The Kite Runner Chapter 4 Quotes
The Kite Runner Chapter 4 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 10
One day, in July 1973, I played another little trick on Hassan. I was reading to him, and suddenly I strayed from the written story. I pretended I was reading from the book, flipping pages regularly, but I had abandoned the text altogether, taken over the story, and made up my own. Hassan, of course, was oblivious to this. To him, the words on the page were a scramble of codes, indecipherable, mysterious. Words were secret doorways and I held all the keys. (4.25)
Like in the previous quote, Amir uses his literacy to demonstrate his power over Hassan (see 4.12). But Hosseini might be up to something else here, too. Amir begins to insert his own stories into the texts he's supposedly reading to Hassan. Zoom out to the novel as a whole. To whom is Amir telling his story? Does The Kite Runner read a little bit like a confession? Is Hassan (along with Baba) Amir's audience? Is Amir, through the novel, trying to explain his betrayal – and later redemption – to Hassan?
Quote 11
As always, it was Rahim Khan who rescued me. He held out his hand and favored me with a smile that had nothing feigned about it. "May I have it, Amir jan? I would very much like to read it." Baba hardly ever used the term of endearment jan when he addressed me. [...]
An hour later, as the evening sky dimmed, the two of them drove off in my father's car to attend a party. On his way out, Rahim Khan hunkered before me and handed me my story and another folded piece of paper. He flashed a smile and winked. "For you. Read it later." Then he paused and added a single word that did more to encourage me to pursue writing than any compliment any editor has ever paid me. That word was Bravo. (4.43-45)
Thank goodness for Rahim Khan. He does more to encourage Amir's writing than Baba ever does. In fact, Baba more or less ignores Amir's interest in writing until Amir decides to major in English in the United States. But – we must add – all this sets up the very moving scene when Soraya reads Amir's stories to Baba. Of course, Rahim Khan could never replace Baba (who is larger than life throughout Amir's boyhood), but in what ways is Rahim Khan a second father to Amir? In what ways is Rahim Khan a better father than Baba? Or does Rahim Khan remain only a literary mentor?