Kite Runner Book Comparison

The 2007 blockbuster film, “The Kite Runner,” directed by Marc Forster, is an adaptation based on the novel by author Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner tells the story of an epic tale of two boys Amir and Hassan, and their struggle with friendship because of the political systemic class structure between the ethnic groups of the Pashtun and the Hazara’s. The plot of both the film and the novel is set in Afghanistan during the 70’s and goes all the way through the early 00’s. The chaotic history of Afghanistan is told from the perspective of Amir one of the few privilege children growing up in Afghanistan before the monarch was taken over by the new government. Usually, when it comes to a film adaptation of a novel there are things left out such

When Hassan takes out his sling shot and threatens Assef with it, he says, in the novel, “Please leave us alone, Agha,” (pg. 42). While in the film the word Agha is not used. The word Agha is described in detail in the novel and showcases the Afghanistan class system with every character in the both the film and the novel. The word Agha is used as a term of respect Amir ponders in the novel, “And I wondered briefly what is must be like to live with such an ingrained sense of one’s place in a hierarchy.” (pg.42). However, without the term of Agha in this scene the film does not properly demonstrate the class struggle that is very obvious in the novel.

The differences in the film and the novel of “The Kite Runner” both effectively tell the story of Amir and Hassan. The novel just goes into more details about the history of Afghanistan and its caste system between Pashtun and Hazara’s. The film leaves out certain details of the novel and changes dialogue sequence of events and little things. The novel and the film adaptation still has the same themes, story, and message but the overall power of the novel is not present in the