The Kite Runner Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hassan

Amir was a big fan of kite-fighting, a popular sport in Kabul where players would try to cut down their competitors' kites with an abrasive kite line in order to be the last person with their kite still flying in the air. The fallen kites could be kept by anyone who could capture them - a process known as "kite running". Hassan had quite the talent for running down fallen kites and was Amir's kite runner.

He was also fiercely loyal to Amir, and would have eaten dirt if Amir told him to. ("If you asked, I would.

But would you really ask me to do such a thing?") The two boys were virtually inseparable, despite being from different backgrounds - Amir was an affluent Pashtun, while Hassan was a Hazara servant boy.

Answer: He wanted Amir to come and visit him in Pakistan.

Rahim Khan was a good friend of Baba's, and was also very fond of Amir when he was growing up. Amir had demonstrated a talent for writing at an early age, and used to make up stories to tell Hassan, who could not read. Rahim Khan enjoyed reading Amir's stories and encouraged him with his writing.

When the Russians invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Baba and Amir were forced to flee because of Baba's anti-communist views, leaving Rahim Khan to watch over Baba's house. Rahim Khan eventually fled to Pakistan himself after the Taliban rose to power.

At the start of the film, he called Amir to tell him to come and see him and told him, "There is a way to be good again." Amir agreed to make the trip and explained his decision to his wife by saying, "There wouldn't be any books if not for Rahim Khan."

Answer: He didn't think that Amir was tough enough.

"Trust me, he won't be getting into any brawls," Baba said to Rahim Khan. "Sometimes I see him playing on the street with the neighborhood boys. They push him around, take his toys from him, but Amir... he never fights back. Never." Baba was also embarrassed that Hassan had to step in to defend Amir when he was teased by other kids, and he felt that there was "something missing" in Amir. Rahim Khan tried to placate his friend. "Children aren't coloring books," he said. "You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors.

He's not like you. He'll never be like you. But watch. He'll turn out well." Baba remained unconvinced. "A boy who won't stand up for himself becomes a man who won't stand up for anything," he said.

Answer: Theft

Amir was taught by the mullahs in school that drinking alcohol was "haraam" or forbidden under Islamic law, and that drinkers were sinners who would pay when the Reckoning came. One day, he saw his father pouring himself a drink, so he questioned him about it. Baba was quick to dismiss Amir's concerns.

He told him that there was only one sin - theft - and that every other sin was a variation of theft. "When you kill a man," Baba explained, "you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to her husband, his children's right to a father.

When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. There is no act more wretched than stealing." With that, Baba declared that "all this talk about sinning" was making him thirsty, so he poured himself another drink.

Answer: He was assaulted by a gang of bullies.

Hassan had run off to retrieve the last kite that Amir had cut down to win the tournament when he was ambushed by the local bully, Assef, who disliked Hassan because of his Hazara background. Assef believed that Afghanistan was the land of the Pashtuns, who were the real Afghans, and that the Hazara people were polluting his homeland. Assef offered to let Hassan walk away unharmed if he let him have the kite, but Hassan refused because he was collecting the kite for Amir. For his impertinence, Hassan was kicked by the members of the gang and assaulted by Assef. Amir had gone to look for Hassan and witnessed the attack, but was too scared to intervene and save Hassan.

Instead, he ran away and only pretended to catch up with Hassan when he was limping back to the house. Amir and Hassan never spoke about the attack.

Answer: He accused Hassan of stealing his watch.

One day when Ali and Hassan went to the market, Amir placed his watch under Hassan's pillow and told his father about it. When Hassan was confronted by Baba about the watch, he realized what Amir was doing and confessed to taking it. Amir probably wanted Hassan to leave because he was a constant reminder of the shame and guilt that Amir felt over his failure to help his friend.

