Film Education | Resources | The Kite Runner | Characters
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Characters

Still image from The Kite Runner - 2 boys face each other in a street, surrounded by a large crowd

One of the key elements of storytelling is the characters in the story. A novelist or filmmaker has to create believable and interesting characters in order to involve the reader/viewer in the story.

The major techniques used by writers and filmmakers to establish a character and to help us understand what type of person they are include:

Characters are essential to the movement of a story. As a story is a construction and everything within it should be relevant to its development, then we can see that the actions, thoughts and words of any character are a vital element of the dynamic of a story.

Characters Task 1

There are three central characters in 'The Kite Runner' Amir, Hassan and Baba (Amir's Father). Firstly think about each character individually. For each of the three characters answer the following questions:

  1. Describe the physical characteristics of each character
  2. Describe each personality
  3. What do we know about the background of each character?

Your answers will lead you to some general conclusions about each character.

The next thing to look at is how you have come to understand this. For your answers to questions 2 and 3 try to think of moments within the film that illustrate the points you have made.

Characters Part 2: Actions and Motivations

Having looked at the physical and personality aspects of the three characters we should now look at their motivation and also their actions in order to see how each character helps to move the story along, both through their actions and their decisions.

Characters Task 2

In the chart below, type in three key actions for each of the main characters. Try to say what each of them tells us about the character and then why this is important to the overall plot of the story, how it helps to move the story along. Print this page out when you're done.

Amir's action
What the action tells us about the character
Importance to the Plot

1



2



3



Hassan's action
What the action tells us about the character
Importance to the Plot

1



2



3



Baba's (Amir's father) action
What the action tells us about the character
Importance to the Plot

1



2



3


Look back at your answers. How many of the key actions of each character involved one of the other main characters? Key to the plot of The Kite Runner is the relationships between Amir, Hassan and Baba.

STUDENT TASK 3

You will need now to consider how the characters interact with each other and also how their relationships change.

Thus if we look at the relationship of Amir and Hassan, we can see that it undergoes many changes during the story, from friendship to dislike, back to friendship and then finally betrayal.

Can you think of the key moments in the film that highlight these changes?