Kite Runner Study Guide – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
Amir
answer
Main Character
question
Baba
answer
Amir AND HASSAN's father. Wealthy businessman.
question
Hassan
answer
Amir's best friend. He is a Hazara and works as a servant with his father in Amir's home.
question
Ali
answer
Raised Hassan thinking he was his son and best friend of Baba since they were young boys.
question
Rahim Khan
answer
Baba's business partner. Acts like a second fatherly figure to Amir.
question
Soraya
answer
Amir's wife.
question
General Taheri and Jamila Taheri
answer
Mother and father of Soraya
question
Farzana
answer
Wife of Hassan
question
Sonaubar
answer
Mother of Hassan
question
Assef
answer
Childhood bully of Amir and Hassan. Rapes Hassan. Becomes a Taliban general later in life.
question
Sohrab
answer
Hassan's son
question
Sofia
answer
Baba's wife. Mother of Amir.
question
Where does Amir live during his childhood?
answer
He lives in Kabul, Afghanistan at his father's house.
question
Describe Baba's house
answer
His father's house has mosaic tiles, marble floors, rosebushes, and gold-stitched tapestries. It is the nicest house around town.
question
How are Hazaras treated in Kabul?
answer
Hazaras were treated unfairly in Kabul. The only jobs that were made available to them were servants. Were shunned.
question
How did Baba make his money?
answer
Baba made his money by building pharmacies and orphanages. He was a businessman.
question
How did Ali come to live with Amir's family?
answer
Baba's father was a judge. When Ali's parents were murdered, Baba's father took the case. Eventually he took him under his wing and Baba and Ali became friends.
question
Describe the two tricks Amir plays on Hassan in Chapter 4.
answer
1. He tells Hassan that the word imbecile means smart or intelligent. 2. He tells him a fake story.
question
Describe the relationship between Amir and Baba.
answer
A little strained. Amir doesn't get as much attention as he would like from Baba. Some details from the book is that he tells Baba that Hassan is sick and couldn't go along with them to skip rocks.
question
Describe the relationship between Amir and Hassan. What cements the relationship, yet what divides it?
answer
Amir and Hassan are best friends. Hassan thinks of Amir as a brother, but Amir doesn't feel the same way since Hassan is a Hazara.
question
Describe the relationship between Amir and Rahim Khan. What role does Rahim fill for Amir?
answer
Amir and Rahim Khan are good friends. Rahim Khan acts like a fatherly figure to Amir, filling in the attention that Baba neglects to give Amir.
question
How did Hassan make Assef and his friends leave Amir and him alone?
answer
Hassan aimed his slingshot at Assef and his friends to make them leave Hassan and Amir alone.
question
What did Baba get Hassan for his birthday?
answer
Baba arranged for Hassan to get his lip corrected for his birthday present.
question
Give 2 reasons why winter is Amir's favorite season.
answer
Amir loves winter because school is shut down and more importantly, he can fly kites with Baba.
question
What is "tar"
answer
"Tar" is a glass coated cutting line on the kites.
question
What is a kite runner?
answer
A kite runner is someone who retrieves the losing kite of a kite battle.
question
Why is it so important for Amir to win the kite tournament?
answer
The tournament is important to Amir, because he feels that if he wins it then Baba will finally be proud of him for once of an achievement.
question
Where does Amir find Hassan and what is the conflict?
answer
Amir found Hassan walking down the streets, holding the blue kite. The conflict is that Hassan doesn't know that Amir saw the whole rape and he didn't help Hassan. Amir just let it happen.
question
How does Amir and Hassan's relationship change after the kite tournament?
answer
After the rape Hassan did not spend time with Amir although he still did his chores. They were slowly becoming strangers.
question
What does Amir ask his father while they are planting tulips?
answer
Amir asked Baba if he would get new servants. Baba was really pissed off about it.
question
What does Assef give Amir as a birthday present?
answer
A biography of Hitler.
question
What birthday present does Ali give to Amir?
answer
A new copy of the Shahnamah, the book from which he had so often read to Hassan
question
What does Amir accuse Hassan of stealing? Why does he turn against Hassan?
answer
Amir accuses Hassan of stealing his wrist watch. He turned against Hassan because he felt too guilty about watching his rape that he rathered Hassan leave.
question
What does Amir realize when Ali and Hasan come to Baba's study?
answer
Amir realizes that Hassan knows that Amir watched him get raped. He also realizes that Amir told Hassan this.
