Chapter 1 – 5 (PP 1 – 47)
1. The novel begins with a flash black to make the reader aware of what has happened in the narrators past and prepares them for the story that is about to be told. It tells us how he is caught up in his past, how the event that took place in 1975 made him who he is and how he see’s kites flying and is reminded of his friend Hassan, who he calls a kite runner.
2. Hassan is the son of Ali who is the servant for Baba. Hassan is a childhood associate of Amir’s, Hassan is also a servant so Amir doesn’t consider him a “friend” although he is. Him and his father live in a shack in the back of Baba’s land. Hassan has a round face and a flat, broad nose. His eyes are narrow and slanted with gold, green or sapphire colouring depending on the light. He has low set ears, a cleft lip and a pointy stub of a chin. A cleft lip is a birth deformity where the lip hangs down slightly, is stuck upwards or looks like its been pulled off slightly. Hassans cleft lip symbolizes his poverty or lower class over Baba and Amir. Baba’s father adopted Ali when his parents were killed when he was 5 which is how Baba and Ali were friends, they grew up together and now their sons are just as they did. There is always that separation of normal and servant but that didn’t stop either of the pairs to not associate with each other. Hassan’s first word was Amir. This is important because it shows how much Hassan loves and looks up to Amir, yet what was to come from Amir later on would change that. What contrasts the two boys is that Amir is a Pushtun and Hassan is a Hazara which will always separate the two. Amir has a right to an education and Hassan does not, he is just a servant.
3. Hazaras are a minority group of lower status in Afghanistan, they’re usually the servants and considered a disgrace compared to Pashtuns. Ali, Sanaubar and Hassan are Hazaras in the book so far.
4. A Pashtun or Sunni Muslim are a majority group and are of the upper class