History Literature / TheKiteRunner

* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:Rahim Khan sends Amir to his RedemptionQuest by rescuing Sohrab and placing him in an orphanage runned by American expats. Said orphanage never existed. He knew Amir wouldn't have gone if he knew Hassan's son was his responsibility now, and the trip to Afghanistan would give him the time to understand it.]]

** Baba and Rahim Khan were more unorthodox, being tough and deterimined go-getters, but turned out [[spoiler:to be moral cowards of sorts when they refused to tell the truth of Hassan’s parentage to save the former's image.]]

* ParentalFavoritism: [[spoiler:Amir often feels that Baba likes Hassan better than Amir himself; specifically, Baba seems to care for Hassan by default, while Amir is constantly left feeling like he has to earn his father's affection. Becomes this trope when it's revealed that Hassan was Baba's illegitimate son, and it's partially {{justified}} as he can't open acknowledge him, so he lavished all the attention he could on him.]]

* WellDoneSonGuy: Amir to Baba. The latter does care for and love Amir but he's rather distant and more stern with him than he is with Hassan. Some of it, Amir thinks, has to do with that Baba's "princess" (Amir's mother) died giving birth to him.

* AbusiveParents: Baba can come off as this, [[WellDoneSonGuy ignoring most of Amir's achievements,]] because Amir is more interested in poetry and Baba is an [[RatedMForManly extremely physical and manly man who has scars from wrestling a bear, builds orphanages on a whim, stands up to an armed soldier who wants to rape a man's wife, and is so intimidating everyone in the room notices him the moment he steps in]]. Once Baba and Amir move to America, their relationship improves.

* GuiltComplex: Amir. ''Loads and loads'' of it. [[spoiler:It turns bout that his father was also plagued by guilt.]]

The story begins in UsefulNotes/{{Afghanistan}} in the 1960's, and follows Amir, a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashtun Pashtun]] and a member of the Kabul upper class. His father's servant, Hassan, is a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazara_people Hazara]], one of the North Afghan tribes (the Pashtuns inhabit the south, along with related regions in Pakistan and Iran). Amir and Hassan are best friends and treat each other like brothers, despite their socio-economic differences. One day, Hassan is subjected to a traumatizing event; Amir witnesses this but due to his cowardice, does nothing to help his friend. This causes a rift between the two, and eventually they part ways.

* ArmoredClosetGay: Assef makes fun of Amir and Hassan walking together and calls them the Afghan slur ''kunis'', [[spoiler: but he turns out to be bisexual, raping Hassan and molesting both young girls and boys as a Talib]].

* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: Rahim Khan sends Amir to his RedemptionQuest by rescuing Sohrab and placing him in an orphanage runned by American expats. Said orphanage never existed. He knew Amir wouldn't have gone if he knew Hassan's son was his responsibility now, and the trip to Afghanistan would give him the time to understand it.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The novel ends with the mute Sohrab giving Amir a small smile. Grim as the novel has been, this actually gives it the tiniest hope of a happy ending one day.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Both Hassan and his son suffer horribly but [[spoiler: Sohrab has it way worse, as he's left mute from it.]]

* ComfortingTheWidow: [[spoiler: Hassan was born roughly a year after Amir's mother died in childbirth. Odds are that Sanaubar was SexForSolace to a grieving Baba]].

** Amir [[spoiler: abandoned Hassan to get beaten up and raped by Assef, and framed him for stealing just so he wouldn’t have to face his guilt in the house.]]
** Baba and Rahim Khan were more unorthodox, being tough and deterimined go-getters, but turned out [[spoiler: to be moral cowards of sorts when they refused to tell the truth of Hassan’s parentage to save the former's image.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Or at least Earn Your Bittersweet Ending. [[spoiler: Baba is dead, Rahim Khan is dead also, and Hassan has died pointlessly killed by Talibans, ruining every chance of his ever reconciling with Amir. However, at least Amir has earned redemption by rescuing Sohrab from war-torn Afghanistan, and it's hinted that Sohrab may one day recover from his many traumas.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: As Amir says, "sociopath" is indeed the right word to describe Assef. But [[spoiler: before he fights Amir, he tells the guards that if Amir leaves the room alive and he doesn't, Amir is to be allowed to pass since he has earned his freedom.]]

** When Baba and Amir speak about Soraya's scandal Baba tells that "''what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime''". [[spoiler: 50/50 of possibility that he had the time he impregnated Sanaubar with Hassan in his mind then.]]
** Amir and his wife can't conceive, and start considering adoption. Amir's father-in-law is skeptical, since he thinks that Afghans are insanely tied to their origin and indeed it doesn't feel right for the couple to raise someone who is not of their blood. [[spoiler: The solution comes in the form of Sohrab, Amir's long-lost nephew. Amir gets to adopt someone who is actually related to him.]]

