"The Kite Runner," by Khaled Hosseini, is a novel centered around the complex webs of love, guilt, and resentment among two brothers and their fathers. The narrator and protagonist, Amir, is an entitled child constantly seeking his father's approval. Amir oscillates between jealousy of his best friend, Hassan, and loyalty to him. Hassan, who is unfalteringly loyal and brave, is also the biological son of Amir's father, but this fact is hidden from the boys; he is being raised instead as the son of his father's devoted servant, Ali. Baba, Amir's wealthy, reputable father, is a truly kind man, but his love for his two sons is often obscured by his shame for having the son of a Hazara (Afghan minority) woman and the resentment he has towards his acknowledged son for not being able to openly love his secret son. Hassan and his "father", Ali, work for and serve Babba. Ali is hard working, modest, and faithful to all. Amir and his father live in a nice house in Kabul, Afghanistan, with their two Hazara (Afghan minority) servants. Amir is consistently bullied for spending time with Hassan,
a Hazara, and fails to stay loyal to his friend when he sees Hassan being raped by three neighborhood boys after a kite competition and pretends never to have seen it. Consumed with guilt for not helping his friend, Amir desperately decides Hassan must leave and tries to frame him by planting money and a watch under Hassan's pillow. Hassan, loyal as always, admits to stealing the valuables even though he is innocent, and he and Ali move away. Several years later, the story catches up with Amir, his fiance, Soraya, and Baba (recently diagnosed with lung cancer) in California after they have fled from Afghanistan due to Soviet invasions. A month after Amir's wedding and shortly after Baba's death, Amir receives a call from Baba's old friend, Rahim Kahn, who is sick and asks Amir to visit him in Pakistan.