The Kite Runner Responce II

So far I have reached to page 231. I am really enjoying the book still and hope that the ending fills up all of my expectations. The authors style of writing makes the characters seem to come to life. One thing that I noticed about his writing was that the majority of his characters are male and he only seems to show progression of them. The females are put on the shelf and referred back in the story as an item rather than a human. I guess this is fitting though because Afghanistan culture degrades women and treats them in the "shelf" way. Another thing that I noticed was that after Baba's cancer from smoking, the author makes numerous references from Amir's standpoint about smoking and of other characters smoking.

Themes

• Customs - Afghansitan culture is ver focused on predermined customes that dictate their lives.
• Love - Between Amir and many characters including but not limited to: Baba, Kahn, Hassan, and Soraya.
• Guilt - Guilt of what he had done to his friend (and later known, brother) Hassan and of other decisions.

My big question would be why did Baba keep the fact of Hassan's birth a secret from everyone? How come he did not reveal that Amir had a brother and let Hassan live a life of slavery?

"Hassan slumps to the asphalt, his life of unrequited loyalty drifting from him like the windblown kites he used to chase." This quote of indirect guilt on page 219 really showed Amir's thought process of Hassan's reported death. His adjectives like "unrequited loyalty" tells the reader how badly he feels for cheating Hassan after his never-ending faithfulness to the boy that would throw pomegranites at him and watch him get raped.