* GuiltComplex: Amir. ''Loads and loads'' of it. [[spoiler: It turns bout that his father was also plagued by guilt.]]
* HatesBeingTouched: Sohrab tends to be very uncomfortable with being touched [[spoiler: due to his sexual abuse at the hands of Assef and his henchmen.]]

* InterruptedSuicide: [[spoiler: Sohrab.]]
* InTheBlood: All over the place, such as Hassan's son being said to be very much like him, which plays this straight. [[spoiler: Seemingly subverted with Amir and Baba, as Amir believes Baba hates him for not being the image of a man as he was, but played straight and [[LampshadeHanging noted]] by Amir that his hatred of him may have stemmed from his guilt over how Baba was Hassan's actual father through an affair with Hassan's mother, and they both had past shames. Averted with Hassan, as he is a much more kindly person than his biological father, and said to be near-impossible to anger as opposed to Baba, who has a mighty HairTriggerTemper; he is much more similar to Ali, the father who raised him.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: Assef's friend Kamal, who helps him rape [[spoiler: Hassan, later appears in a catatonic state and is implied to have been gang-raped himself. Then he dies, in what's not quite a KarmicDeath]].
** [[spoiler: Amir lets loyal Hassan get raped both because he's afraid, and so he can continue his goal of impressing Baba. Years later, Amir gets a severe beating from the rapist. Among his many injuries is a split lip resembling Hassan's harelip. It's a DiscussedTrope by Amir, who notes the similarity of deformity and feels he got what he deserved all those years]].

* [[MagicalNegro Magical Hazara]]: Hassan. Servile? Check. Unappreciated? Absolutely. Vaguely not of this world? Too true. Rescues the hero? Uh-huh. Imparts small nuggets of ill-educated homespun wisdom? All the time. Minority? Clearly. [[spoiler: Killed off when melodramatically expedient? Yep.]] Primitive stereotype? Unfortunately.

** Soraya, [[spoiler: Amir's wife]] shares the name of the famous Iranian queen. Both women are unable to have children.
** Sohrab, [[spoiler: Hassan's son]] is named after the tragic hero of the Persian epic Shahnameh. Also he was the childhoods hero of Hassan.

* MysteriousPast: No one knows what [[spoiler: Sanaubar]] did all the years [[spoiler: before reuniting with Hassan. Considering how repulsive was the man who taunted about "knowing her" to Hassan, and being a lone young woman fending for herself, she most likely lived as a prostitute.]]
* {{Nephewism}}: [[spoiler: Sohrab is adopted by Amir, his biological uncle.]]

* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: As an adult, [[spoiler: Assef]] claims that he does everything he does for the sake of his country and Islam. His casually cruel behavior both before and after his conversion makes it clear that he just likes hurting people, and Amir sees right through him.
* OhCrap: Amir when he learns that [[spoiler: Assef is the one holding Sohrab hostage as a sex slave]].

* ParentalSubstitute: One of the themes is that your parents are not always the closest persons to live with you or raise you. Rahim Khan was a father figure to Amir being the dad that Baba isn't to Amir, [[spoiler: Ali raised and loved Hassan despite not being his father, Amir will raise Sohrab after Hassan's death.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Amir has none of [[spoiler: Assef]]'s racist and fundamentalist bullshit: "What mission is that? Stoning adulterers? Raping children? Flogging women for wearing high heels? Massacring Hazaras? All in the name of Islam?"

** Protagonist: [[spoiler: Amir and Hassan are half-brothers, as Baba had a brief affair with Hassan's mother.]]

* ScarpiaUltimatum: When Amir and his father are leaving Afghanistan, the Russian guard will only let the truck carrying them into Pakistan through if he can have sex with one of the women. Baba stands up for the couple. Also to a lesser extent with [[spoiler: Assef and Hassan.]]
* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: Assef manage to out-Biff Biff Tannen [[spoiler: by going from childhood bully to teenage rapist to adult rapist ''and'' Taliban war criminal. And ever the rapist.]]

* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: [[spoiler: Sohrab, a spitting image of his father, Hassan.]]

* ThereAreNoTherapists: [[spoiler: Sohrab was repeatedly sexually abused, tried to commit suicide after he thought Amir betrayed him, then didn't speak for over a year. There was no therapy, or at least none mentioned.]]

* BreakTheCutie: Both Hassan and his son suffer horribly but [[spoiler: Sohrab has it way worse, as he's left mute from it.

* BoomerangBigot: Assef hates anyone who isn't a Pashtun, but he is half-German himself. He also admires Adolf Hitler greatly.

* AllGermansAreNazis: Subverted. Half-German Assef is a walking example of GodwinsLaw, but his German mother seems to disapprove of his Hitler-worship.

* BreakTheCutie: Both Hassan and his son suffer horribly.

* IntergenerationalFriendship: Rahim Khan with Amir and Hassan.

