Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What do you know about life in Afghanistan? What do you think it would be like to grow up in a country amid such turmoil?

Teaching Suggestion: Students will likely be familiar with the War on Terror and the Taliban’s current occupation of Afghanistan. To understand the characters in The Kite Runner, we have to imagine what it would be like to have always lived amidst such conflict and turmoil. Perhaps have students write short journals and then share their answers with the class. Having them recount examples that they have seen of what life is like under Taliban rule from the news might help them to connect their prior knowledge to the world in the novel.

• This video from Feature History summarizes the political conflicts in Afghanistan during the span of The Kite Runner.
• This article from the Council on Foreign Relations explains the Taliban’s presence in Kabul 20 years ago as well as their current occupation.

2. What is prejudice? What current examples of persecution are you aware of from around the world?