Major Characters

Amir, the narrator and protagonist of the story, begins as a Pashtun boy living in Kabul, Afghanistan. He tells of the sins he committed against his friend, servant, and half-brother, Hassan, and of his journey to redemption. Amir is insecure as a boy, but he finally feels stable and pure at the end of the story, when he adopts Sohrab and teaches him about kite fighting and kite running.

Hassan is a Hazara and is the epitome of kindness and compassion. He is Amir's best friend at the beginning of the novel. Being of a lower class, Hassan faces discrimination every day. His harelip only makes the discrimination worse. Hassan is brutally raped by Assef, and this marks the point of Hassan's emotional downturn. Hassan eventually finds happiness with his wife and son, but he and his wife are killed by the Taliban.

Baba is Amir's father, and he is also the biological father of Hassan. Amir views Baba as larger than life and strives to please him in every way possible. Baba puts pressure on Amir to be more courageous and athletic, but Amir rather shows a continued interest in literature. Baba does not really understand the relationship existent between him and his son, but he dies proud of Amir and his accomplishments.

Sohrab, Hassan's son, is the character by which Amir ultimately attains his redemption. He is symbolic of Hassan in the later part of the novel, for his father has been killed. Like Hassan, Sohrab is also treated poorly and raped by Assef. Sohrab tries to commit suicide when Amir betrays him and tells him that he may need to go back to an orphanage for a little while, but he eventually moves to the United States as Amir and Soraya have adopted him.

Assef, the antagonist of the story, is a Pashtun boy who ultimately becomes a Taliban official. He bullies and rapes Hassan and tries to humiliate Ali, Hassan's supposed father. Assef is a sociopathic character who admires Hitler and represents all that is cruel and immoral.