Let’s break them down one by one.
It’s true that all great stories involve some kind of problem for the hero to overcome (Act 1), a wrong way to fix the problem (Act 2), and a solution that involves some kind of acceptance of the hard truth (Act 3), but what makes Rites of Passage stories special is the fact that the initial problem originates from simply being alive.
The life problem in a Rites of Passage story is usually unavoidable. It’s a natural bend in the road of what it means to be human. We all have to grow up, and we all encounter struggles along the way, often the exact same ones. This is why so many young adult contemporary novels fall into this genre: they explore such a tumultuous time in the human experience. In The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han, the life problem is written right into the title (adolescence); in The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen, the hero, Macy, must overcome both the loss of her father (death) and all of the other challenges being a teenager can bring (adolescence).
But you don’t have to be a teenager to have a little growing up to do, as evidenced in Rites of Passage stories like Emma by Jane Austen, in which Emma is dealing with the marriage of her beloved governess (separation) and even further in the past, the loss of her mother (death). Or Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin, in which Rachel is dealing with turning thirty (quarterlife crisis).
But don’t forget that heroes are infamous for trying to fix things the wrong way first, and nowhere is that more true than for heroes of this genre. Which is why our second ingredient for writing a compelling Rites of Passage is a wrong way to attack the life problem, which usually involves some kind of avoidance of the pain. Emma in Emma doesn’t face her life problem head-on; instead, she vows that she will never marry, and she busies herself in matchmaking for her friends. Lennie in The Sky Is Everywhere doesn’t deal with her sister’s death in a healthy way (at least not at first!). Instead, she falls for two different boys, one of them her dead sister’s boyfriend. And Will Freeman in About a Boy isn’t dealing with his quarterlife crisis very well. His wrong way to attack the problem is to attend single parents’ groups (even though he doesn’t actually have a child) in order to pick up women. The point of the wrong way ingredient is twofold: it illustrates your hero’s resistance to change and gives your story a purpose. If your hero approached their life problem with grace, humility, acceptance, and gratitude, what would be the point of the book?
But in the end, all Rites of Passage stories are about some kind of acceptance, the genre’s third ingredient. Usually, this is an acceptance of the very truth the hero has been avoiding. Jane Austen’s Emma realizes that she’s lonely and that the only person whose love life actually needs to be meddled with is her own. Lennie in The Sky Is Everywhere finally comes to accept the grief that she will have to carry for the rest of her life, instead of trying to run from it. And Rachel in Something Borrowed finally accepts the hard truth that it’s time to move on from her childhood best friend, Darcy.
These “growing pains” tales almost always end with the same realization: we can’t expect life to change, so we’d better change instead. But the true beauty of the Rites of Passage story is that when your hero discovers something about themselves, we, the reader, ultimately discover a little something about ourselves too. Because regardless of age, we all have a little growing up to do.
To recap: If you’re thinking about writing a Rites of Passage novel, make sure your story includes these three essential ingredients:
A LIFE PROBLEM: a universal challenge that often results from nothing more than just being alive (such as puberty, adolescence, midlife, separation, death, and so on).
A WRONG WAY TO ATTACK THE PROBLEM: Your hero can’t face this challenge head-on (at least not at first!). There needs to be some level of avoidance happening, usually as an attempt to evade the pain.
AN ACCEPTANCE OF THE HARD TRUTH: This is the real solution, and it usually comes with the understanding that it’s the hero who must change, not life itself.
Popular Rites of Passage Novels Through Time:
Emma by Jane Austen
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
About a Boy by Nick Hornby
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (beat sheet following)
The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
The Shack by William P. Young
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
The Kite Runner
BY: Khaled Hosseini
STC GENRE: Rites of Passage
BOOK GENRE: General fiction
TOTAL PAGES: 371 (Riverhead Books Paperback, 2003)
This debut novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini took the literary world by storm when it was published in 2003. While the novel deals with themes of atonement and guilt, it is ultimately a coming of age tale (spanning from childhood to adulthood) about a son who has a very complicated relationship with his father. And it’s this complicated relationship that makes the novel a shining example of a Rites of Passage story.
