Top 4 The Kite Runner quotes
“I thought about something Rahim Khan said just before he hung up, almost as an afterthought. There is a way to be good again.”
Chapter 1
Amir’s journey of self-discovery and redemption begins with Rahim Khan’s call from Pakistan. Throughout the narrative, Amir struggles to come to terms with his past sins but he is never quite able to forgive himself for them. That changes when Amir goes to Afghanistan and faces Assef for Sohrab’s sake, much as he would have liked to do on behalf of Assef.
“‘When you kill a man, you steal a life,’ Baba said. ‘You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?’”
Baba, Chapter 3
Baba is represented as a mostly secular individual with a strong system of moral beliefs. In the initial chapters, Baba explains the role religion plays in society, and he urges his son to understand that there was no greater sin than stealing. This conversation remains with Amir throughout his life, which is why he is so utterly shocked to discover the truth of Hassan’s parentage.
“Hassan didn’t struggle. Didn’t even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse of his face. Saw the resignation in it. It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb.”
Amir, Chapter 7
Amir watches Assef and his cronies pin Hassan down to the ground, and he allows them to rape Hassan because he doesn’t want them to take his kite instead. He looks at Hassan’s face and sees the sacrificial lamb reflected in his face from the biblical story of the binding of Issac. This happens to be just one of the many ways in which Hassan is elevated with religious imagery.“What’s going to happen to you, you say? All those years, that’s what I was trying to teach you, how to never have to ask that question.”
Baba, Chapter 12
Amir is direly affected by the discovery of his father’s cancer, and he is unable to understand why Baba would choose not to undergo any further treatment that could elongate his life. Amir is forced to confront his greatest fear since childhood, a life with Baba. His father angrily reminds him that he had been leading his life with the belief that he was serving as a model for Amir to emulate.