He may have also felt that he was competing with Hassan for Baba's affection, and grew to resent Hassan's loyalty and bravery as much as he hated his own shortcomings. Amir's feelings of self-loathing had led him to pelt Hassan with rotten fruit - Amir had asked Hassan to hit him back, and called him a coward when he refused. Amir also tried asking Baba if he ever thought of getting new servants, but this only angered Baba. Remembering Baba's views on stealing, Amir then decided to frame Hassan with his watch, thinking that this would surely anger Baba. Surprisingly, Baba forgave Hassan for stealing the watch and insisted that he and Ali stay on as servants, but Ali decided to leave, saying that he and Hassan could not work for Baba any longer.

Answer: He stood up to the Russian soldier.

The Russian soldier had already been bribed, but he wanted to extract this additional requirement for letting them pass. Baba was the only person in the convoy who stood up to the Russian soldier, and told the truck driver to translate for him. "Ask him where his shame is," he demanded. "There is no shame in war," replied the soldier. "Tell him he is wrong," said Baba. "War doesn't negate decency." The soldier then said that he would enjoy putting a bullet in Baba. "I'll take a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place," Baba replied indignantly. Fortunately, they were interrupted by the Russian soldier's superior, who allowed the truck to pass.

The woman's husband was so grateful that he kissed Baba's hand as he thanked him for his kindness. Amir and Baba managed to leave Afghanistan safely, but not before Baba kept a handful of soil from his motherland as a keepsake.

Answer: She ran away to live with an Afghan man when she was eighteen.

Soraya first caught Amir's eye when he met her at a flea market. He noted that she was reading "Wuthering Heights", and offered to let her read one of his stories. It wasn't long before Amir got Baba to ask the General for his daughter's hand in marriage, but Soraya wanted to speak to Amir first so that she could tell him something about herself - she didn't want any secrets between them. "We lived in Virginia before we came here," Soraya said. "We left because I ran away with an Afghan man. I was eighteen - I guess I thought I was being rebellious. We lived together for almost a month." Amir listened to Soraya's confession without passing any judgment. "Does what I told you bother you?" asked Soraya. "A little," replied Amir. "Does it bother you enough to change your mind?" she enquired. "No.

Not even close," said Amir. "I'd marry you tonight if I could." Amir and Soraya were married in a traditional ceremony, which was attended by a sick but happy Baba.

Answer: He said that Hassan and Amir were really half-brothers.

"Forgive me for what I have to tell you," Rahim Khan said to Amir. He explained that he had tried to watch over Baba's house, but none of the caretakers he hired lasted more than a year, so he got Hassan to look after the house. One day, the Taliban came to the house and ordered Hassan and his family to leave.

When Hassan refused, he was shot and killed. Hassan's wife became hysterical and attacked her husband's killers, and was also killed. Their son, Sohrab, was taken to an orphanage. Lastly, Rahim Khan told Amir that Ali was sterile, and although he had raised Hassan as his own son, he did not father him. Baba was really Hassan's father, which made Amir and Hassan half-brothers. "Your father loved you both, because you were both his sons," Rahim Khan explained.

He wanted Amir to return to Afghanistan to retrieve Sohrab from the orphanage because the boy was his nephew.

Answer: He read a letter that Hassan had written to him before he died.

Hassan had taught himself to read and write, and had written Amir a letter a few weeks before he died. In his letter, Hassan wrote about how he missed Amir's stories and that one day, he hoped to hold one of his letters in his hands and read of his life in America.

He wrote about how the Kabul they remembered from their youth had changed, and that kindness had disappeared from the land. He also expressed his hope that God would guide them to a better day, and that his son would grow up to be a good person, and a free person. Hassan's letter ended with this line, "And I dream that someday you will return to Kabul to revisit the land of our childhood. If you do, you'll find an old faithful friend waiting for you." After reading the letter, Amir resolved to return to Afghanistan, and he called up his wife to tell her all about Hassan and Sohrab.

Answer: He told him that he was Sohrab's uncle, and that he wanted to take him back to America.