question
How does Baba react to Ali and Hassan's decision to leave?
answer
Baba cries when Ali and Hassan make the decision to leave the house.
question
Which country invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s?
answer
The Soviet Union
question
How do Amir and Baba travel to Pakistan?
answer
Amir and Baba travel to Pakistan in the back of a truck along with other refugees.
question
What happens to Kamal and his father?
answer
Kamal had suffocated on the fumes and died. Kamal's father got really mad and put the barrel of Karim's gun in his mouh and shot himself.
question
What does Amir like about America?
answer
For Amir, America was an escape from his memories of Hassan.
question
How does Amir finally stand up to Baba?
answer
He stood up to Baba by telling him that he wanted to be a creative writer instead of a doctor or lawyer.
question
Where does Amir meet Soraya?
answer
Amir meets Soraya in the flea market that Baba and Amir visit often.
question
What is the scandal surrounding Soraya Taheri?
answer
Soraya had had a relationship with a man that did not work out well and had not been courted since.
question
What disease is Baba diagnosed with?
answer
Cancer
question
What secret does Soraya share with Amir?
answer
Soraya tells Amir that when the Taheris lived in Virginia, she ran off with an Afghan man. When her father found her and dragged her home, she found out that her mother had suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of her face.
question
How much does Baba spend on the wedding?
answer
$35,000 that he had saved.
question
What are Amir and Soraya's majors in college?
answer
Amir majored in English and Soraya majored in teaching.
question
Why does General Taheri refuse to allow Amir and Soraya to adopt?
answer
Afghan society stresses the importance of bloodline succession and adoption would mean the exact opposite.
question
Why does Rahim Khan call Amir?
answer
He called and told Amir he was very sick and asked him to come visit him in Pakistan.
question
Where is Amir going at the end of Chapter 14?
answer
He left for Peshawar, Pakistan.
question
How did Rahim Khan get the scar of his forehead?
answer
Rahim Khan got the scar on his forehead at a soccer game when a man next to him cheered too loudly. A Talib pistol whipped Rahim Khan, thinking he had made the noise.
question
Who lived with Rahim Khan at Baba's house in Kabul?
answer
Hassan and his pregnant wife Farzana had been living with him in Baba's old house in Kabul.
question
How did Ali die?
answer
In 1984 Ali died from a land mine explosion.
question
Name 2 things the Taliban did in Afghanistan between 1996 and 1998
answer
The Taliban took over Baba's house and began massacring Hazaras.
question
How did Hassan and Farzana die?
answer
The Taliban came to Baba's house one day to kick them all out and when Hassan protested, they took him out to the street, forced him to kneel, and shot him in the back of his head. Farzana ran out screaming and they shot her too.
question
What does Rahim Khan want Amir to do in Afghanistan?
answer
To find Sohrab and take him to Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell.
question
Who are Hassan's father and mother?
answer
Baba and Sanaubar
question
Why is Amir so angry at Baba?
answer
Amir wondered how Baba could have broken his own cardinal rule about not lying, how he could have lived with himself after betraying Ali.
question
What does Amir decide at the end of Chapter 18?
answer
That he would bring Sohrab to Peshawar.
question
Why did Farid dislike Amir when they first met?
answer
Farid didn't like him because Farid had stayed and fought for his homeland. Amir had fled to the privileges of America. He had abandoned his watan, his homeland.
question
What were Wahid's sons really staring at?
answer
Wahid's three boys were staring at his food.
question
How does Amir begin to redeem himself?
answer
Amir began to redeem himself by forgiving his own wrongdoings to Ali and Hassan in the past and more importantly by rescuing Sohrab.
question
Who is the beggar Amir meets on the streets of Kabul? What does he tell Amir about his mother?
answer
He is a professor who used to teach at the university with Amir's mother. Amir learns she was pregnant on that day, with Amir, and very beautiful and very happy.
question
How does Amir eventually gain access to the orphanage?
answer
He tells the director that he is Sohrab's half uncle
question
Describe three things about the orphanage.
answer
No heat or hot water. Very little food or supplies. The Taliban refused to pay for renovations or improvements.
question
Why does Farid attack Zaman?
answer
Zaman is attacked by Farid because he revealed that a Talib official had taken Sohrab a month earlier.
question
Where is Sohrab?
answer
Sohrab is in a large house in Wazir Akhbar Khan where Farid and Amir agreed to meet the official for their appointment.
question
Why does Amir remember the turtle story while at Baba's house?
answer
He remembers this story because it makes him happy.