1. Opening Image (pages 1–2)
The Opening Image of our hero, Amir, is a bit cryptic, but it’s an effective tease for the rest of the novel, as we get exactly enough to pull us into the story.
After only two pages, we know that something happened to Amir in the winter of 1975 that changed his life forever—a hint of the Catalyst to come. And we know that the memory of this life-changing event was dredged up because of a phone call from someone named Rahim Khan. Amir also tells us that it wasn’t just Rahim calling; “It was my past of unatoned sins” (page 1). This is a hint of the theme (courage) that will fuel the hero’s transformative arc.
2. Setup (pages 3–73)
We flash back to Amir’s childhood, growing up in Kabul, Afghanistan. The most important two characters of this Setup (apart from Amir himself) are Hassan, his childhood best friend, and Baba (“Papa” in the Middle East), his father.
Amir has a complicated relationship with both.
His baba is a wealthy Pashtun (Sunni Muslim) who lives in a large house with a beloved long-time family servant, Ali, a Hazara (Shi’a Muslim, a group that has been oppressed by Pashtuns for years). Hassan is the son of Ali.
The boys grew up like brothers, but there’s definitely an unbrotherly power dynamic between them. For instance, Hassan prepares meals for Amir, makes his bed, and polishes his shoes. Plus, Hassan usually takes the blame for any trouble Amir gets into and even stands up for him in fights. But when Hassan gets picked on by the neighborhood kids for being a Hazara, Amir doesn’t really do the same for him. Actually, there are times when Amir is mean to Hassan, playing harmless pranks on him, but Hassan never seems to mind.
The boys are bonded because they’re both motherless—Amir’s mom died in childbirth, and Hassan’s mother left the family shortly after he was born.
It seems Baba—who is always doing good things for the community, like building orphanages—is constantly disappointed in Amir, and Amir feels guilty because he feels that he killed his mother.
War comes to Afghanistan in the Setup. Although it’s a huge deal for the future of the country, it’s a mini Catalyst for Amir’s story. It’s not until page 73 that Amir’s major Catalyst appears and changes everythin
g.
Meanwhile, the kids deal with a bully named Assef who is constantly harassing Hassan and wants to cleanse the Hazara from Afghanistan. Hassan threatens Assef with a slingshot and a rock, and Assef leaves, promising retaliation.
Also in this Setup, we learn the source of the book’s title, as Amir introduces us to the tradition of kite fighting—a winter event in which kids make and fight kites, trying to cut down the other kites in the sky. Kite runners then run after the fallen kites to collect them. Amir is an excellent kite fighter, and Hassan, his servant and best friend, is an excellent kite runner, making them a good team.
The big kite-fighting tournament of 1975 is here. Amir wins the tournament, and Hassan takes off after the second-place kite (the greatest prize of the tournament).
3. Theme Stated (page 23)
As a child, Amir overhears his father talking to Rahim Khan (the man referenced in the Opening Image). As Baba voices his disappointment in his son, he says to Rahim, “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.”
In this moment we feel sorry for Amir, feeling that his father is very hard on him. But as the story continues, we (and Amir) start to realize how right his father was in this statement. One of Amir’s biggest flaws is that he’s a coward. He won’t stand up for anything he believes in—unlike Hassan, who constantly stands up for Amir, and unlike his father, who will risk death to defend someone’s honor.
4. Catalyst (pages 73–79)
After running after the fallen kite, Hassan goes missing, and Amir sets off to try to find him. He eventually discovers him in an alley surrounded by Assef and his gang. Amir watches, unseen, as Assef rapes Hassan.
Instead of intervening and coming to Hassan’s rescue, Amir runs away, showing his cowardly flaw. When he meets up with Hassan later, he doesn’t tell him that he saw what happened.
