The theme of Friendship in The Kite Runner

In The Kite Runner, friendship is a recurring theme, particularly in terms of how friendship is experienced between different social classes and castes. This is explored in the relationships between Baba and Amir who are Pashtun, and Ali and Hassan who are Hazara.

A central issue in the novel is how friendship is experienced, understood and expressed between social unequals when they have been pushed together by circumstances. The Kite Runner focuses nearly exclusively on male relationships. While the relationship between father and son is important to the novel, male friendship is central as well. Amir’s relationship with Hassan is the most obvious example. Though the two are constant companions, Amir’s superior social status causes a power difference between them, which is later complicated when Amir learns that Hassan is actually his half-brother. Amir realizes that the favor Baba showed Hassan was that of a father to a son, and he reflects on the way he let his jealousy corrupt his friendship with Hassan. Despite this problematic dynamic, Hassan is clearly a wonderful friend, as demonstrated by his willingness to support Amir even when it is difficult or dangerous to do so. This loyalty is evidenced most clearly by Hassan’s kite-running, and his refusal to give Assef the kite he runs for Amir, resulting in Assef raping Hassan as punishment.

Rahim Khan is another important character for understanding male friendship in the novel. He is a friend to both Baba and Amir, and in those relationships, he takes the role of pushing back against the questionable choices both men make. Rahim Khan can take this role because he occupies the same social position as Baba and Amir. It is Rahim Khan who knows his friends’ innermost secrets—that Baba slept with Ali’s wife and Amir allowed Hassan’s rape—and yet he does not lord these secrets over them, instead choosing to be a voice of reason and call the other characters back to goodness. Rahim Khan’s morality is evident in his phone call to grown-up Amir, in which he states “there is a way to be good again.” As a friend, Rahim provides Amir with “a way to end the cycle” of betrayals and secrets.