Kite Runner 1

The two main characters in the book are Amir and his best friend/servant Hassan. Amir is a typical boy of around 12 years, mostly kind, wanting to please, and prone to random fits of cruelty. Hassan is the opposite. He is always as polite and kind as possible. He cares little for what others think of him and yet everyone who knows him likes him. Hassan is also a Hazara and is therefore shunned by almost everyone who doesn't know him. One boy, Assef, says to Amir that he hates all Hazaras, "His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood" (Hosseini 40).
This racial separation, and the view that Hazaras aren't people leads to a conflict within Amir when he witnesses Hassan's rape, by Assef. Amir believes that no one knew what he witnissed and is afraid that if he repeats it to someone else, he will be disgraced in the community for caring about a Hazara. He becomes to become as distant with Hassan as Hassan has become with the rest of the world, "I didn't speak with Hassan until the middle of the next week" (Hosseini 86). Hassan and Amir's friendship is dying.
This is similar to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in the way that Amir, like Oskar has a secret, and in hiding it, he is hurting others and himself. Oskar never told anyone how he could have talked to his dad in his final moments, he merely kept it to himself. He ended up nearly tearing himself apart. I think that a similar ending (Oskar finalling letting go) will appear in this novel.