This is the event that Amir mentioned in the Opening Image/first chapter. The guilt and shame he feels for failing to protect Hassan will haunt him for the rest of the novel. And it’s not until he learns the theme and stands up for something that he can atone for his sins, grow up, and complete his coming of age—and his Rite of Passage.
5. Debate (pages 80–103)
The Debate question of this novel is: What will Amir do about what he saw? Or, as he puts it on page 93, “What am I going to do with you, Hassan?”
Amir is too cowardly to tell anyone, and the guilt eats him alive. He develops insomnia. He notices differences in Hassan, who stops smiling and becomes very withdrawn. Their relationship changes drastically. They grow distant, and their friendship falls apart. Amir tries all manner of wrong ways to alleviate the guilt.
First, he asks his father if they can get new servants, and his father yells at Amir for even suggesting such a thing. Then Amir tries to start a fight with Hassan, thinking it will make him feel better if Hassan fights back, but he won’t. This frustrates Amir, who comes up with another wrong way to deal with his overwhelming emotions.
6. Break Into 2 (pages 104–109)
Amir hides his new wristwatch and a wad of cash under Hassan’s mattress and then tells Baba that these items are missing. When they are found under Hassan’s mattress, Baba asks Hassan if he stole them. Back-to-back shocks come to Amir as Hassan admits that he did; then right afterward, Baba says that he forgives Hassan, even though Baba has declared that stealing is the worst of all the sins.
Ali and Hassan decide to leave, despite Baba’s begging them to stay. Amir almost confesses what really happened but changes his mind, remaining a coward.
This is definitely evidence of Amir fixing things the wrong way. His cowardice and the guilt that stems from it is what drives this Break Into 2 decision to try to get rid of Hassan. He believes that if he doesn’t have to see him anymore, he won’t feel this way. Obviously, this will turn out not to be true.
7. Fun and Games (pages 110–173)
Act 2 of this novel takes place in a whole new world: America.
The story jumps ahead five years. Afghanistan has become dangerous, and Amir and Baba are being smuggled to Pakistan in the back of a truck, thus beginning the steady downward path toward the Midpoint.
When they reach America, it’s not what either of them was expecting. At first they’re forced to go on welfare, and Baba, a rich man in Afghanistan, now works at a gas station in Fremont, California. Amir graduates from high school, which pleases Baba, but Baba doesn’t approve of Amir’s choice to study creative writing in college.
In America, Amir is still fixing things the wrong way, hoping that being this far away will help him forget his past and Hassan. On page 136, he says, “America was a river, roaring along, unmindful of the past. I could wade into this river, let my sins drown to the bottom, let the waters carry me someplace far. Someplace with no ghosts, no memories, and no sins.” But the memory of Hassan follows him wherever he goes. Even all the way here in America, he’s still haunted by his guilt.
Meanwhile, Baba’s health is failing. He is diagnosed with cancer, and the outlook is not good.
8. B Story (pages 140–142)
In America, Amir meets Soraya at a swap meet and almost instantly falls in love with her, calling her his “swap meet princess” (page 142). He learns that Soraya has a scandalous past, which has kept her from having any suitors. But it’s actually what Amir loves about her. He loves that she too carries baggage. She too has “sinned.”
Amir courts Soraya, and they fall in love. It’s Soraya who will eventually help Amir face his own past and his own sins—as any good B Story character should do.
In fact, later, before they’re married, Soraya comes clean about her own past, making Amir wish he had the guts to do the same. But alas, he doesn’t. Because he hasn’t learned the theme…yet.
9. Midpoint (page 173)
A month after Amir and Soraya get married, Baba dies in his sleep. Not only is this a false defeat for Amir, it’s also when the emotional stakes are raised, big time. With Baba’s death, the pressure is on for Amir to atone for his sins. Life is short. He can’t die with the Hassan incident on his conscience, can he?
