Socratic Seminar Questions For The Kite Runner

Raj Janardhan
23 March 2018
English 10: 3
Ms. Keys
Socratic Seminar Questions
5. Amir, by the end of the novel, has most definitely redeemed himself of the horrible actions of his youth. When looking at all of the actions, Amir was brutal to Hassan, as he left Hassan to be raped by Assef, and then destroyed their relationship by making minimal effort to rekindle their friendship. Amir, after a few emotional encounters with Hassan, which involved Amir throwing pomegranates and yelling at Hassan, devises a plan to get rid of Hassan, the epitome of his guilt. In the end, Amir tries to get rid of Hassan and frames him for the loss of his watch. Hassan admits to stealing the watch, even though he didn’t do it. Amir then “understood. This was Hassan’s

There are several moments of bravery in the story. The first real instance of courage happens early in the book. Assef is mistreating and verbally abusing Amir, and Hassan, despite his status of a Hazara and Assef’s hatred of the Hazaras, steps in and asks Assef to “Please leave [them] alone”(42). Hassan continues to defend his half-brother, as even though Amir “saw that he was scared. He was plenty scared”(43), he proceeded to threaten Assef with his slingshot. One very courageous person in the story was Soraya. One of the first courageous things she did was to tell Amir what happened with the man in Virginia before her marriage. Amir never ever had the courage to tell Soraya about what happened in his childhood, and it is clear that the rape of Hassan still troubled him. In fact, after Soraya’s story, Amir “envied her. Her secret was out. Spoken. Dealt with”(165). The second instance of courage was Soraya’s willingness to take in Sohrab. Soraya had not seen Amir in six months and was scared that he had gone missing for one of those months. In their first conversation in a month, Amir bombards Soraya with all the details of what had gone on in his whole life revolving around Hassan and Sohrab. At the end, Soraya says “You have to bring him home… Amir, he’s your qaom, your family, so he’s [her] qaom too”(326). It takes great courage to allow a niece, who has been living in Afghanistan his whole life, to come and stay with you in San Francisco, with your husband, whose life was in danger for the past month. Unlike how Amir acted towards Hassan, Soraya is kind and allows Amir to fulfill his duty to Sohrab. Sohrab also exudes great courage. As Amir was getting beaten up cruelly, Sohrab decided to help save a man, who he had only heard stories about. He risks further sexual abuse and possible death from Assef, by using the slingshot. He threatens Assef with the slingshot just like his father, and asks him “Don’t hurt him anymore”(290). Sohrab carries through with