The director of the orphanage opened up after Amir told him that he was the boy's uncle, and that he wanted to take him away from this place. "What I have to tell you is not pleasant," said the director. "I tell you because I believe you. You have the look of desperate men." The director told Amir that a Talib official came to the orphanage every month or so to buy children, and that Sohrab had been taken away by this man. Amir became visibly upset when he heard this, and he accused the director of neglecting his duty to protect the children.

This only angered the director, who defended his actions in what was, for him, a difficult situation. "You come here to rescue a boy, take him back to America, give him a good life," said the director to Amir. "It must seem heroic, huh? But what of the other two hundred children? You'll never see them again. You'll never hear them howling in the night." He told Amir that he had spent all his life savings to run the orphanage, even though he could have left for Iran or Pakistan. "If I deny him one child, he takes ten," said the director. "So I let him take one, and leave the judging to Allah. I take his filthy money, and I go to the bazaar, and I buy food for the children." Amir was subdued by the director's outburst, and asked him for one last piece of information - where he could find the Talib official.

Answer: Sohrab shot Assef in the eye with a slingshot.

After Amir told Assef that he was only there for Sohrab, Assef arranged for his men to fetch the boy, who entered the room dancing to music playing on a portable radio. Sohrab had been taken to become a dance boy or "baccha" for the Talib official. When Amir told Assef that he was taking Sohrab home with him, Assef advised Amir to do what he did best, which was to run away.

When Amir persisted, Assef started to beat him. In the ensuing chaos, Sohrab managed to use his father's slingshot to shoot Assef in the eye with a piece of the broken coffee table, which allowed him to escape from the house with Amir. Later, they managed to cross the border into Pakistan with the help of Amir's driver.

Answer: Sitting in the stairwell of Rahim Khan's apartment

Amir tried looking for Sohrab in the market and thought he saw him walking into a mosque, but it turned out to be a different boy. He returned to Rahim Khan's apartment to find Sohrab sitting in the stairwell. "I thought I lost you," Amir said. "He used to come and get me in the morning before prayers," replied Sohrab. "I didn't want him to get me anymore." Amir comforted Sohrab, and promised him that Assef couldn't get him anymore. Sohrab confided in Amir that he was starting to forget what his parents looked like, and said that sometimes he was glad they were dead. "Why?" asked Amir. "Because I don't want them to see me," explained Sohrab. "I'm so dirty." Amir held Sohrab in his arms, and told him that he wasn't dirty, and that he would not hurt him.

Answer: At the dinner table

One night after Sohrab had gone to sleep, General Taheri confronted Amir while they were having dinner. "You're going to tell me why you've brought this boy back with you," demanded the General. "I have to deal with the community perception of our family," he told his wife. "People will ask why there is a Hazara boy living with our daughter. What do I tell them?" Soraya started to answer her father, but was interrupted by Amir. "The General is correct," he said. "People will ask." Amir explained to the General that his father had slept with his servant's wife, who bore him a son, Hassan.

He said that Hassan was dead now, and that the boy sleeping in the other room was Hassan's son, his nephew. "That's what you tell people when they ask," said Amir. "And one more thing, General sahib. You will never again refer to him as a Hazara boy in my presence.

He has a name, and it's Sohrab."

Answer: Amir showed Sohrab how to fly a kite.

The movie ended with Amir and Soraya taking Sohrab to the park, where children were flying kites. Amir bought a kite and a spool, and showed Sohrab how to fly it as he told him about his father's unique gift. "Did I ever tell you your father was the best kite runner in all Kabul?" Amir said. "He made all the neighborhood kids jealous.

He'd run the kites and never look up at the sky. Some claimed he was just chasing the kite's shadow. But they didn't know him like I did. Your father wasn't chasing shadows.

He just knew. That's all." Amir then cut a kite for Sohrab, and offered to run it for him. "For you a thousand times over," declared Amir, repeating the phrase which Hassan used to say to him when they were children.