The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, follows Amir, and his childhood memories in Kabul, Afghanistan. The book portrays the story of two best friends as close as brothers, a relationship built on ethnic, race, wealth, and religious differences. The novel is set against the fall of the monarchy, followed by the Soviet intervention, and concluded in 2001 with the Taliban regimen. The book is about the transition from childhood to adulthood of Amir and revolves the journey he undertook to forgive himself after betraying his closest friend Hasan. The writer focuses on four main critical themes that arise along the storyline: social class and ethnic tensions, friendship, betrayal, and redemption. In this essay I will evaluate how these criteria affected the main characters of the book.  

Throughout the book, the author represents how different social classes and different religious view can impose a barrier in the limitation of relationships created between people. As Hosseini also pointed out, there were two different types of classes in Afghanistan, the upper class called Pashtun and the lower class called Hazara. What make these two groups distinct from each other are the differences based in religions one belonging to Shia Muslims and the other to Sunni, physical features, language, education status etc. We can see how Hosseini supported his claim about the differences that existed between them two, by describing Hasan’s cleft lip on his face, Ali’s lame leg or their flat noses. This features best portrays the status that both Hasan and his dad Ali had in society, it represented their poverty status and their inability to fix it. Furthermore, Amir and Hasan best portray the representation of social differentiation, group change, the intellectual one, but also the unsolvable construction that life imposes on you. In the book, we see an intelligent guy like Amir who was well educated and on the other hand Hasan an illiterate individual. The anger and discrimination that Pashtuns had for the Hazara is best represented by Hosseini through Assef character. He always kept saying that Afghanistan was Pashtun’s land and they were the only Afghans. His hatred feeling for this inferior race was later reinforce from Khaled, while he puts him as a leader of the Talians. 

Moreover, friendship is another important part of the book. "For you, a thousand times over", is the phrase that accompanies the whole book and best talks about the companionship between the two main characters. I have a deep love for this quote, the fidelity it represents, especially given the context of The Kite Runner and the incredible story that lies behind it. In this book, the author shows us not only the loyal side of the society that Hasan represents but also the selfish side, that of Amir's jealousy. In the book, Hasan’s character symbolizes innocence, how he was always caring and forgiving to the people around him. He always put others first and protected them with pride and security. I can remember a short excerpt from the book that portrays the relationship the two boys had. It was a nice spring day and both Amir and Hasan were going back home, when suddenly they run into three Pashtun boys. They threatened to beat Amir up for being friend with a Hazara. I was very impressed of how Hasan reacted that day, he did not think of himself, he did not feel insulted neither offended or underestimated of being called a Hazara, all he thought in his mind was to protect his loving friend, he put his safety first by scaring the boys away with his slingshot. For Hasan, Amir was the entire world and he was able to risk everything to see him happy. He looked at the world with the thought that the ideals to be achieved were friendship, loyalty, and love. Hasan did everything for Amir, he was even capable of giving his own life for him. But on the other hand, Amir's love for Hasan was very selfish. He valued himself, based on what others thought of him. Khaled tells us how this jealousy and selfishness completely changed and transformed Amir. The jealousy blinded him so much that later led him to frame Hasan for something he was not responsible of.  

"But he is not my friend! … He is my servant!" is another fragment I have taken from the book, a fragment which shows how Amir underestimates Hasan by telling him that he is just a servant for him, but Hasan never rejects him. He tries to keep the brotherhood that was created since childhood without knowing that the same blood flowed through their veins. With this fragment the author has brought the best. The message penetrates the depth and breadth of the spiritual world of different generations, dilemmas, turbulence within the contours of this world. I like that it gives a lot of examples about friendship, betrayal, or prejudice because it makes people reflect on their lives. These stories do not only happen in movies or books that always have a happy ending, on the contrary we encounter them many times in our lives and try to challenge them. The concept that love can be encountered because of social inequalities helps to analyze the relationship as it is. This is what Hasan tried to portray in the book as well. Even though the boys spend their childhood in same houses, the deprivation of their social status bothered Amir all the time and made him even more jealous of Hassan. 
 
Betrayal is another theme portrayed throughout the whole book. Betrayal is not only found in the boys’ relationship, but also in the relationship of Baba with Amir and Hasan. The betrayal first starts with Baba, as he had lied to both of his children. Baba once said to Amir that the only sin a human can commit is theft. But at this point, it was Baba himself who hide the truth from everyone. He stole everybody is right to the truth, Hasan, Amir, Sohrab, his servant Ali and if we look back in the novel, we can understand that the only sin that Baba was talking during all these years was himself. He betrayed everybody is from hiding the truth. On the other hand, the relationship between Amir and Baba as father and son was not very good. Whenever Amir's father congratulated Hasan, Amir felt very jealous. Whenever Baba talked about Hasan, he became more selfish. No matter how talented Amir was, he would always compare him with Hasan. He was always pointing out how Amir was not strong enough like Hasan to protect himself. Baba was always complaining how Amir attitudes, wisdom and interests were not a reflection of his interests. Amir was able to do everything to get his father respect, everything even if he had to betray his own brother. At the kite tournament, Amir had a big decision to make, between what was right and what was wrong. Amir knew that the right decision was to help his friend from being raped even by putting his life in danger, but out of jealousy and the desire to please his father Amir chose the kite over Hasan. He knew full well that leaving Hasan in the alley was the wrong thing to do, but selfishness and the desire to win his father's heart was more important than being good to Hasan. This jealousy that had begun to grow within his soul, all this selfishness that had gripped Amir made him betray Hasan once again, making him now a thief in Baba’s eyes. But again, Hasan defends Amir by admitting a crime he did not commit.  

This heavy burden of guilt weighed on his shoulders all his life and guilt haunted him his entire life. He lived in struggle and constantly in search of ways to forgive himself. The only way Amir could redeem himself and avenge his father mistakes was to return to Kabul and save his nephew Sohrab from the Taliban. Hosseini brought Sohrab’s character as a catalyst for Amir’s redemption. This form of redemption that the author chose, by saving the son of someone he once let down will affect readers to understand that deep down Amir was not that selfish guy, but instead he was a courageous man ready to face the truth. I value how Hosseini puts Amir constantly in a betrayal/redemption relationship, how he cleverly interacts them at the same time. If we go back to the kite tournament, we can understand that Amir all that time was looking for redemption from his father. By bringing back the blue kite to his father would made him a winner in his eyes and would make him earn his respect again. It is very genuine how the author forces the main protagonist to choose between betrayal or redemption.  
 
As also the author has pointed out, the kite is a crucial symbol used all over the book. He uses it as symbol to represent the duality of Amir's happiness as well as his guilt. Kite flying is what he enjoyed the most as a child because it was the only way for him to fully connect with Baba, who was once a champion kite fighter. Hosseini portrays the kite as a symbol between father and son relationship. But on the other hand, the kite takes on another significance when Amir allows Hassan to be raped because he wants to bring the blue kite back to Baba. His memoirs then portray the kite as a sign of his betrayal of Hassan. Amir had not flown a kite for a long time, but in the end of the book he does so with Sohrab. Since Amir has already redeemed himself from that point, the kite is no longer a symbol of his guilt, but a symbol of his forgiveness.  
 
To conclude, Kite runner will always remain one of the most captivating books I have ever read. In my opinion, the four-main criteria presented by the author.  Hosseini best portrayed how Amir learned from his past mistakes and how in the end he was able to find the right way to forgive himself and carry the memory of his friendship with Hasan forever in his heart. This book best presented how there is always a way to be good again, as long as you find the right path suitable for you to get at the final destination.