scars to prove it.
  5. He built an orphanage and Amir was immensely proud.
  6. Owns three businesses and a resturant
  7. Baba tells Amir that the only real sin is theft.
  8. Finds it hard to believe that Amir is his own son.
2. Jealousy
  1. Amir takes out his jealousy on Hassan.
  2. Baba offered for Hassan to come to Gargha Lake as well, Amir doesn't want him to come, so lies and says hes ill
Chapter 4
1. Baba and Ali
  1. Ali was an orphan raised by Baba's father
  2. Amir gives his written story to Baba, but Baba doesn't take much interest in it.
2. Amir and Hassan
  1. Hassan acts as Amir's servant
  2. Amir reads books to Hassan under the pomegranate tree, and invents his own story instead of reading the story he has in his hand.
  3. Amir brings the his story to Hassan who finds a possible hole in the plot. Amir's response was of anger and spite.
3. Rahim Khan
  1. Rahim Khan takes a liking into Amir's story and presents a positive attitude
Chapter 5
1. Politics and Violence
  1. The king of Afghanistan is overthrown in a coup.
  2. Zahir Shah, the king, was being overthrown in a coup
2. Assef
  1. Assef throws a rock that hits Hassan. Assef and his friends approach Amir and Hassan.
  2. Assef supports the coup and expresses praise for Hitler.
  3. Hassan threatens Assef with a slingshot with a rock in it that would supposedly take out an eye if fired
3. Hassan's Birthday
  1. Baba arranged for Hassan's cleft lip to be corrected as a birthday present.
Chapter 6
1. Loyalty
  1. Amir tests Hassan's loyalty by asking him if he would eat dirt if commanded to.
  2. Hassan believes that Amir will win the tournament
2. Kite Fighting
  1. Schools close during the winter due to ice and snow, and the children take part in kite fighting tournaments.
  2. Hassan is a gifted kite runner. He is able to predict when and where a kite will land before it does.
3. Amir and Baba
  1. Kites are the one thing that bring Amir and his father together.
  2. Amir jealous that Baba bought the same kite for Hassan as well as him
  3. Amir is determined to make his father proud by winning the tournament.
Chapter 7
1. Cowardice
  1. Amir is nervous for the tournament and wished to back out.
  2. Amir's cowardice stops him from breaking up the fight or stepping in and stopping the attack.
2. Hassan and Assef
  1. Hassan goes to collect the kite blue that they won after they won the tournament.
  2. Assef offers to let Hassan free if he gives up the kite. Hassan refuses, saying its property of Amir's
  3. Assef prepares to rape Hassan
3. Dreams and Memories
  1. Amir recalls which involved there being a monster in the lake, Hassan and Amir go in nevertheless, and receive praise for it
  2. The story is interrupted by two memories and a dream illustrating Amir's relationship with Hassan: their tight brotherhood and the barrier between them
  3. Amir's memory recalls the slaughter of a sheep which reminds him of the current event that is taking place with Hassan
4. Praise
  1. Amir sees Rahim Khan and his father standing on the balcony and hopes his father is cheering for him.
  2. Amir runs home after the tournament to congratulations from Ali.
Chapter 8
1. Amir's Bitrthday
  1. Assef attends his party, who is flattering towards Baba, but Amir detects tension between Assef and his parents.
  2. Assef gives Amir his present, which is a biography of Hitler.
2. Afteraffects
  1. Amir hardly sees Hassan however the chores that he always did are still carried out, with the absence of Hassan.
  2. Amir remembers his dream about the monster in the lake, and then concludes that he is the monster in the lake.
3. Amir and Hassan
  1. Hassan and Amir speak again, they make their way to the pomegranate tree, but decide to go home halfway
  2. Hassan keeps wanting to make peace with his master, but Amir doesn't want to, and is mean to Hassan in hope that he will retaliate.
  3. Hassan throws a pomegranate at Hassan tying to get him to retaliate, but instead crushes a pomegranate against his own head to please his master
4. Rahim Khan
  1. Rahim Khan relates a story of the servant girl he wished to marry and how the rest of his family prevented it. His moral was that the world always triumphs over personal wishes.
  2. He gives Amir his present, which is a leather-bound notepad to write his stories in.
5. Jalalabad
  1. That night, Amir asks Baba if he will take him to Jalalabad at the weekend.
  2. Baba offers to take Hassan as well, but Amir lies and says he's ill as he doesn't want Hassan to be there.
  3. He is sick in the van. As he recovers, with his eyes shut, all he can see are Hassan's trousers discarded in the alley.
Chapter 10
1. March 1981
  1. Amir and his father, along with other strangers, are leaving Kabul and escaping Afghanistan
2. Arrival in Jalalabad
  1. Truck promised to take them out of Afghanistan is broken. Baba angry as he realises the driver, Karim, has only brought them this far for his cut in the money
  2. Hide in a basement where Kamal, one of the bullies, is as well. Kamal had been raped by a number of men
  3. Now being transported in an empty fuel tanker, Kamal gets out and dies, his father kills himself as well
3. The Journey
  1. Arrives at a Russian roadblock, one of the officials wants half an hour with one of the women
  2. Baba stands up for the woman, and is disappointed in Amir's lack of courage
  3. Gunshot fired as a warning to the guard by Russian officer, woman is saved
Chapter 9
1. Ali and Hassan
  1. Ali gives Amir a present from the two of them, it is a copy of the book that Amir used to read to Hassan
  2. They decide to go to Hazarajat to stay with his cousin
  3. Baba cries and pleads for them not to leave.
2. Amir
  1. Amir plants his watch and some money underneath Hassan's matress
  2. He goes to his father and lies to him about the servants.
  3. Imagines it as if it was a Hindi movie in which Amir would run out to the car and hug Hassan and everything would be better. But he just watches the car drive away.
3. Family Meeting
  1. Hassan admits to stealing the watch, only to protect his master.
  2. Baba forgives Hassan

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The Kite Runner: Chapter Summaries, Part 1

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