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“‘Do you want me to run that kite for you… For you, a thousand times over,’ I heard myself say. Then I turned and ran… A grown man running with a swarm of screaming children. But I didn’t care… I ran” (Hosseini 371). This quote is said by Amir to Sohrab in America during a kite fighting tournament. After they cut down a kite the same way that Amir and Hassan had cut down the last kite many years ago, Amir turns to Sohrab and tells him the same thing Hassan had said to Amir during that past tournament: I would go through any amount of pain for you over and over again because I love you. Therefore, Amir runs to get Sohrab the kite just as Hassan ran the kite and got raped in the process for Amir. Through a powerful quote, Amir shows his loyalty to Hassan by showing that same loyalty to Hassan’s son. Even in the face of war, betrayal, and separation through death, Amir obtains redemption by chasing a kite out of brotherly love and loyalty for the kite runner.

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“‘The worst laceration was on your upper lip,’ Armand said. ‘The impact had cut your upper lip in two… the plastics guys sewed it back together and they think you will have an excellent result, though there will be a scar…’ Like a harelip” (Hosseini 297). This quote symbolizes the bond that Amir and Hassan share, even after Hassan’s death, the war, and Amir’s betrayal. After Amir redeems himself by saving Sohrab and brawling with Assef, Hassan’s rapist, Amir sustains a scar on his lip, identical to the scar Hassan had after Baba paid for Hassan’s plastic surgery to fix the harelip. The scar connects Amir to Hassan, showing their blood relation over their class differences. The scar will also forever be a reminder of Hassan to Amir, just as Sohrab is also a reminder, and is one of Amir’s final results of his redemption and loyalty to Hassan.

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“I looked at the round face in the Polaroid again, the way the sun fell on it. My brother’s face. Hassan loved me once, loved me in a way that no one had or ever would again. He was gone now, but a little part of hum lived on. It was in Kabul. Waiting” (Hosseini 227). This quote is said by Amir while looking at a photograph of the late Hassan and his son, Sohrab. In this part of the plot, Amir discovers that his Baba had fathered Hassan, making Amir and Hassan half-brothers and strengthening their bond. Amir reflects on Hassan loyalty to him: strong, unbreakable, and one of a kind. However, for the first time since Hassan’s rape, Amir is given the means of redemption for his betrayal of Hassan: rescuing Hassan’s living son and bringing him back to America. Amir is given the chance to show the loyalty to Hassan that Hassan had always given Amir but was never returned.

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“A few weeks later, the Taliban banned kite fighting. And two years later, in 1998, they massacred the Hazaras in Mazar-i-Sharif” (Hosseini 213). In the quote, the banning of kite fighting symbolizes a strict end to Amir and Hassan’s childhood, as seen through the rape of Hassan and Amir's guilt. The Taliban became a strong force in the novel for death, persecution, and destruction, including the destruction of Hassan and Amir relationship. When the Taliban took over and began their ethnic cleansing of Hazaras, Amir was in the United States, unaware that Hassan and his wife were being killed in cold blood by the Taliban, even though Hassan remained loyal to Amir until his death. The militant group put a  strain on Amir’s loyalty to Hassan and on all Afghanistan by further separating the classes. They took the joyous kite fighting out of Afghanistan, and removed Amir’s friend and happiness, Hassan, from the world.

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“‘Hassan!’ I called. ‘Come back with it'... ‘For you a thousand times over!’ he said. The next time I saw him smile unabashedly like that was twenty-six years later, in a faded Polaroid photograph” (Hosseini 67). This quote takes place during the winter kite tournament after Amir and Hassan cut down the last kite and win. Hassan, being one of the best kite runners, tries to bring the last kite back to Amir to present to Baba so that Amir may finally win Baba’s admiration. This quote portrays Hassan’s undying loyalty to Amir by saying that he would run kites or any other task presented to him out of love for Amir. However, because of his loyalty, Hassan will never smile again for many years after he is raped by other boys for trying to bring the prized kite back to Amir. Because of the Amir’s betrayal of watching Hassan get raped without standing up for him out of cowardice and concern for the kite, Hassan and Amir will be separated, destined to never see each other smile again until after death.

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“But he’s not my friend! I almost blurted. He’s my servant” (Hosseini 41). This quote sets up the cultural differences between Amir and Hassan. Amir says this quote to himself while a neighborhood bully insults Amir for befriending Hassan, a Hazara. The Hazaras were a disliked and discriminated-against ethnic group in Afghanistan, and Hazaras were often found to be illiterate servants. This quote foreshadows the breach in Amir’s loyalty to Hassan due to the cultural separation between them. Since Amir was part of the higher ethnic class of Pashtuns, he finds himself often wavering in his loyalty to Hassan. Even if they were nursed by the same mother, Hassan will often be seen as a Hazara servant to Amir, leading to a breach in their brotherly loyalty.

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“Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And under the same roof, we spoke our first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name” (Hosseini 11).  This quote from early in the novel sets up the theme of loyalty in the plot. The main character, Amir, draws from his earliest childhood memories to show the bond between him and Hassan, his father’s servant’s son. The loyalty found later in the novel is foreshadowed in this quote by each characters first words. Amir’s first word is his father's name, foreshadowing that in the novel, Amir will betray Hassan for the loyalty he has to his father. Contrarily, Hassan’s first word being Amir’s name foreshadows the unwavering loyalty Hassan will have for Amir. Since both boys were nursed from the same woman and grew up on the same land, loyalty is destined to be shared between the boys, even if Amir’s loyalty is delayed and in the form of future redemption.

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The major theme of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner is how loyalty can lead to redemption, even in the face of war, betrayal, and separation.