Human Geography Book Report: Kite Runner

| Human Geography Book Report | Kite Runner | | Robert Hernandez | Period 4 |

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The story Kite Runner is narrated by the main character Amir, and Afghanistan born man, now an American citizen living in San Francisco. He starts off by recalling his childhood spent in Afghanistan. He remembers how he betrayed his best friend and he continually implies that his experiences as a child affected his entire life. As Amir finishes the recollection of his memories the setting goes back to his home in San Francisco. After receiving new from his friend in Afghanistan Amir returns to his home in the hopes of redeeming himself for his past actions. Although most of this book takes place in Afghanistan the setting of the book jumps
numerous times between California and Afghanistan. Most of the books main parts which include Amir’s memories and his return to his home take place in Amir’s home town of Kabul, Afghanistan and the areas that surround this place. While the book is pretty straight forward in explaining the global events that surround the books main plot to better understand the book knowing of the recent events of what happened with the Taliban and how it got to the point it did would be helpful. While the absolute locations of the settings are not needed to understand the reason for some of the events that take place in the book there are absolute locations to the settings such as the cities of San Francisco and Fremont, California or the city of Kabul, Afghanistan. The main setting of the book is in a more urban Afghanistan with a drier climate.
This climate causes there to be more flat lands and while at first there are some trees and green plant life described throughout the book as the story progresses in time by the time Amir returns and the Taliban have a foothold on the area the setting is described as more desert like with dried out trees and an abundance of dirt all everywhere. This progression in time not only affects the setting but the people, the culture and the overall actions of the Islamic people in the book from what seemed to be a friendly, happy environment to a more fearful and dangerous
environment. The environment while not really portrayed as a harsh environment does cause the people of the story to build adequate houses to manage the climate, location, and landscapes of the area where the main setting takes place. The life’s of the people does show that they do have a society which relies highly upon social status and rank. This is shown with how Amir’s father, Baba, does have servants. The effects of supplies although still present in the beginning of the book are not truly as devastating as they are towards the end of the book after the Taliban have take Afghanistan. This is seen in the way Amir portrays the “raggedy old men” he saw on the streets or in the way he had overheard one of the families he had stayed the night with argue over the fact that they did not have the food to feed their children after feeding him. While movements of nature are not really present in the book the travel the main character does throughout the story becomes an important part in the plot of the book.
Amir as a child at first does not do much traveling but before going with his father to America him and his father do a lot of travel around Afghanistan and after Amir returns to his home again an extensive amount of travel around his home is present. As for the spread of ideas there are various things that can be discussed but the main two probably end up being how people were seen as two different kinds of people and the spread of the Taliban beliefs. The people of Afghanistan either saw others as the higher rank Pashtun or the lower ranked Hazara. In addition to this as the time goes on in the book the spread of the Taliban beliefs begins to be more and more
present. While the region isn’t described as much as the people and the cultures of Afghanistan the book does depict how the setting was a more flat desert type region with some hills around the main urban neighborhood in which the book took place. The main religion present is the Islamic religion and the cultures are the cultures practiced by the early Islamic people. This includes things such as the use of servants or arranged marriages between families. So while all five themes of geography are present extensively throughout the book the detail given to the Afghanistan area in all five of these themes in turn possibly overpowered the second setting of California used throughout the book as well.