Quarter 2: Outside Reading Post #6

In Afghanistan, for young boys running kites and kite-fighting tournament are the main focus every winter. The kite-fighting tournaments were a huge tradition in Afghanistan and is so intense that it is even compared to going to war. In the tournaments, after your kite has been cut by an opponent, you must chase your kite. Hassan has proved himself to be one of the best kite runners, "Over the years, I had seen a lot of guys run kites. But Hassan was by far the greatest kite runner I'd even seen. It was downright eerie the way he always got to the spot the kite would land before the kite did, as if he had some sort of inner compass" (Hosseini 52). One year, four days before the big contest, Baba told Amir, "I think maybe you'll win the tournament this year. What do you think?" (Hosseini 56). Amir knew he had a very good chance of winning, but instead of answering Baba, he went on thinking to the benefits of winning the contest, "Show him once and for all that his son was worthy. Then maybe my life as a ghost in this house would finally be over...Maybe Baba would even read one of my stories. I'd write him a hundred if I thought he'd read one. Maybe he'd call me Amir jan like Rahin Khan did. And maybe, just maybe, I would finally be pardoned for killing my mother" (Hosseini 56). Hosseini is continuing to show how Hassan feels around his father, and how he is trying to figure our how to make his father accept him more as his son, that he is proud of.