* ParentalSubstitute: One of the themes is that your parents are not always the closest persons to live with you or raise you. Rahim Khan was a father figure to Amir, [[spoiler: Ali raised and loved Hassan despite not being his father, Amir will raise Sohrab after Hassan's death.]]

%%* ReligionIsWrong: How it is presented for quite a bit of the novel, especially when Baba and [[spoiler:the Taliban]] are around, but on the flip side it is widely accepted as a part of everyone's lives, and Amir prays to Allah towards the very end.

* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: Assef manage to out-Biff Biff Tannen [[spoiler: by going from childhood bully to teenage rapist to adult rapist ''and'' Taleban war criminal. And ever the rapist.]]

%%* [[BigBrotherMentor Step-Father Mentor]]: Rahim Khan to Amir.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Amir to Baba.

* YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord

* TwoTimingWithTheBestie: From a retelling of events, Amir learns that his Baba's friend, Hassan, and his wife had two failed pregnancies before having Sohrab. Only that [[spoiler:Sohrab is actually Baba's child since Hassan is infertile.]]

* PlotHole: In-universe. As revealed to Amir by Hassan about Amir's story; why didn't the poor man use an onion to shed tears instead of trying to make himself sad?

* AbusiveParents: Baba can come off as this, [[WellDoneSonGuy ignoring most of Amir's achievements,]] because Amir is more interested in poetry and Baba is an [[RatedMForManly extremely physical and manly man who has scars from wrestling a bear, builds orphanages on a whim, stands up to an armed soldier who wants to rape a man's wife, and is so intimidating everyone in the room notices him the moment he steps in.]] Towards the end of the story, he begins to increasingly accept Amir for who he is.

* ComfortingTheWidow: [[spoiler: Hassan was born roughly a year after Amir's mother died of childbirth. Odds are that Sanaubar was SexForSolace to a grieving Baba]].

* DeathByChildbirth: Amir's mother died giving birth to him. This makes him feel guilty for it for much of his childhood.

* DefiledForever: Soraya is treated by everyone in the Afghan Fremont community as damaged goods because of her ill-fated affair with an American. Fortunately for her, she gets to MarryForLove with Amir, which is more open-minded than the average Afghan boy and is sympathetic to her mistake, since he carries a heavy burden himself.

** Baba and Rahim Khan were more unorthodox, being tough and deterimined go-getters, but turned out [[spoiler: to be moral cowards of sorts when they refused to tell the truth of Hassan’s parentage to save the former’s image.]]

* HatesBeingTouched: Sohrab scolds every attempt of physically reach out to him [[spoiler: quite understandably, since he has been sexually abused by Assef and his henchmen.]]

* TwoTimingWithTheBestie: From a retelling of events, Amir learns that his Baba's friend, Hassan, and his wife had two failed pregnancies before having Sohrab. Only that [[spoiler: Sohrab is actually Baba's child since Hassan is infertile.]]

* TownWithADarkSecret: A mental example: to Amir, Kabul is this, and the dark secret is [[spoiler:Hassan's rape]].

* MixedAncestry: Assef has a Pashtun father and a German mother. [[spoiler: Hassan is the son o f the Pashtun Baba and the Hazara Sanaubar.]]

* GuiltComplex: Amir. ''Loads and loads'' of it. [[spoiler: It turns out that his father was also plagued by guilt.]]

* ComfortingTheWidow: [[spoiler: Hassan was born roughly a year after Amir's mother died of childbirth. Odds are that Sanaubar was ANakedShoulderToCryOn to a grieving Baba]].

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: {{Lampshaded}} when a random beggar off the street [[YourCheatingHeart happens to "know" Hassan's mother.]] According to the book, this is in fact a pretty common occurrence in Afghanistan.

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler: Ali's wife Sanaubar cheated on him with Baba and conceived Hassan.]]

* HatesBeingTouched: Sohrab scolds every attempt of physically reach out to him [[spoiler: quite understandably, since he has been sexually abused by Asset and his henchmen.]]

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeak: Amir has none of [[spoiler: Assef]]'s racist and fundamentalist bullshit: "What mission is that? Stoning adulterers? Raping children? Flogging women for wearing high heels? Massacring Hazaras? All in the name of Islam?"

* MixedAncestry: Assef has a Pashtun father and a German mother. [[spoiler: Hassan is the son of the Pashtun Baba and the Hazara Sanaubar.]]

* HitMeDammit: Amir once starts a fight with Hassan by pelting him with pomegranates specifically so Hassan will fight back. Hassan refuses the challenge. [[spoiler:It's because Amir is looking for punishment since he did not save Hassan from being raped by Assef. Amir lampshades this incident a second time when he's receiving the beatdown he felt he deserved from Assef many years later.]]

* LooksLikeJesus: The adult Assef, as described by Amir, plus the John Lennon sunglasses.

** ''Ass''ef, he is simply an ''ass''hole.