The Kite Runner: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

On the morning of the tournament, Hassan tells Amir about the dream he had the night before. In the dream the two of them were at Ghargha Lake, along with their fathers and thousands of other people. Everyone was afraid to swim because they thought there was a monster in the lake, but then Amir jumped in and Hassan followed. They swim out to the middle and everyone sees that there was no monster after all. They rename the lake “Lake of Amir and Hassan, Sultans of Kabul.” Amir is nervous that morning and so he is curt with Hassan, calling it a “dumb dream.”

It is a clear, beautiful day as the boys gather in Amir’s neighborhood for the tournament. Baba and Rahim Khan sit on the roof to watch. Amir is so nervous that he almost wants to quit the tournament, but Hassan reminds him that “there’s no monster,” and Amir is again amazed at Hassan’s intuition. Amir wonders if Hassan made up his dream just to comfort him. He does feel a little better, and they start to fly their kite.

The tournament lasts for hours, but Amir (and Hassan, who controls the spool of string) do well and keep flying. One blue kite in particular cuts many of its opponents, and Amir keeps his eye on it. By the afternoon it is just Amir and the blue kite left in the running.

Amir prays that he might win and so redeem himself to Baba. Amir tricks the blue kite into a bad position and then cuts it, winning the tournament. Amir and Hassan cheer and embrace, and then Amir sees Baba on the roof yelling and clapping, and he feels that it is the greatest moment of his life so far. Hassan promises to bring back the kite for Amir, and as he runs off he says “for you a thousand times over!”

Amir reels in his kite and accepts everyone’s praise, but he wants to wait until he has the blue kite before he meets Baba. He imagines the two of them like Rostam and Sohrab, father and son locking eyes dramatically. Amir runs off to look for Hassan, and he asks some neighbors if they have seen him.

One old merchant seems suspicious that Amir is looking for a Hazara, but he finally tells Amir that he saw Hassan going south, chased by three boys. Amir searches everywhere and finally finds Hassan in an alleyway, holding the blue kite – which Amir thinks of as the “key to Baba’s heart” – and facing off against Assef, Kamal, and Wali. Amir watches from around the corner and doesn’t interrupt.

Assef tells Hassan that they will let him go if he hands over the blue kite. Hassan refuses, as he ran the kite fairly and must deliver it to Amir. Assef mocks him and says that Amir would not be so loyal to Hassan if their positions were reversed. He says that Amir thinks of Hassan as a servant, not a friend. Hassan states that he and Amir are friends, and he picks up a rock. He throws the rock at Assef and the three boys jump onto Hassan. Amir still doesn’t cry out, and the older Amir, who is remembering this, thinks of how differently his life might have been if he had.

The older, narrator Amir suddenly remembers Ali talking about a Hazara woman called Sakina, who was the nursemaid of both Amir and Hassan. Ali says that there “is a brotherhood between people who’ve fed from the same breast.” Then Amir remembers going to a fortune teller with Hassan. When the fortune teller looks at Hassan’s face and hands, he suddenly seems distressed and he gives Hassan his money back. Then Amir remembers a dream where he is lost in a snowstorm until a familiar hand reaches for him. In the dream he takes the hand and the snow disappears, and the sky is clear and filled with beautiful kites.

The narrative returns to the alley. Assef and the others have pinned Hassan to the ground and removed his pants. Wali and Kamal say what Assef wants to do is sinful, but Assef says Hassan is only a Hazara, so it won’t matter. The two other boys still refuse, but they agree to hold Hassan down. Assef raises Hassan’s hips in the air and takes off his own pants. Amir catches a glimpse of Hassan’s face, and it looks resigned to its fate, like a sacrificial lamb.

Amir then describes the first day of Eid-e-Qorban, a Muslim celebration to honor Abraham’s almost-sacrifice of his son Isaac. On that day the mullah sacrifices a lamb, and Ali gives it a sugar cube to make death sweeter. Amir always can’t help watching the acceptance and understanding in the lamb’s eyes.

Amir again returns to the memory of the alley. He realizes that he has been biting down on his fist so hard it is bleeding. He makes his decision then – the decision of “who to be” – and he runs away. Amir muses over why he did what he did – he was a coward who was afraid of Assef, but it was also something worse. He had thought that the blue kite was his key to winning Baba’s love, and Amir was willing to sacrifice Hassan for that love.

Fifteen minutes later Amir sees Hassan walking slowly past, and Amir pretends he has been looking for him. He can’t help checking the blue kite for rips. Hassan is crying and blood falls from between his legs, staining the snow, but he doesn’t say anything. He gives Amir the kite, and Amir wonders if Hassan knows what he saw. Both boys walk back and pretend nothing has happened.

When they arrive home, Amir’s reunion with Baba happens just as he imagined it would. Baba embraces him, and for a moment Amir weeps with joy and forgets what he has just done.