The Kite Runner

Characters

Protagonist

Amir (named Amir Qadiri in 2007 film adaptation, surname is not given in book) is the protagonist and narrator of the novel. Khaled Hosseini acknowledged that the character is "an unlikable coward who failed to come to the aid of his best friend" for much of the duration of the story; consequently, Hosseini chose to create sympathy for Amir through circumstances rather than the personality he was given until the last third of the book.[16] Born into a Pashtun family in 1963, his mother died while giving birth to him. As a child, he enjoys storytelling and is encouraged by Rahim Khan to become a well-known writer. At age 18, he and his father flee to America following the Soviet Military invasion of Afghanistan, where he pursues his dream of being a writer.

Main characters

  • Hassan is Amir's closest childhood friend. Khaled Hosseini regards him as a flat character in terms of development; he is "a lovely guy and you root for him and you love him but he's not complicated".[17] After Assef assaults him, this causes Hassan and Amir's relationship to deteriorate, culminating with Hassan leaving. Hassan later is murdered by the Taliban, but not before having a son, Sohrab.
  • Baba is Amir's father and a wealthy businessman who aids the community by establishing businesses for others and building a new orphanage. He is the biological father of Hassan, a fact he hides from both of his children, and seems to favor him over Amir. Baba does not endorse the extremist religious views of the clerics at Amir's school. After fleeing to America, he works at a gas station due to his low social status there. He dies from cancer in 1987, shortly after Amir and Soraya's wedding.
  • Ali is Baba's servant, a Hazara believed to be Hassan's father. He was adopted as a child by Baba's father after his parents were killed by a drunk driver. Before the events of the novel, Ali had been struck with polio, rendering his right leg useless. Because of this, Ali is constantly tormented by children in the town. He is later killed by a land mine in Hazarajat, after he and Hassan leave Amir and Baba.
  • Rahim Khan is Baba's loyal friend and business partner. He understands Amir and supports his interest in writing. Later on, he calls Amir to give him the task of rescuing Sohrab, before dying of a terminal illness.
  • Soraya is a young Afghan woman whom Amir meets and marries in the United States. Hosseini originally scripted the character as an American woman, but he later agreed to rewrite her as an Afghan immigrant after his editor did not find her background believable for her role in the story.[18] The change resulted in an extensive revision of Part III.[18] In the final draft, Soraya lives with her parents, Afghan general Taheri and his wife Jamila, and wants to become an English teacher. Before meeting Amir, she ran away with an Afghan boyfriend in Virginia, which, according to Afghan culture, made her unsuitable for marriage. Because Amir is unwilling to confront his own past actions, he admires Soraya for her courage in admitting to, and moving beyond, her past mistakes.
  • Sohrab is the son of Hassan, who is captured by Assef after Hassan and his wife are murdered by the Taliban. Sohrab is eventually rescued by Amir and taken to live in America as Amir and Soraya's adopted son.

Antagonists

Assef is the main antagonist of the novel. He is the son of a Pashtun father and a German mother, and believes that Pashtuns are superior to Hazaras, although he himself is not a full Pashtun. He is described as a "sociopath" by Amir.

  • Wali and Kamal are Assef's goons who join him in tormenting Amir and Hassan, although Kamal is later preyed upon by a Russian soldier and killed from gas inhalation.

Secondary characters

  • Sanaubar is Ali's wife and the mother of Hassan. Shortly after Hassan's birth, she runs away from home and joins a group of traveling dancers. She later returns to Hassan in his adulthood. To make up for her neglect, she provides a grandmother figure for Sohrab, Hassan's son, for four years before her death.
  • Farid is a taxi driver who is initially abrasive toward Amir, but later befriends him. Two of Farid's seven children were killed by a land mine, a disaster which mutilated three fingers on his left hand and also took some of his toes. After spending a night with Farid's brother's impoverished family, Amir hides a bundle of money under the mattress to help them.
  • General Taheri is the father of Soraya, a former military general in the Afghan Army. He has a very traditionalistic view on life, despite being well meaning, and is obsessed with honor and society's impression on him and his family, which causes minor conflicts between him and Soraya, and later, to some extent Amir. However these are very minor conflicts, and all is made up later.
  • Khala Jamila Taheri is Soraya's mother, who dotes on Amir after Amir marries Soraya.
  • Farzana is Hassan's wife. She was murdered by the Taliban alongside Hassan.
  • Sofia Akrami is Amir's mother. Although she dies in childbirth, Amir gains information regarding her from a beggar once he revisits Afghanistan.
  • Karim is a smuggler who helps smuggle Amir and Baba out of Afghanistan during the war.
  • Wahid is Farid's brother, who lets Amir and Farid stay at his house while they are traveling to Kabul.
  • Zaman is the director of an orphanage in Kabul. He is occasionally visited by Assef, who forces him to sell him a child in exchange for money for the orphanage.
  • Raymond Andrews is an adoption official in the American embassy in Pakistan, who discourages Amir from trying to adopt Sohrab, but it is later revealed that his daughter committed suicide.
  • Omar Faisal is a lawyer who tries to help Amir adopt Sohrab.

This content is from Wikipedia. GradeSaver is providing this content as a courtesy until we can offer a professionally written study guide by one of our staff editors. We do not consider this content professional or citable. Please use your discretion when relying on it.