Connection: Hot Rod

A theme in The Kite Runner is Father-Son Relationships, mainly between Baba and Amir.  We see Amir do anything he can to gain Baba's honor and respect.  He eventually does so by winning the kite contest.  Since everybody has a father at some point in their lives, there are many varieties of father-son relationships.  In the movie Hot Rod, Rod has to gain the respect of his stepfather by beating him in a fight.

There are many similarities between Rod and his father, and Baba and Amir.  One thing that the creators of these characters do, is they give them each a brother.  In both situations, they are step-brothers.  The reason there are step-brothers is to see a comparison between how the father treats the main character, opposed to how he treats the "better son." 

In both situations, Rod and Amir have to do something special to earn respect.  In fact, Rod has to save his dad... just so that he can beat him in a fight.  Rod saves him, and successfully beats him in a fight.  At the end of the fight, Rod holds his father down against the neighbor's car, and forces him to call him a man, repeatedly.  The fight and the kite competition are similar because both Rod and Amir had to train for a long time to win the fights.

My relationship with my father is similar to these two relationships.  My father was an All-State shortstop in high school, and went on to play in college.  Growing up, baseball consumed my summer, as well as my two brothers'.  However, as time passed by, I lost my passion for baseball.  I quit when I was in 7th grade, and my older brother quit after freshman year in high school.  My little brother still plays baseball.  In fact, he plays year-round, and his team finished in the top-ten in a tournament in Cooperstown, New York.  So the way I keep baseball in the family is by throwing batting practice to my little brother.  Now, seeing him play on the same baseball field we played on as kids is just as rewarding as playing on it myself.