Chapter 1

The first chapter of the Kite Runner is full of foreshadowing and information to get the readers already wondering what the novel contains, even if it is not even two pages long. It does not give away any specific actions, but as someone going back after reading the entire book, it is obvious that Amir is bringing up past evil actions. In the first paragraph he describes the life-changing event when he was twelve peeking behind an alley wall. Unless readers have read this book before, they have no idea that it was referring to Amir watching his half-brother get raped. These memories are brought on by a call from Rahim Khan, after telling Amir he “can be good again”. There are no acts of evil in this chapter, just foreshadowing and hints of the evil to come.

Chapter 2

There is a great amount of human evil in the second chapter. The human evil is mainly directed to Ali and Hassan since they are Hazara’s. Both the father and son get bullied for it where ever they go. On the way to the movies a few soldiers tease Hassan and convince him that one of the men had sex with his mother. This is a fully-grown man bullying a mere child. Soon after that the exact opposite is described when young children mock Ali in the street because of his hobble. All this bullying is prejudice towards the Hazara’s and is completely unfair. They call Ali things such as “Babalu” and “flat-nosed”.  He hobbles around because he lost his leg was taken from him because of polio. Disease is evil in itself because of all the pain and heart break it causes, it’s an example of onological evil. Some thing that was not necessarily and evil act was the fact that Amir and Hassan never had mothers. They were both stolen the right to have the loving touch from their own mother. 

Chapter 3

This chapter consists selfishness.  When Baba told Amir to invite Hassan to Ghargha Lake he, “lied and told him Hassan had the runs. I wanted Bab all to myself” (p. 14). It is not a crime to want to spend time with one’s father, but Amir always wants his own way, and is willing to lie and leave his best friend behind to achieve what ever he wants. He continues to be selfish throughout most of the novel. There is a section of this chapter when Baba is being selfish because Amir was not turning out as he wished. He complained to Rahim Khan about if he did not see Amir come right from his wife, he would not believe he was his child. Instead of being happy about Amir’s love for reading and his own personality, he complains about how he is different. Baba is one of the most selfless characters in the book, however this was a very selfish moment. He defines sin to Amir as any type of stealing. Whether it is taking a loaf of bread or taking another man’s life, it is stealing and that is a sin.  

Chapter 4

Chapter four does not demonstrate many specific examples of evil except right at the ending where a truly evil side of Amir comes out. Hassan asks a question about Amir’s story and a cold voice said, “What does he know, that illiterate Hazara? He’ll never be anything but a cook. How dare he criticize you?” (p.37). This voice was obviously in his head and was a dark thought of his own. This is yet another example of his selfishness. He referred to his childhood friend as a Hazara, which is degrading and rude to someone he was supposed to be close with. He also calls him illiterate and said all he ever has to potential to be is a cook; these are all extremely rude and unnecessary comments just because Hassan asked a simple question. The reason he woke Hassan up in the first place was so he could get more positive feedback on his story just to feed his own ego. He was over confident of his story after what Rahim Khan had said, so he took the opportunity to soak it up even more and when that did not work out for him, his dark side appeared.

Chapter 5

Within chapter 5 of The Kite Runner there are three significant examples of evil. The first event is when Amir recalls a time when he watched as “Assef’s blue eyes glinted with a light not entirely sane and how he grinned, how he grinned, as he pummeled that poor kid unconscious.” (41) Assef is committing Blumenthal’s definition of moral human evil as he is seen intentionally inflicting pain on another human being and according to Amir; he seemed to get pleasure from this action.  Assef’s view on Adolf Hitler is the next example of evil in the novel.  Assef believed he was “A great leader. A man with vision. Ill tell Daoud Khan to remember that is they had let Hitler finish what he started, the world would be a better place now.” (43) Assef is siding with one of the most disgusting men in the world and supporting the unbelievably cruel things that he did to innocent Jewish people. The final act of evil and racism come from Assef when he declares that Pashtuns are the pure Afghans and that his vision is to rid the land of the “flat nosed” Hazara’s like Hassan.

Chapter 6

In chapter 6, Hassan is revealed as a loyal individual when he claims that he would eat dirt before he would lie to Amir. Amir taunts him and questions if he would eat dirt if he told him to. (57) This is Amir’s way of belittling Hassan and looking down upon him.  In this case, Amir is treating Hassan poorly because he is trying to make himself feel superior and show power over Hassan.  Amir is Hassan’s good friend however Amir appears to be jealous of him because of Hassan’s close relationship with Baba.  The jealousy is what sparks this need for Amir to constantly knock Hassan down and torture him like he did in this scenario. This is an act of evil because Amir is purposely taunting and bullying Hassan, which is inflicting emotional pain upon another being which relates directly to Blumenthal’s definition of moral evil. 

Chapter 7

In chapter 7 of the novel, one of the most disturbing acts of moral evil is committed when Assef rapes Hassan in the back alley.  Assef is committing an extreme act of moral evil because he shows no remorse when he is inflicting physical and emotional pain upon Hassan. Another act of evil occurred when Amir witnessed the rape of Hassan and remained silent. Amir does not help him when he is in an extremely vulnerable state. As both Amir and Assef’s friends remain silent throughout the rape this can be connected to the murder of Catherine Susan Genovese, which was studied in class. The murder of Genovese had 38 silent witnesses who all had the potential to help her and possibly save her life. Amir or Assef’s friends were all silent witnesses and had the opportunity to put a stop to the rape and help save Hassan.