Virtual Book Discussion: The Kite Runner

[mrswaz]

I hope no one minds if I roll this out a day early. I'm trying to get ready to go out of town for a long weekend, and I didn't want to forget about the discussion. Before I get to the business at hand though, here are the books to come:

April: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, moderated by Tyra (tbb113)

May: Lion's Blood by Steven Barnes, moderated by Erika (mrswaz)

June: Princess: A True Story About Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia by Jean P. Sasson, moderated by Sherri (SDMomChef)

Anyone else want to moderate? It would be nice to have several books in line, so we can get ahold of a copy.



The Kite Runner Discussion Questions: (Feel free to add some more!)


1. Early in Amir and Hassan's friendship, they often visit a pomegranate tree where they spend hours reading and playing. "One summer day, I used one of Ali's kitchen knives to carve our names on it: 'Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul.' Those words made it formal: the tree was ours." In a letter to Amir later in the story, Hassan mentions that "the tree hasn't borne fruit in years." What is the significance of this tree.

2. Discuss the difference between Baba and Ali and between Amir and Hassan. Are Baba's and Amir's betrayals and similarities in their relationships of their servants (if you consider Baba's act a betrayal) similar or different?

3. How does kite flying serve as a metaphor in the novel?

4. The Kite Runner opens with a description of kite flying in Kabul in 1975 and ends with Amir and his nephew flying a kite in the Bay area nearly 30 years later. What is the significance?

5. After Soraya tells Amir about her past, she says “I’m lucky to have found you. You’re so different from every Afghan guy I’ve met.” (Page 180) What do you think of this?

6. On the drive to Kabul, Farid says to Amir “You’ve always been a tourist here, you just didn’t know it.” (Page 232) What is Farid implying, and what do you think of the implication?

My answers:

1. IMO, the tree symbolized their friendship. Just as a tree grows, a friendship grows over time. Their friendship withered from neglect, just as a tree can wither and die without proper nurturing and care.
2. I think Baba and Amir always thought of Ali and Hassan as servants. I think that deep down, they probably both wanted their servants to be recognized as friends, but the outward appearance and ramifications of such prevented them from doing so. We are not certain that Baba’s act was actually a betrayal. They never did go into details… we never get a sense that Ali knew that Hassan was not actually his child.
3. I think that the Kite Flying in this novel represents Freedom, something that Amir doesn’t truly realize until the very end.
4. The significance of the Kite Flying in both the beginning and the end, I think represents new beginnings and starting over, maybe atonement at the end of the novel.
5. It’s actually a little sad. Soraya’s behavior in the past is shameful to most other men in their culture. It says a lot that Amir does look past her problems and wants her regardless.
6. I think Farid is implying that Amir had it good while he was in Afganistan, and was blind to what was really going on around him. I don’t necessarily think it was an implication though…Amir really was blind to the politics and what was going on.

[SDMomChef]

Thanks for starting the thread!

I have to think about those questions and will probably hop back into the conversation after I've had more time to collect my thoughts.

One the second question, I don't view Amir's actions as a betrayal per se - he was just a child himself - and I don't know how any child would have responded under those circumstances. Perhaps he should have had more courage? If there is a betrayal, it was in Amir's actions after the event - he made Hassan's injuries worse by turning a cold shoulder on him - I'm not sure that I understand his response. So, in that regard, the response was different - Baba showed as much respect and goodwill as could be expected in their society to a servent.

I looked at the kite flying from more of a tradition aspect - despite war and factions, a tradition and the bringing together of families through that tradition survived.

[cminmd]

I also thought the tree represented their bond to each other, and when the bond between them was broken by his cowardice the tree also was poisoned. He should have gone for help, shouted, gotten beaten up with him- something, but he just hid like a coward and then shunned him.

The kite running- I thought it was how something so seemingly innocent and childlike has been turned into something dangerous and deadly. The embeded glass, cut hands, violence over the cut kites. Like that in the crucible of Afgahnistan, even the softest most harmless passtime turns wicked.

The part about being a tourist- I think it was because his life was always so sheltered by the power of his father, position and then in America- education. He lived above the poverty, strife and desperation of his environment- never in it. He was quite a user- of his father, friends, even his wife. Using them for protection or advantage but easily leaving them behind emotionally or physically.

[Lillith]

The only point I want to comment on was the kite flying. To me, it represented Amir's life coming to full circle....starting out doing it as a child w/Hassan, and then as an adult doing it w/Hassan's child. Again, IMO, it represented a very special, and perhaps the only, way in which Amir could bond w/his nephew

[stacy7272]

Did you like Amir?

Of course he was a coward. Since the book was from his perspective we understood why he did some of the things he did but I still found it harder and harder to like him. The guy was totally spineless and he never really knew what it meant to be strong. Even at the very end, it took someone misleading him to get him to do what was "right".

Do you remember when he was deciding on his major in college? He wanted to major in something for his writing and his dad wanted him to major in something more "practical"? He felt that choosing the major he really wanted was a way of not giving in and being strong. Uh, no, getting what you want everytime doesn't make you strong nor does it make up for past wrongs.

[Lillith]

I don't believe that Amir was a coward by any means. What he witnessed happening to Hassan was through the eyes of a child; yes, perhaps an over-indulged child, but a child nonetheless who obviously was insecure and intimitated. I feel, again IMO, that Amir showed his true strength and courage by taking whatever means it took to get his nephew out of the country into a family that would embrace and love him for the rest of his life.....and he succeeded.