Themes

Redemption

“There is a way to be good again.” – Khaled Hosseini

Father and Son Relationship

“I have imagined Baba’s wrestling match countless times, even dreamed about it. And in those dreams, I can never tell Baba from the bear.” – Khaled Hosseini

Warfare

“You couldn’t trust anyone in Kabul any more – for a fee or under threat, people told on each other, neighbor on neighbor, child on parent, brother on brother, servant on master, friend on friend.” – Khaled Hosseini

Juxtaposition

Selfishness and Loyalty

“I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. O could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – the way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran.” – Khaled Hosseini

America and Afghanistan

“ Long before the roussi army marched into Afghanistan, long before mines were planted like seeds of death and children buried in rock-piled graves, Kabul had become a city of ghosts for me. A city of harelipped ghosts. America was different. America was a river, roaring along unmindful of the past. I could wade into this river, let my sins drown to the bottom, let the waters carry me someplace far. Someplace with no ghosts, no memories, and no sins.” – Khaled Hosseini

Master and Servant

“But we were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that either.” – Khaled Hosseini

Symbolism

The Kite

“He had the blue kite in his hands; that was the first thing I saw. And I can’t lie now and say my eyes didn’t scan it for any rips.” – Khaled Hosseini

The Pomegranate Tree

“I hunkered down on my knees and brushed my hands against the trunk. I found what I was looking for. The carving had dulled, almost faded together, but it was still there: Amir and Hassan. The sultans of Kabul.” – Khaled Hosseini

The Lamb

“Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba.” – Khaled Hosseini