question
Describe Baba's house in 2001.
answer
It was dilapidated and falling apart in 2001.
question
What is still inscribed on the pomegranate tree? Why does Amir look for it?
answer
"Amir and Hassan. The Sultans of Kabul." Amir looks for it to find some remenance of Hassan in the universe. Something that remained constant when Amir's world did not.
question
What happened during half time at the soccer match? Why?
answer
During the halftime show the Taliban brought out two accused adulterers. The official personally stoned both of the accused to death, after which other Talibs buried them. He did it because he said death by stoning was a just punishment for adulterers. He did it because he said death by stoning was a just punishment for adulterers.
question
Who is Amir meeting at 3:00pm?
answer
Amir is meeting the Talib official at 3pm.
question
What is the last solid food Amir will eat for a while?
answer
A grape.
question
How does Assef recognize Amir?
answer
Assef never forgets a face
question
What did Assef do in Mazar?
answer
Assef went through houses and cleansed people. Did god's work. Killed Hazaras.
question
What was Assef's epiphany?
answer
When a guard kicked his kidney stone out of place in order to withstand the beating, Assef believed it to be "a message from God."
question
What makes Amir laugh during the fight?
answer
Amir remembers laughing while Assef beat him, and feeling relief. He had looked forward to that, and felt healed for the first time.
question
How do Amir and Sohrab escape?
answer
Farid helps them escape the compound in his car.
question
Name 3 injuries Amir receives from Assef.
answer
Amir has a wired jaw, several broken ribs, and a punctured lung.
question
What is important about Amir's scar?
answer
Amir's scar is important because it was the exact same scar that Hassan had.
question
What does Rahim Khan tell Amir to do?
answer
Rahim Khan tells Amir to forgive Baba for his sin and to forgive himself.
question
What is important about the card game Amir and Sohrab play while in the hospital?
answer
The card game that Sohrab and Amir played in the hospital was the same game that Hassan and Amir played as children. He also realizes that Hassan always let Amir win since Sohrab was a pro at the game.
question
Why did Rahim Khan lie about the Caldwells?
answer
Rahim Khan lied about the Caldwells because he was afraid that Amir wouldn't want to take care of Sohrab, but he knew that Amir would fall in love with Sohrab and take him home to America.
question
How much money does Amir give Farid for his help?
answer
2,000 US Dollars.
question
Why did Sohrab go to the mosque?
answer
Sohrab felt dirty and very sinful for hitting Assef with a slingshot. He thinks that God will damn him for his actions.
question
What does Amir ask Sohrab while they are at the mosque?
answer
He asks Sohrab if he wants to go back to America with him.
question
What two things does Sohrab know about San Francisco?
answer
Golden Gate Bridge and the weather.
question
How does Soraya react to Amir's news?
answer
Soraya agrees to adopting Sohrab and is non judgmental about the news about Hassan's rape.
question
What does Faisal tell Amir are his options for adoption?
answer
He repeated what Raymond Andrews had said about death certificates, but said there was some hope of adopting Sohrab if he was placed in an orphanage temporarily.
question
After Soraya's call, how will Sohrab get into the USA?
answer
Sharif would be able to get Sohrab a visa.
question
Why does Amir scream at the end of chapter 24?
answer
He screams because he discovered that Sohrab had cut his own wrists.
question
Why does Amir pray?
answer
Amir prays because he wants Sohrab to live. He begs God to let Sohrab live; he will do anything to make sure he's safe from now on.
question
What did Sohrab do in the bathtub and why?
answer
Sohrab cut his own wrists in the bath tub, because he would rather die than go back to an orphanage.
question
What does Sohrab refuse to do in the USA?
answer
Sohrab refuses to speak.
question
What happened on September 11th 2001?
answer
The Twin Towers had fallen in New York City and The United States had bombed Afghanistan, compounding the damage done by decades of fighting.
question
Why does the general return to Afghanistan?
answer
He had been offered a post in the Afghanistan ministry
question
When does Sohrab smile?
answer
Sohrab smiled when Amir did "the old lift-and-dive" as he watched. The green kite fell out of the air and Amir ran the kite for Sohrab.
question
Whats the meaning of "the NOOR of my eyes"
answer
the light of my eyes. Significant because it is a dedication.
question
What does baba mean?
answer
Father. Important because it is an acknowledgement
question
What is "did NAZAR"
answer
Doing something charitable.
question
What does jan at the end of a name mean?
answer
A term of endearment.
