Key quotes chapters 4-6

Chapter 4
-"In the end, I was Pashtun and he was Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi'a, and nothing was ever going to change that."
-"-after all, what use did a servant have for the written word?"
-"What does he know, that illiterate Hazara? He'll never be anything but a cook."
The historical problems between Hazara and Pashtuns affects the way Amir views his friendship with Hassan and the wasy Baba views his with Ali. Although they are close friends it is made clear that they are also the servants, a lower class than Amir and Baba.
-"My favourite part of reading to Hassan was when we came across a big word he didn't know. I'd tease him, expose his ignorance."
Amir's cruelty is shown in this quote, he is teasing Hassan because he can't read, playing mind games with him as he doesn't understand the meaning of the words.
-"That same night I wrote my first short story."
This is said after Hassan compliments Amir on the story he made up as a joke. It shows that Hassan is the reason Amir starts writing and goes on the get published.
-"As always it was Rahim Kahn who rescued me"
Baba does not even offer to read Amir's first short story, and instead Rahim Kahn steps in. This supports my idea that Rahim Kahn is more loving to Amir and he seems to have a stronger connection, always being the one to 'rescue' him.
-"My door is always open to you, Amir jan. I will always hear any story you have to tell. Bravo.
Said by Rahim Kahn and supports the above.
-"But right then, I wished I could open up my veins and drain his cursed blood from my body."
In this quote Amir is talking about Baba, it is said when Baba does not read Amir's story and instead goes upstairs to get ready for an evening out. This shows that he sometimes feels ashamed to be his son, and he does hate the way Baba does not have a stronger relationship with him, and cherish him more.

Chapter 5
-"Later, I would tell myself I hadn't felt envious of Hassan. Not at all."
Amir says this during the 'bloodless coup' when Ali had held Hassan close to comfort him. Amir is obviously jealous that Hassan gets more affection from his father than him.
-"Afghanistan for Pahtuns, I say. That's my vision"
Said by Assef, the neighbourhood bully. Shows the extreme view of some Pashtuns that the Hazara don't have a place in Afghanistan.
-"How can you call him your friend?" said by Assef about Hassan
"But he's not my friend! I almost blurted. He's my servant" -Amir
-"Why did I only play with Hassan when no one else was around?"
This shows, again, that the cultural and political differences between the two boys cause a problem for Amir and in some ways cause him problems. It also makes him ashamed.
-"I wished I too had a scar that would beget Baba's sympathy. It wasn't fair."
Amir is jealous that Baba has got Hassan a surgeon to fix his cleft lip and sees it as unfair that he gets such a present when he has 'done nothing.'
-"Because that was the winter Hassan stopped smiling"
Giving more clues about a complication.

Chapter 6
-"Baba and I lived in the same house but in different spheres of existence. Kites were the one paper-thin slice of intersection between those spheres."
Amir finally has something he can talk with his father about that Baba approves of.
-"Sometimes I wished he wouldn't do that. Wished he'd let me be the favourite
Again Amir's jealousy is shown in this quote. Baba treats Amir and Hassan equally, and Amir finds this unfair and becomes jealous, wishing Baba would show more affection towards him than Hassan.
-"But Hassan was by far the greatest kite runner I had ever seen"
Although Amir sees Hassan as a servant and gets jealous of him he does have a lot of respect for his talents at kite running
-"Kind of like when we used to play insect torture. Except now, he was the ant and I was holding the magnifying glass."
This is Amir when he and Hassan are talking about Hassan eating dirt if Amir told him to. It shows the power which Amir has over Hassan, and the way he knows what he can do with that power.
-"Then Hassan blinked and it was just him again. Just Hassan."
Amir says that he sees some other face sometimes when he is looking at Hassan. This may be a clue as to the complication later on in the book, the other side of Hassan we can't see yet.
-"Show him once and for all that his son was worthy."
-"And maybe, just maybe I would be pardoned for killing my mother."
-"I wasn't going to fail Baba. Not this time"
Amir thinks that if he wins the big kite fighting tournament it will solve the problems between him and Baba. He thinks that it will stop Baba from thinking that is not the perfect son. The last 2 quotes show that Amir feels as though he is responsible for his 'failures' and that is why Baba was not very affectionate towards him.
-"That was the thing with Hassan. He was so goddamn  pure, you always felt like a phony around him."