The Kite Runner Chapter 2 Characters We Have

The Kite Runner Chapter 2

Characters We Have Met ◊ Narrator • Amir. Wealthy. Has a “past of unatoned sins. ” Pashtun. ◊ Baba • Amir’s father. Wealthy. Has powerful friends. Neglects son. ◊ Hassan • Loyal to Amir. Good with a slingshot. Has a cleft lip. Lives in a mud shack on Amir’s family’s land. Hazara. Made fun of because of his mother.

More Characters We Have Met ◊ Ali • Baba’s servant. Hassan’s father. Shi’a Muslim. Hazara. Married his first cousin before she left him. Congenital paralysis of his lower facial muscles = cannot smile. Polio caused his right leg to lose its muscle. Rarely gets angry. ◊ Sanaubar • Hassan’s mother. Ali’s wife. Left Hassan when he was five days old to join traveling dancers. Mean to Ali.

Even More Characters We Have Met ◊ Rahim Khan • Calls Amir to get him to visit. “There is a way to be good again. ” Baba’s “best friend and business partner. ” • “I’m in [Baba’s] arms, but it’s Rahim Khan’s pinky my fingers are curled around” (5).

Cleft Lip ◊ Cleft palate is a condition in which the two plates of the skull that form the hard palate (roof of the mouth) are not completely joined ◊ 1 out of every 700 births

More Cleft Palate Stuff 6 months old 1 month after surgery 8 years old

Congenital Facial Paralysis ◊ Congenital = at birth ◊ Statue below is from 300 A. D.

Polio / Atrophied Leg ◊ Often from ingestion of fecal matter caused by weak water treatment ◊ 90% = no symptoms ◊ 1% = atrophy ◊ Children more susceptible ◊ Vaccine = 1950

“Islam” and “Muslim” Clarified ◊ Islam refers to the religion that was introduced by the prophet Mohammed ◊ The Quran is the main text of the Islamic religion ◊ Islam can also refer to the community that believes in the Islamic religion ◊ Muslims refer to individuals who believe in the Islamic religion

Islam/Muslim Continued Correct Usage ◊ Islamic religion ◊ Islamic faith ◊ The Islam community ◊ That Muslim man was nice ◊ She is Muslim Incorrect Usage ◊ That Islamic person ◊ The Muslim religion ◊ He is Islam

Shi’a Muslim / Sunni Muslim Sunni ◊ Believed leadership of the Muslims should be voted on ◊ 85% ◊ Keeps traditions and practices taught by leaders that proceeded Muhammad Shi’a ◊ Believed leadership of the Muslims should be inherited ◊ 15% (Iran, Iraq) ◊ Believe the Imam (leader by inheritance) is immune to sin and is treated like a saint

Pashtun / Hazara Pashtun ◊ 42% ◊ Sunni Muslim Hazara ◊ 9% ◊ Shi’a Muslim “I read that my people, the Pashtuns, had persecuted and oppressed the Hazaras. It said the Hazaras had tried to rise against the Pashtuns in the nineteenth century, but the Pashtuns had ‘quelled them with unspeakable violence. ’ The book said that my people had killed the Hazaras, driven them from their lands, burned their homes, and sold their women. The book said part of the reason Pashtuns had oppressed the Hazaras was that Pashtuns were Sunni Muslims, while Hazaras were Shi’a” (9).

Hazara Pashtun