question
What does Rahim mean.. What does khan mean?
answer
Rahim translates to merciful and khan means to show respect to someone
question
What does buy some NAAN mean?
answer
Buy some bread
question
What is a laaf?
answer
An exaggeration that grows until it becomes a lie.
question
What is zakat?
answer
One of the 5 pillars of Islam. Donating to charity
question
What is hadj?
answer
Another pillar of Islam. Traveling to Mecca (if possible)
question
What are the 3 other pillars of Islam?
answer
3. Faith in god and the prophet Muhammad. 4. Daily prayers. 5. Fasting to purify oneself.
question
What does Mast translate to?
answer
Drunk
question
What does Agha translate to?
answer
Mister.
question
What does kaka translate to?
answer
Uncle.
question
What does mashallah translate to?
answer
Congratulations. Literally it means "praises you"
question
What does inshallah translate to?
answer
God willing
question
What does "Bas, you donkey" translate to?
answer
Enough
question
What does "the QUWAT to do" translate to?
answer
Power
question
What does salaam alaykum translate to?
answer
Hello
question
What is cursi?
answer
Hot coals in a bowl under a table, covered by a clot to keep the feet warm.
question
What does ayat translate to?
answer
Verse
question
What does diniyat translate to?
answer
Religion
question
What does halal translate to?
answer
Kosher
question
What does "wah wah" mean?
answer
Wow
question
what is sufism?
answer
It develops an inner way to mystical union with God. It frequently wears the cloak of Islam, and is sometimes seen as the esoteric dimension of the Islamic faith. A Sufi may or may not embrace Islam, but will be respectful of all faiths, seeing the path of truth that lies within their core
question
Isfahan
answer
Considered one of the Jewels of Iran, Isfahan has been the artistic epicenter of Iran for hundreds of years. It is important here because it shows how wealthy Amir's family is. Even in Iran, to have material from Isfahan shows your taste and extravagant wealth.
question
Mashhad
answer
One of the most important religious cities in all of Iran, containing the shrine/mausoleum of one of the 12 imams of Shia Islam (Imam Reza, the 8th of the 12 Shiite Imams), Mashhad is located very close to the Afghan-Iranian border. Religious Shiites consider a pilgrimage to Mashhad as important and try to make the trip often. To travel to Mashhad shows your piety and wealth since you are able to make the trip.
question
Shahnameh
answer
The national epic of the Persian-speaking world single, written by Ferdowsi, the book is similar to Homer's Iliad in that it incorporates history and mythology. Many present-day Iranian names come from this book. This epic is considered a treasure of Iranian literature, preserving traditional Iranian language and only using 60 Arabic-based words. (Literally translated, it means the "book of kings" because one king had requested Ferdowsi to write the epic and promised him a lavish reward. After 30 years, Ferdowsi completed the epic only to be paid in silver rather than gold. Ferdowsi refused the underpayment, and when the king
question
Amir
answer
Arabic for "leader" Oftentimes the title "Amir al-mu'menin" (leader of the righteous) is used when referring to Imam Ali.
question
Ali
answer
the name of the first Imam in Shi'ite islam (first of 12). [Full name is Ali abu Ibn- Talib]. He is often referred to as a lion for his amazing strength, and stories of his strength and devotion reach mythical proportions (note that Baba in the story was known to have fought a bear, and Ali was the physically disabled one...almost as if naming him Ali is to accent his physical shortcomings). He had two children by the name of Hassan and Hussein with the prophet Muhammad's daughter. Hussein is considered the martyr of Shi'ism, and his massacre along with 73 other members of his caravan is considered to be the beginning of the schism between Sunni and Shiite Islam. Imam Ali's strength is a sharp contrast, almost an ironic name for Ali in the book.
question
Hassan
answer
- the first son of Imam Ali, considered the second Imam in Shiite Islam. He was very obedient and subservient, preferring diplomacy and peace than violence. He abdicated his "birth right" as the successor to the title of leader of the Muslim world in order to avoid bloodshed. His actions can are shockingly similar to Hassan's in their altruistic tones.
question
Nazar/isfand
answer
Isfand is an inscnece or type of dried seeds that are burned and believed to ward off evil spirits. Nazar is the term used to describe the bad vibes that evil eyes or negative gossip can lead to. Isfand is burned, so a person doesn't get "nazar." This is a cultural superstition that is a compliment to the Muslim superstition of NAZR, which is to fast and sacrifice an animal to give the meat to the needy.
