Amir: The central character of the story as well as its narrator, Amir has a privileged upbringing. The only thing he feels deprived of is a deep emotional connection with Baba, which he blames on himself. The change in Amir’s character we see in the novel centers on his growth from a selfish child to a selfless adult. 

– “It’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out”
– I became what i am today at the age of 12, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975″
– But he’s not my friend! I almost blurted. He’s my servant!”

Hassan: Hassan is an admirable character who suffers discrimination and taunts for being different. Hassan is Amir’s playmate and servant. He is a minority and is disfigured, but he never allows this to bother him. He always appears happy and is willing to do anything for his friend Amir. Hassan is seen as the perfect servant who is loyal to his master, even after the master betrays him. 
– ‘For you, a thousand times over!’
– “If you asked, I would.”
– “Some day, Inshallah, you will be a great writer,” Hassan said. “And people all over the world will read your stories.”

Baba: Baba is Amir’s father and a wealthy businessman who aids the community by creating businesses for others and building a new orphanage. who is considered a hero and leader in Kabul.He is the biological father of Hassan, a fact he hides from both of his children, and seems to favour him over Amir.

– “There is only one sin. and that is theft”
– “Hassan’s not going anywhere… He’s staying right here with us, where he belongs. This is his home and we’re his family. Don’t you ever ask me that question again!”
“If I hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe he’s my son.”

Assef: Assef physically intimidates the other children; he wants to hurt them. He is a violent sociopath who is driven to assert dominance over others in ways that include violating, harming and killing other people. He is also a bigot who admires Adolf Hitler.

“Besides, I didn’t fight the Shorawi for money. Didn’t join the Taliban for money either. Do you want to know why I joined them?”

Sohrab: Sohrab is an innocent and brave boy, but his innocence is taken from him, and he is traumatised by his experiences. He is world weary from the evil and hardship he has experienced, but at the end of the book, we feel that he might find happiness and a future with Amir and Soraya.

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Identify three key relationships in that are developed in the text. For each, explore what is ‘key’ about them for the characters involved and what kind of impact the relationship has on both characters development.
Amir and Baba: Throughout the novel The Kite Runner, the relationship between Amir and Baba has many ups and downs. At the start Baba can’t see any of himself in Amir, and therefore doesn’t know how to connect with him. The readers sees it broaden as Amir grows older and it is clear that deep down their relationship is strong.
Amir and Hassan: Because of their social class difference Amir was too afraid to call Hassan his friend. Hassan was Amir’s servant but was also his friend. Despite everything Amir had done Hassan still stuck up for him and remained faithful. Amir watches Hassan get raped and further on in the book Amir decides the only way to slightly forgive for not doing anything is adopting Sohrab.
“Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words.“
Hassan and Baba: Baba treats Hassan like a son of his own (which we find out later in the novel Baba is Hassan’s biological dad but Hassan never knew) but Baba always could see himself in Hassan which he couldn’t in Amir. Baba could never properly tell Hassan how much he meant to him in their true father son relationship. Baba sees himself in Hassan with his courage and bravery he has.
“Hassan’s not going anywhere, he’d barked. He’s staying right here with us, where he belongs. This is his home and we’re his family.”

Consider the narrator of the novel, Amir. Explain how he fulfils the expected characteristics of the antihero. Discuss the ways that he changes throughout the novel and how, given he is is the one that is telling the story, the audience is positioned to view him. 
Amir is an anti hero because he lacks traits such as trustworthy, courage and bravery. Amir doesn’t show all these traits the night Hassan got raped. As he didn’t stick up for him like a friend would. However; he does redeem himself in one way or another because he adopts Sohrab showing courage by going into a very dangerous part of Kabul and trustworthy by promising him to take him home to America and look after him which he did. The audience does see the best of Amir but also the worst. Most likely the readers were hating on Amir in the beginning because of his selfishness and not being loyal to Hassan. They now probably don’t feel the same way because they know the dedication he went to to redeem himself with Sohrab when he didn’t have to.

Reflect on the purpose of telling this story, a story of redemption and reconciling your past, from the antihero perspective. Why have our narrator as a character whom we grow to respect rather than establishing them as ‘honourable’ right from the beginning?
The Kite Runner shows that you can redeem your past. Amir has overcome so many flaws throughout the novel and starts to show his heroic traits by the end of the novel. This is when Rahim Khan tells him that Hassan lived in his house while he was away, and he had a child. When Amir found out that Hassan was murdered and his son was taken away, he feels it is his duty to find his son and take him home. He feels that this is his way of apologising to Hassan for everything he had done when they were children, and it is the right thing to do. we know know that you can still be a good person and have good characteristics in someway or another even if you have done something bad in your past.