Amir and Baba

The relationship between a son and his father

In the book” The Kite Runner” we meet the afghan boy Amir along with many of the important people in his life. After his mother's dramatic death after giving birth to Amir, the relationship between father and son is put on the edge.

Baba has grown up to be a wealthy man. He has built an orphanage where he helps the needing ones, and are now an authoritarian man in Kabul. In their big house Baba’s best friend Ali and his son Hassan works as servants. Amir and Hassan are best friends, just like their fathers.

Amir struggle his whole life trying to impress and earn Baba’s acceptance. He's not confident, and defiantly not into soccer like the father, instead he likes to write stories. In one point of the book we hear Baba say that if he hadn’t seen Amir’s birth, he would never guessed they were related. 

Hassan always make Baba proud. He stands up for his opinions and are always there for Amir. This makes him unhappy, and he envies the relationship he defiantly not has with his own father.

Amir does something stupid one day. After winning a Kite running competition he watch Hassan getting raped. He does nothing. This tragedy changes everything, and winning the competition never feels good at all.

As the story develops and the characters get older, their relationship changes. Amir and Baba are forced to move to America because of the horrible conditions in Kabul. They are now more dependent on each other, and they become really close until the end when Baba dies of cancer.

We find out that Hassan really is Baba's son. This make Amir and his father very alike. Baba cheated with his best friend's wife, Amir watched his best friend while being raped. Despite this they both grow up to be successful men.

This book can teach us that it’s not always easy being father and son. As we grow up everything changes and we realize who we really care about.