THE KITE RUNNER

Danielle Preedy and Isobel Cox

Systematic FrameworkTerminology Key questions for analysisNouns What abstract and concrete nouns are used and why?

 Verbs What dynamic verbs are used and what is their effect?Adjectives What descriptive and emotive adjectives are used and why?Adverbs What is the effect of the use of the adverbs?Semantic fields What fields of meaning are REALLY important in a text?Discourses What discourses are employed? Does the text use and explore

patriarchal/feminist/sexist/racist/ageist discourses?Alliteration What is the EFFECT of the alliteration? What words/images/ideas does it

emphasize?Onomatopoeia What is the EFFECT of the onomatopoeia? What words/images/ideas

does it emphasize?Assonance What is the EFFECT of the assonance? What words/images/ideas does it

emphasize?Syndetic and asyndetic lists How and why does the text use lists?Figurative language: metaphors and similes

What striking comparisons are made in the text? What do they make you think/feel/see?

Figurative language: personification

How and why do the writers personify specific objects?

Syntax: word order 

What words go at the beginning and end of sentences and why?

Register: tone How informal/formal is the text and what is its tone?Phonology: sounds What sounds does the text create and why? Look at the use of alliteration,

onomatopoeia, rhythm, rhyme, etc.

Chapter 23 Summary

In this chapter, Amir wakes up in hospital after the incidence between him and Assef when he attempts to rescue Sohrab. He has a numerous amount of injuries, including a split lip which makes him think of Hassan.

He also receives a letter from Rahim Khan, explaining more about his brotherhood with Hassan, about Baba and the fact that he knew about Hassan’s rape.

At the end of the chapter, Amir leaves the hospital and drove back through Peshwar. He falls asleep and dreams of the good things from his childhood and thinks about ‘a way to be good again.’

Chapter 23Key Extracts

“We are in the Sulaiman Mountains of Baluchistan and Baba is wrestling the black bear. He is the Baba of my childhood, Toophan agha, the towering specimin of Pashtun might…He looks up at me and I see. He’s me. I am wrestling the bear.”

“I kept thinking of something else that Dr. Faruqi had said: ‘The impact had cut your upper lip in two’ he had said, ‘clean down the middle’. Clean down the middle. Like a harelip.”

“Baba saying that the only sin that mattered was theft. ‘When you tell a lie you steal a man’s right to the truth.’ Rahim Khan on the phone, telling me there was a way to be good again. A way to be good again…”

Chapter 23Questions

What does Rahim Khan’s letter reveal and what does he think about Baba’s actions?

How does the writer present Amir, physically and mentally, when he is in hospital?

What is so significant about the Amir’s cut lip?

Why are Amir’s dreams significant?

Chapter 23Analytical/Creative Response

Analytical:

How does Hoessieni create sympathy for the main characters in chapter 23?

Creative response:

Write a diary entry from the point of view of Sohrab, explaining and describing his thoughts and feelings while he is in the hospital room with Amir.

Chapter 24Summary

In this chapter, Amir and Sohrab are staying at a hotel and Sohrab goes missing. Amir looks for him and manages to find him at a mosque. Sohrab says that he feels dirty because of what has happened to him, but Amir comforts him and they go back to the hotel.

Amir and Sohrab go to talk to someone about Amir being able to adopt Sohrab and take him back to America, but they are told that it is virtually impossible. Amir finds out that the only way it will work is to send Sohrab back to an orphanage for a while. Sohrab is distraught and does not want to go back, and at the end of the chapter, Amir finds Sohrab in the bath surrounded by blood as he has tried to kill himself, and quickly calls an ambulance.

Chapter 24Key Extracts

“A kinship exists between those who’ve fed from the same breast. Now, as the boy’s pain soaked through my shirt, I saw that a kinship had taken root between us too. What happened in that room with Assef had irrevocably bound us.”

“Then I did what I hadn’t done in fifteen years of marriage; I told my wife everything. Everything. I had pictured the moment so many times, dreaded it, but, as I spoke, I felt something lift off my chest.”

“I pushed the door open. Stepped into the bathroom. Suddenly I was on my knees, screaming. Screaming through my clenched teeth. Screaming until I thought my throat would rip and my chest explode.”

Chapter 24Questions

Where is Sohrab found and what happens when he is?

What happens when they talk to someone about the adoption?

Why is the phone call to Soraya important?

Why does Sohrab attempt suicide?

Chapter 24Analytical/Creative Response

Analytical:How does Hosseini use speech, especially between Amir and Sohrab, for effect in this chapter.

Creative Response:Imagine you are Amir writing a letter to Hassan to tell him all about what has happened and how you feel.

Creative Response for 23 and 24

Creative:

Write a 3rd person narrative to describe the events of both chapters 23 and 24 from the view of an outsider.

Chapter 11Summary

This chapter introduces us to Baba and Amir’s new life in America. We learn that Baba now works in a petrol station, a huge contrast to his previous lifestyle. Amir is just graduating high school to go to college to do medicine. On the night of the graduation, Baba takes Amir out for dinner and a drink, where he buys everyone in the bar a drink. Baba buys Amir a car as a graduation gift. Amir tells his father that he still wants to do writing, however Baba does not want him to. Amir has made his decision and stands by it. Amir describes where he drives, through the different neighbourhoods all the way to the ocean, he describes the first time he saw the ocean also. Amir sees America as a land of hope and opportunity. Amir and Baba begin to go to a flea market on a Saturday an sell items for profit. One day, Baba and Amir meet General Taheri and his family. This includes his daughter Soraya, who Amir experiences an instant liking too. Amir carries on thinking about her all evening.

Chapter 11Key Extracts

“I think I’ll major in English”

“If for nothing else, for that, I embraced America.”

“My heart stuttered at the thought of her. Soraya Taheri. My Swap Meet Princess”

Chapter 11Analytical/Creative Response

Analytical:

How does Hosseini explore the theme of love and tension between father and son in this chapter?

Creative Response:

Write a letter from Baba to Rahim Khan back in Afghanistan telling him about his new lifestyle in America.

Chapter 12Summary

After around one year, Amir finally builds up the courage to speak to Soraya, whilst her father is away. He only speaks to her in the following weeks when General Taheri is away, one time whilst they are speaking Amir gives Soraya one of his stories, General Taheri returns and throws the story away. Baba is diagnosed with lung cancer however refuses any treatment. Baba falls even more ill and goes into hospital, several people visit him including General Taheri. Once Baba is back home, Amir asks if he will ask General Taheri for Soraya’s hand in marriage , Baba goes the next day. General Taheri accepts, and Amir speaks with Soraya on the phone. Soraya tells Amir of a man she ran away with when she was young. Amir admits that it bothers him but it does not affect him wanting to marry her still.

Chapter 12Key Extracts

“Would you like to read one of my stories?”

“Baba asked him where he was from. Dr. Schneider said Russia. Baba lost it.”

“I envied her. Her secret was out. Spoken. Dealt with. I opened my mouth and almost told her how i’d betrayed Hassan, lied, driven him out, and destroyed a forty-year relationship between Baba and Ali. But I didn’t. I suspected there were many ways in which Soraya Taheri was a better person than me. Courage was just one of them.”

Chapter 12Analytical Question

Analytical:

How does Hosseini show the blossoming relationship between Amir and Soraya in this chapter?

Creative Response:

Write a diary entry by Soraya, about her first few meetings with Amir and what she believes are her father’s feelings towards him.