The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
Summary
Amir
Hassan
Hassan is Amir’s best friend, and the son of Baba’s head servant. He is of Hazara ancestry, a minority group in Afghanistan that once descended from the Moghuls, but now lives in social scorn, and are eventually victims of genocide. Amir fondly remembers that “Hassan never denied me anything,” and the two had an “Unbreakable” bond. Growing up with the same wet nurse, Hassan was fiercely loyal to Amir, forgiving him for all of the catastrophes that Amir got him in, going as far to lie and get in danger for Amir. While Hassan was illiterate, his social intelligence is very high, perceiving parts of people that his best friend couldn’t begin to uncover. Like Amir, Hassan never grew up with a mother, his running of at birth after seeing the cleft palate he was born with. Hassan, like Amir, is dynamic and round, as he quite literally grows up with Amir, they often experience the same struggles and triumphs together.