The Kite Runner Chapter 7 Quotes
The Kite Runner Chapter 7 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
"I know," he said, breaking our embrace. "Inshallah, we'll celebrate later. Right now, I'm going to run that blue kite for you," he said. He dropped the spool and took off running, the hem of his green chapan dragging in the snow behind him.
"Hassan!" I called. "Come back with it!"
He was already turning the street corner, his rubber boots kicking up snow. He stopped, turned. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "For you a thousand times over!" he said. Then he smiled his Hassan smile and disappeared around the corner. The next time I saw him smile unabashedly like that was twenty-six years later, in a faded Polaroid photograph. (7.52-54)
Yet again, Hassan demonstrates his loyalty and devotion to Amir. If we were to judge Amir and Hassan's friendship by actions and not simply expressions of loyalty, the score would be pretty lopsided. (Of course, Amir saves Hassan's son at the end of the book from a pathological pedophile so that counts for something.) We also want to point out the irony in Hassan's reply: "For you a thousand times over!" Amir will develop a pretty nasty case of insomnia as the guilt piles up inside him. Really, Amir returns to the alleyway thousands of times in his memory before he comes to peace with his cowardice. And so the phrase "a thousand times over" is colored with some pretty devastating irony. Yes, Hosseini is using irony again.
Quote 2
I stopped watching, turned away from the alley. Something warm was running down my wrist. I blinked, saw I was still biting down on my fist, hard enough to draw blood from the knuckles. I realized something else. I was weeping. From just around the corner, I could hear Assef's quick, rhythmic grunts.
I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run.
In the end, I ran. (7.137-139)
Amir leaves Hassan in the alleyway. This passage, along with the passage in which Amir plants a wad of cash and his watch under Hassan's mattress, counts as Amir's two major betrayals of Hassan. Perhaps because of his guilt, Amir never tells Hassan he saw what happened in the alley. Which brings up an interesting side question: Do you think Amir's silence is a worse betrayal than Amir's cowardice?
Quote 3
Assef knelt behind Hassan, put his hands on Hassan's hips and lifted his bare buttocks. He kept one hand on Hassan's back and undid his own belt buckle with his free hand. He unzipped his jeans. Dropped his underwear. He positioned himself behind Hassan. Hassan didn't struggle. Didn't even whimper. He moved his head slightly and I caught a glimpse of his face. Saw the resignation in it. It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb. (7.133)
We're especially frightened by this passage because Assef is only a boy, too. Can Assef even know the repercussions of his act? Does Assef, too, despite his cruelty, retain a type of innocence? When children are cruel to each other are they still innocent even in their cruelty? Don't forget, either, about Amir who's watching the event. In fact, you might be able to say that Amir's abandonment and betrayal of Hassan affects Amir more than it affects Hassan. Hassan retains – or at least returns to – some measure of innocence. But Amir is irrevocably changed.