The Kite Runner

Recently I've been reading the Kite Runner for my independent reading. For those who haven't read it or seen the movie it is about a young boy and his struggles with a childhood friend, their fathers, and later on in the story, his friend's son. The story opens with Amir, the main character, looking back on a story from his childhood with his friend Hassan. Hassan was seen as Amir's servant and not as a friend, although they spent almost all their time together. As the story progresses many tragedies strike Amir and Hassan along with their fathers, Baba who is Amir's father and Ali who is Hassan's father. Baba is a larger than life character who surpasses all others' expectations and does what everyone says he cannot. He is seen as a figure of Christ who later passes from lung cancer. Before Baba's passing, Amir was involved in a constant struggle for his approval. As a child, Amir was more of an intellectual writer and poet, while Baba wanted him to follow in his footsteps and become more athletic and publicly respected. After Baba dies, Amir begins to step in as the savior for the rest of the book which has several more drastic twists and turns that I will do my best not to spoil. Amir has to rescue Hassan's son after betraying Hassan in their childhood and sees that this is his chance to restore honor to his family and make up a mistake he made against one of his friends. Through much struggle Amir actually does redeem his wrongdoing and becomes the image he saw his father in.
As Amir goes through his journey to redemption he realizes what truly matters in life. Although he did not recognize Hassan as a friend when the were children simply because he was a lower class than him, he comes to the realization that social class should not matter and that people should be judged upon character and merit. This book is more than a story about the damages war wages on the civilian population, it is a journey of a man evolving from his shelter of ignorance into the freedom of realization.