Read The Kite Chaser

I often fantasize that I am from the future, so that one day I will be more relaxed in the face of sudden changes at some point in the future, and I will be more generous in the face of the past. However, I am more suitable for mediocrity, as trivial and complicated as ordinary people, and I am obsessed with the details of time.

Since we can't predict the future, then we should start to rely more on memories, and even rely on those scattered and trivial memories to support the days to come, some memories are very beautiful, some memories are very sad, some memories make people grow up, some memories make people look very ignorant, some memories slowly yellow, some memories seem to be just yesterday. Some stories also always start with childhood memories.

When the story of "The Kite Chaser" was unfolded in front of me little by little, I was not ready to accept a calm picture of the spring flowers blooming and the skewers of lamb floating all over the street, and I did not expect that the children there could chase kites without worry.

So when the picture of Amir and his servant Hassan, who was a young master, appeared in love with each other, I couldn't help but sigh that the friendship of my youth was so powerful, clean and lasting. They always walk side by side, whenever Amir is bullied, Hassan always stands up for protection, many people say that this is Hassan's innate servility, I do not agree with this view, I see that there is a light of friendship between them shining.

That is, the damp childhood impression in each of our hearts, always sitting on the ground with our closest partners, swearing to each other, swearing for each other, willing to go up the mountain and go down to the sea of fire. As Hassan said to Amir with a smile on his face: For you, a thousand times.

But in fact it is like this: he is the master, he is the servant; he is Pashto, he is Hazara; from the moment they are born, their fate is separated by these labels that they cannot understand, even though they are close friends, even though they actually have the same father. They all had to accept the seats that society had reserved for them — Amir was no longer Amir, Hassan was no longer Hassan, and they had to wear the mask that society had given them.

Hassan always said "for you, a thousand times", and the cowardly Amir chose to be silent and cold, and such a tragic result is not caused by personality differences alone, but the subconscious of these young and ignorant children has long been indoctrinated with the "should" and "should not" corresponding to their social status, a Hazara servant should be loyal to the master, and the noble young master Pashtun is not worth taking any risk for a lowly Hazara servant.

"Amir and Hassan, rulers of Kabul", such an oath can only be a fairy tale under the pomegranate tree, "princes and poor children" cannot become brothers, because they are destined to be unequal. Including Amir's self-redemption act of returning to Afghanistan twenty years later, it is only a helpless recognition of his life after learning of his half-brother relationship with Hassan, that is, he still has not proved that he has found the "way to become a good man again".

When Amir sees Hassan being bullied or even molested by older children, he chooses to be silent and evasive; at the same time, Hassan is determined and unshakable for Amir's kite to fight with his opponent, who cruelly reveals the master-servant relationship between Amir and Hassan, and Hassan loudly retorts that the two are friends. Amir, who was hiding in a corner and did not dare to appear, heard these words without any encouragement or emotion, and the cowardice in his heart finally devoured his soul, and tragedy occurred.

This is our biggest misconception about friendship, thinking that it is omnipotent.

Even with such problems, The Kite Chaser is an excellent novel. Lords and servants, nobles and untouchables, friends and brothers, history and reality, all kinds of transformations are vividly and delicately portrayed. Placed in the grand context of history, it is more insightful of the complexity of life and human nature.

Friendship and love.

Whether it is a flexible faction that grows from weak to strong in the midst of difficulties or a cowardly faction that disintegrates in the weighing of pros and cons.

Whoever dares to really stand up and raise his right hand to swear, I have never failed to live up to any pure friendship, who dares to really look up and say that he is loyal to his friends.