In the novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini explores the struggles that Amir faces that confront him on the path to manhood testing friendship. One of the highlights of their friendship is their competition in the fighting competitions that mark the start of winter in Kabul. Amir is a master kite fighter, and Hassan is a mysterious "kite runner” able to retrieve the fallen kites and bring them home as trophies. Amir and Hassan do wonderful things together like they are brothers, but still Amir tries to test Hassan’s loyalty all the time and still is afraid of accepting being Hassan’s true friend. “Never Mind that we taught each other to ride a bicycle with no hands, or to build a fully functional homemade camera out of a cardboard box. Never mind that we spent entire winters flying kites, running kites. Never mind that to me, the face of Afghanistan is that of a boy with a thin-boned framed, a shaved head, and low set ears, a boy with a Chinese doll face perpetually lit by a harelipped smile.” (Hosseini p. 27) As you can see Amir’s stubbornness towards Hassan always shows disagreement that they are friends, but in their souls they truly see themselves more than just a Pashtun and a Hazara but as brothers. Another situation where Amir tests Hassan’s friendship and loyalty was when Amir won the kite competition and Hassan runs off to retrieve the kite, only to encounter Assef, a local bully, with whom he has had previous run-ins. Amir tries to find Hassan, only to watch at a distance as he is raped by Assef and his gang. He is ashamed that he did nothing to intervene, and their relationship deteriorates rapidly. Amir now wants to get rid of Hassan to overcome the guilt. He does this on the day after his thirteenth birthday, when he takes a watch and some money he has received as gifts and hides them under Hassan's mattress in the hut he shares with his father, Ali. Although he is innocent, Hassan admits to stealing them, in order to protect his friend from embarrassment. “They’d both been crying; I could tell from their red, puffed-up eyes. They stood before Baba, hand in hand, and I wondered how and when I’d become capable of causing this kind of pain. Baba came out here and asked. Did you steal the money? Did you steal Amir’s watch, Hassan? Hassan’s reply was a single word, delivered in thin, raspy voice: Yes.”
(Hosseini p. 111) Even though Amir’s guilty acts were wrong, Hassan showed his true friendship by rescuing Amir from embarrassment.
We always say something about friendship, while we want to stay for a longer period of time with someone. But does this mean that we want to be friends with each other? Testing your friend’s loyalty in order to see how faithful they are is a fine idea, but when you get carried away it can cause negative feelings and possibly a loss of friendship. A real friend is not only a speaking mouth, but also a helping hand, and sometimes even a shoulder that you can depend on. A real friendship must be tested by a long period, sometimes for ten or more years. And of course, friendship can be promoted onto a higher level, such as love. If you both have love for each other, you will make good friendship. Amir’s ideal true friend was staring at him in the face all the time but it took a while for him to realize that Hassan was the one.
