Summary and notes on chapters 15-17 of kite runner

This short chapter serves as a transition from the past into the near present — six months prior to the opening chapter of the novel. The mysterious phone call from Rahim Khan compels Amir to return to the Middle East after all these years. Many of the mysteries and suspense of the first chapter are now completely understood, yet not everything is clear. Readers who are not paying close attention might equate Chapter 14 with Chapter 1, not realizing that Chapter 1 actually takes place six months after Chapter 14. Although the setting for Chapter 1 is not explicitly clear, it appears to be in the United States, but that is not yet entirely certain.

The significance of the narrative timeline for The Kite Runner as a whole is actually made clear in this chapter because about half the novel is spent leading up to June 2001, yet the second half of the novel covers only nine months. Undoubtedly, something extremely important is going to happen when Amir returns to Pakistan and, most likely, Afghanistan.

We find more more relations to the past when Amir reflects. The kites re-appear 'The red with long blue tails' which is all that need be said for the reader to understand Amir's thoughts, but also the father and son playing football could be linked to the two boys playing with the football when Amir is searching for Hassan.

Amir finds out what he feared the most but already knew, that Rahim Khan knows all about what he did; this is not explicitly mentioned but can be derived from 'Come, there is a way to be a good again'.
This comment foreshadows what will happen; but it appears that Amir does not think about what the way is but reflects still on what happened.

Amir slips back into his insomnia with the presence of the 'moonlight pouring through the blinds' which can be cross referenced back to chapter 8 where he cannot sleep in Jallalabad. Amir would most likely see the 'way to be good again' as the way to break free of the plight; and to return the favour of 'a thousand times over'.

Chapter 15
The purpose of this chapter is to provide both Amir and the reader with a description of life in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The taxi driver serves as an impartial observer who tells Amir how poor most of the Afghanis in Peshawar are. Rahim Khan's story about how he received the scar above his eye demonstrates the indiscriminate attacks of the Taliban, as well as the stringencies of their rules and the reaction people had to them — even when the Taliban were in error. A secondary purpose is to reintroduce Hassan and his story into Amir's life. Amir, who had not spoken Hassan's name in years, and the reader are now going to find out what happened to his childhood playmate after Amir caused Hassan and Ali to leave Kabul.

Chapter 16
For the first time in the novel, the narrative shifts in this chapter from Amir's to Rahimi Khan's point of view. The most telling details that Rahim Khan shares with Amir about Hassan are the questions Hassan asks about Amir and Amir's life, especially the one asking whether Amir is happy. Hassan is still more concerned about Amir's welfare than his own; this serves as a sharp contrast to Amir's reaction every time he has heard a mention of Hassan's name.

At one point in his narrative, Rahim Khan comments, in response to Hassan's reaction to his mother's return, "I guess some stories do not need telling." But some stories do need telling — especially the story The Kite Runner. Although this statement is an offhand remark that refers to a minor character, the implication of its significance to the greater whole is quite clear. Without novels like The Kite Runner, many readers will remain blissfully unaware of life in Afghanistan. A novel like this puts a face and a name to citizens that otherwise exist only in newspaper headlines, news programs, and Internet reports. Chapter 16 makes perfectly clear that one of the most important reasons for writing this book is to share historical information in a compelling manner. Although the story of Amir is fiction, the narrative is based on fact, and the information about life in Afghanistan makes The Kite Runner a notable historical novel.

Some critics view Hassan as a Christ figure, and the forgiveness he gives to the mother who abandoned him supports this interpretation. These critics like to identify the similarities between Islam and Christianity and consider the overlapping ideas and beliefs another example of the universality of the novel. Other critics bristle at this need to find a Christian figure in a text that contains so few Christians and find such a characterization as demeaning and insensitive.

The Kite Runner - Chapter 16
What Happens
Rahim Khan tells the story that surrounds Hassan after Amir and Baba emigrate to America
We learn that Hassan has a son
Told briefly about the Taliban
Analysis

Chapter 16 marks a brief change in narration from Amir to Rahim Khan, this has several implications on the way in which the chapter is told. Several details about Hassan are learnt throughout the chapter, showing how Amir has neglected his greatest childhood friend in a selfish act of distancing. The revelation that Hassan has a son puts the events of the past into the present, effecting events that happen beyond the end of the chapter and shows the psychological transition which Amir has to undergo. This transition is typical of the Bildungsroman genre.

The chapter acts as a self contained story told through a very different perspective than the previous chapters, giving a first hand account of the suffering and loss that Amir has been trying to "bury". Through Khan's story Amir is instantly submerged in the events of his past and left contemplating the events of his future, although as the chapter is ultimately told by Khan, it is up to the readers imagination to interpret Amir's reaction as the narration does not allow for interruptions. Furthermore the first hand account acts as a gentle introduction to a war savaged Afghanistan, with references to the famine and the Taliban.

The account also remains bespoke around Amir's past, with Khan reminding Amir about, "what a good kite runner Hassan was", and mentioning how, "they would hand the kites they ran all winter on the walls". Hassan's fate is still ambiguous at the end of the chapter, with Hosseni adopting a show not tell mentality, leaving the chapter on a suspense filled anticlimax.

Chapter 17
SUMMARY: The narrative switches back to Amir after Rahim Khan narrates the previous chapter. He hands a letter to Amir, from Hassan which describes some of the horrors of Afghanistan. Amir learns that the Taliban have shot Hassan and his wife, in order to obtain his father's house. Rahim Khan asks Amir to go and get Hassan's son from the orphanage he has been staying at. Amir finds out that Hassan is his half brother.

ANALYSIS.
Chapter seventeen's narrative changes back to Amir after it being Rahim Khan's voice that tells the story through chapter sixteen.This allows the reader to finally see Amir's thoughts after being held in suspense throughout Rahim Khan's narrative.

Uniquely, chapter 17 uses a epistolary narrative to tell the story (Hassan's letter). This technique gives the reader a better and more reliable, account of the horrors of Afghanistan than Amir can provide, as Hassan's account is first hand. This technique also builds suspense, as the reader still doesn't know what has become of Hassan.