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 just knew Amir wouldn't have gone if he knew Sohrab was his responsibility now, he just gave him the time to understand it during his trip.]]

* GuiltComplex: Amir. ''Loads and loads'' of it.

** Sohrab, [[spoiler: Hassan's son]] is named after the tragic hero of the Persian epic Shahnameh.

** [[spoiler:Baba: While this is only implied to be so, sleeping with Sanaubar and conceiving 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 to Hassan about fooling around with her, and being a lone young woman fending for herself, she has been very likely a prostitute.]]

* DefiledForever: Soraya is treated by everyone in the Afghan Freemont 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.

In 2007, a movie was made based on the novel, directed by Marc Forster (''Film/FindingNeverland'', ''Film/QuantumOfSolace''). The novel was even adapted into a GraphicNovel.

** [[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 sever 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 deformed lip similarity and feels he got what he deserved all those years]].

** Amir: [[spoiler:not standing up for Hassan when he got raped, and framing Hassan for stealing and causing Ali to leave, bringing Hassan with him]]. While Amir [[GuiltComplex tends to feel guilt over a lot of things]], these are the most prominent, and it remains there and drives him for the entire rest of the novel.

** Amir: [[spoiler:not standing up for Hassan when he got raped, and framing Hassan for stealing and causing Ali to leave, bringing Hassan with him]]. While Amir tends to feel guilt over a lot of things, these are the most prominent, and it remains there and drives him for the entire rest of the novel.

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler:Hassan, oh, Hassan. Just from how pure and innocent you were, you were pretty had SacrificialLamb written all over you. Amir even compares him to one]].

* MyBiggestFailure: A pretty huge theme:

* AdaptationDyeJob: In the book, Amir was described as having light brown hair with green eyes and Assef having the blond hair and blue eyes of his German mother. In the movie, both characters have black hair and Assef's German heritage is not mentioned.

* CainAndAbel: Amir to Hassan in childhood, with Baba playing a God who favors Hassan over Amir. They are brothers in spirit, having fed from the same breast and been raised together. And while loved by Hassan, Amir [[spoiler:sacrified Hassan by failing to intervene in Assef's raping of Hassan. Amir did this so that Hassan could bring home a kite that would bring favor to Amir from Baba. Feeling guilty and also wanting to have Baba to himself, Amir later sacrificed Hassan again, this time by framing Hassan with theft. TheReveal plays this trope even straighter, as Hassan is actually Amir's half-brother.]]

* LongLostRelative: [[spoiler: Hassan is Amir's half-brother.]]

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: [[spoiler: Assef's beatdown of Amir. With brass knuckles.]]

* 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 [[LightningBruiser extremely physical man.]]
* AdaptationDyeJob: In the book, Hassan was described as having light brown hair with green eyes and Assef having the blond hair and blue eyes of his German mother. In the movie, both characters have black hair and Assef's German heritage is not mentioned.

* BadassIsraeli: Baba has this opinion.
* BeardOfEvil: [[spoiler:Assef grew one after joining the Talibans.]]
* BoomerangBigot: Assef hates anyone who isn't a Pashtun, but he is half-German himself.
* BlackAndGreyMorality: Often the case with Amir and the antagonist(s) in the novel.
* BratsWithSlingshots: Probably one of the most dramatic uses.
* BreakTheCutie: Both Hassan and his son would suffer horribly.
* BrokenBird: Sohrab, Sohrab, ''Sohrab''.
* CainAndAbel: Amir to Hassan in childhood, with Baba playing a God who favors Hassan over Amir. They are brothers in spirit, having fed from the same breast and been raised together. And while loved by Hassan, Amir [[spoiler:sacrified Hassan by failing to intervene in Assef's raping of Hassan. Amir did this so that Hassan could bring home a kite that would bring favor to Amir from Baba. Feeling guilty and also wanting to have Baba to himself, Amir later sacrified Hassan again, this time by framing Hassan with theft. TheReveal plays this trope even straighter, as Hassan is actually Amir's half-brother.]]

* CorruptChurch: The Taliban and their interpretation of Islam, taking this trope to its utmost extreme.
* CrapsackWorld: Virtually all locations in the novel have some degree of crapsackness to them. This is mainly [[spoiler:when Amir returns to Pakistan and Afghanistan]], but even the US is much more like a FalseUtopia than an ideal world.

* DeathByChildbirth: Amir's mother died giving birth to him.

* DepravedBisexual: Assef.