10. Bad Guys Close In (pages 174–214)
Despite his father’s death, Amir’s life heads on a general upward path. Amir and Soraya both enroll in college, and Amir writes his first novel, gets an agent, and gets a book deal (if only it happened that fast in real life!).
Amir and Soraya try to have a child, but Soraya is unable to get pregnant.
We fast-forward ten years. Amir gets a call from Rahim Khan (this is the phone call from the Opening Image). Rahim is very sick and wants Amir to come to Pakistan to see him. Before he hangs up the phone, Rahim utters a nod to the theme: “Come. There is a way to be good again.” Could Rahim know about the terrible things Amir did back in Afghanistan?
Amir boards a flight to Pakistan. In Pakistan, Rahim tells Amir that he’s dying, and before he goes, he wants to tell Amir a story about Hassan. It appears Amir’s past is about to catch up with him. No more hiding.
Rahim tells Amir about how he found Hassan years after Amir and Baba left Afghanistan. He was married, with a child on the way. His father had died after walking into a landmine. Rahim invited Hassan and his wife to come live in Baba’s old house (where Rahim was living at the time) and help him take care of it. They agreed. Hassan’s wife gave birth to a boy, and they named him after a character from a book Amir used to read to Hassan. As the fighting in Kabul got worse, Hassan took good care of his son, Sohrab, teaching him how to read, write, shoot a slingshot, and run a kite (just as Hassan used to do as a kid).
11. All Is Lost (pages 214–223)
Rahim gives Amir letters from Hassan and a Polaroid of him with Sohrab. In the letters, Hassan tells Amir that he still thinks about him.
Then Rahim breaks the news that Hassan and his wife were executed by the Taliban (whiff
of death), leaving Sohrab alone in an orphanage in Kabul. Rahim wants Amir to go back to Kabul and get Sohrab from the orphanage. He knows of some people in Pakistan who will adopt him. On page 221, Rahim says, “I think we both know why it has to be you,” revealing that Rahim knows what happened between Amir and Hassan.
At first, Amir refuses. He doesn’t want to get involved. Then Rahim drops the big All Is Lost bomb: Hassan was actually Amir’s half-brother. Apparently Ali, Hassan’s “father,” was sterile, and Baba slept with Hassan’s mother. That’s why Baba always showed such favoritism to Hassan, the same favoritism that made Amir jealous of Hassan.
Amir storms out of the apartment.
12. Dark Night of the Soul (pages 224–227)
What will Amir do with this information? Will he go to Kabul and get Sohrab, who is now revealed to be his nephew? Or will he be a coward, as he always has been?
Back in the apartment, Rahim reminded Amir of the theme: “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything. I wonder, is that what you’ve become?” (page 221).
Amir also remembers what Rahim said on the phone: “There is a way to be good again.” And suddenly he knows what he must do.
13. Break Into 3 (page 227)
Amir agrees to go to Kabul to get Sohrab. This is his chance to redeem himself. This is his chance to stand up for something. He has learned the theme. He is finally ready to grow up and stop hiding from his mistakes.
14. Finale (pages 228–363)
POINT 1: GATHERING THE TEAM. Amir travels to Kabul. On the way there, he stays the night at his driver’s house and witnesses how hungry his children are. His driver, Farid, upon learning that Amir is there to rescue a Hazara boy, offers to help. Amir now has his team. Before leaving for Kabul, Amir leaves a wad of cash under the mattress for Farid’s family. This redemptive action directly counteracts the Break Into 2 beat (fixing things the wrong way) where he hid cash under Hassan’s mattress to get rid of him.
POINT 2: EXECUTING THE PLAN. As they drive to Kabul, Amir sees evidence of the wars that have been going on since he and Baba left. They arrive at the orphanage, and after they convince the director that they are not Taliban, the director reveals that Sohrab is not there. He’s been “sold” to a Taliban officer for reasons that seem very dark and sinister. The director tells Amir and Farid that the Taliban officer who “bought” Sohrab will be at the Ghazi Stadium the next day.
Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Page 12
