It is Amir's dearest wish to please his father. What fuels this wish? To what extent does he succeed in doing so and at what cost? What kind of man is Baba? How would you describe his relationship with Amir and with Hassan? How does that relationship change, and what prompts those changes?

Amir’s wish to please Baba is driven by his wish for Baba to be proud of him. Throughout Amir’s life he have only gotten the recognition he craves from his father at a couple of occasions. He feels successful and happy when his father acknowledges his actions. Therefore he constantly tries to impress his Baba.

Baba is a man with a reputation that exceeds him. Everyone knows him and he contributes actively to the local community. His father is close to “the perfect man”, except for one thing: His son. Baba loves his son, Amir, but at the same time he hates that he is not like him. He wants Amir to be a “little Baba” that stands up for himself and speaks loudly when things aren’t like they should be. Baba is a person who willingly sacrifices himself for other people. For him the most important thing is dignity. Baba’s perception of life includes no religion. He means that there is only one sin and that is stealing, and every other sin is just a twist of stealing. For instance: Killing a man is stealing his right to live, Lying to someone is stealing their right to the truth.

Amir and Hassan’s relationship is a very special one. Hassan lived in the Gatehouse with his father, Ali, when they were young. Hassan and Amir played together a lot and Hassan would do anything Amir told him to. Amir sometimes told him to shoot the neighbor’s dog with a slingshot, and even though Hassan hated it, he did it for Amir. When they were young Hassan would always run down the “slain” kites for Amir, he always knew where they would land.

On the day of Kabul’s big kite-competition Amir and Hassan participates and comes out triumphant, Hassan says he’ll run down the last slain kite for Amir. “For you, a 1000 times over!” When Hassan doesn’t return Amir goes looking for him, only to find him pressed up against a corner by bullies. They give him a choice: give them the kite or pay for it. He won’t give up the kite, its Amir’s and he had promised to give it to him. So the bullies rape him, and Amir just runs away, making no effort to stop them. This ruins their friendship, and Amir makes it look like Hassan stole his watch so they will get thrown out. They do, and Amir never sees Hassan again.

Later in the story Amir find out that Hassan was his brother all that time, and that is why baba treated him like a son. But when Amir finally finds out Hassan is already dead. He got dragged out on the street and shot when he tried to protect the old house. One of the last things Hassan did before he died was to send a letter to Amir. He had taught himself to write for Amir and he didn’t want to send a letter before he was certain that he could do it correctly.