* DuringTheWar: Includes the Soviet Invasion.

* EyeScream: At the end, Sohrab [[spoiler: finishes what Hassan started and shoots out Assef's eye]].

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler:Amir's attempts at full redemption.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[{{Understatement}} Hosseini likes this a lot.]] There is so, ''so'' much of it. It's so blindingly obvious most of the time, if you ever reread the story, you might well be sick of it. Some examples are below:

* IntergenerationalFriendship: Rahim Khan with Amir and Hassan

* InTheBlood: All over the place, such as: Hassan's son is 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 is much like Hassan's perceived father.]]

* KnightTemplar: Baba feels like this at times, blowing off the Koran for his own interpretation, almost never [[NeverMyFault accepting that his stubborness causes problems,]] and [[AbusiveParents neglecting Amir]] because Amir is not like him

** [[spoiler: Amir lets loyal Hassan get raped so he can continue his goal of impressing Baba. Years later, Amir gets a sever 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 deformed lip similarity and feels he got what he deserved all those years]].

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Amir after he learns that [[spoiler: Hassan was his half-brother, and died due to being Hazara]] before Amir could return and apologize. He's furious with Baba for lying to him and himself for being such a DirtyCoward.

* OrphanageOfFear: Where Sohrab is sent. Subverted in that it is really an OrphanageOfLove the one who manages it is trying his hardest to keep it that way but, due to circumstances, he forced to make sacrifices against his will.

* 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.

* ScarpiaUltimatum: When Amir and his father are leaving Afghanistan, the Russian guard will only let the truck carrying them into Pakistan 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.]]

* SinisterShades: The John Lennon-style sunglasses that hide the Taliban man's eyes [[spoiler:and that he's Assef]].

* SweetieGraffiti: Amir carves ''Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul'', into a pomegranate tree with Ali's kitchen knives.
* 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. Probably there actually ''were'' no therapists either, in Afghanistan at the time.]]

* WillfullyWeak: In physical terms, Hassan and his son Sohrab practically look the same. The difference however is that Hassan doesn't let his sufferings affect him, while Sohrab feels so defeated to the point of [[spoiler: attempting suicide.]]

* SensitiveGuuAndManlyMan: Rahim Khan is the sensitive guy to Baba's manly man. Rahim is calm, pensive and approves Amir's writing talent. Baba is a proud, larger-than-life businessman, interested in manly sports.

* 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 [[LightningBruiser extremely y physical man.]]

* 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 [[LightningBruiser extremly physical man.]]

* SoHappyTogether: Amir is told by a [[FromRichesToRags former professor now a beggar]] who knew his mother that during her pregnancy she was so happy that she was scared. She thought that one could be so happy only when a tragedy impends. [[DeathByChildbirth She was right]].

** Baba foreshadows the Taliban's regime when tells little Amir how poorly he thinks of [[TheFundamentalists the mullahs]] "''God help us all if Afghanistan ever falls into their hands.''"

** Baba foreshadows the Taliban's regime when tell little Amir how poorly he thinks of them "''God help us all if Afghanistan ever falls into their hands.''"

* IntergenerationalFriendship: Rahim Khan and Amir.

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

** EarlyBirdCameo?

* BeardOfEvil: [[spoiler:Assef.]]

* CainAndAbel: Amir to Hassan in childhood, with Baba playing a God who favors Hassan over Amir. They are brothers in spirit, having fed from the same breast and been raised together. And while loved by Hassan, Amir [[spoiler:sacrified Hassan by failing to intervene in Assef's raping of Hassan. Amir did this so that Hassan could bring home a kite that would bring favor to Amir from Baba. Feeling guilty and also wanting to have Baba to himself, Amir later sacrified Hassan again, this time by framing Hassan with theft]].

* AdaptationDyeJob: In the book, Hassan was described as having light brown hair and Assef of mixed race and having blond hair. In the movie, both characters have black hair.

* [[CaliforniaDoubling China Doubling]]: Some scenes in the movie were filmed in Kashgar, China (a city in the far western part of China) instead of Afghanistan, because there wasn't any snow in Kabul in the summer.

* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Sohrab when he attempts suicide, but this is later subverted when there are the smallest glints of hope in the very last pages of the novel. Still, considering how pessimistic the novel has been, it's reasonable to assume that they will not amount to anything.]]

-->''"...but time can be a greedy thing. Sometimes it steals all the details for itself."''

* BlondGuysAreEvil: Book!Assef.