CHAPTER 1- ESTABLISHES SETTING
SPPW: PARANOIA, BEING HAUNTED BY THE PAST, SEEKING MORAL
REDEMPTION
KEY EVENTS:
-We establish the narrator’s age (38)
-narrator’s friend Rahim Khan called his last summer telling him to come visit
Pakistan
-Narrator went for a walk in Golden Gate Park and saw two kites, which reminded
him of Hassan (who we don't know yet)
-We learn that the winter of 1975 changed everything
KEY QUOTES:
‘Because the past claws its way out.’
‘I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day’
‘There is a way to be good again.’
‘Floating side by side like a pair of eyes’
KEY THEMES RAISED:
-misplacement
-memory
-regret
-suppression
-paranoia
-nostalgia
-pairs/friendship
HOUSSEINI’S IDEAS OR INTENTIONS:
-the past is inescapable, even if you bury it it will come out in one way or another, in
different ways each time
-wants to clarify the contrast between his old life and his new life
-the inability to exist in those two worlds presents the complete opposition between
the western and non western world
-raises the idea of the past haunting you
-symbolism with kites, ideas of pairs raised
HOW THESE IDEAS ARE CONVEYED:
-the first introduction to the protagonist is him reflecting on his past and how he
wishes to escape it, suggesting that the past is inescapable
-quotes from those he used to know, implying his memories of them are still clear
and therefore painful
,CHAPTER 2- AMIR AND HASSAN’S
RELATIONSHIP
SPPW: SOCIAL CLASS, RACIAL PREJUDICE, OPPRESSION, CENSORSHIP OF
INFORMATION
KEY EVENTS:
-recalls how him and hassan used to throw walnuts at neighbour’s dogs and use
mirrors to shine light into their houses
-amir always prompted the mischief
-hassan’s father told them off, but he is a very gentle man
-contrastingly amir’s father seems to be a rich, esteemed businessman, who doesn’t
care as much about his son
-discover that rahim khan is an associate of amir’s father
-religion is mentioned for the first time in the boys being told off
-we learn that hassan’s father is a servant for Baba, and hassan lives with him in a
‘modest mud hut’
-learn that Amir’s mother died giving birth to him
-Hassan is harassed by a group of soldiers for being a Hazara
-discover that Hassan’s mother ran off a week after he was born
-Hassan is upset by the harassment
-Ali cannot move the muscles in his lower face, which renders him unable to smile
-people were shocked when Ali married Hassan’s mother who had a bad reputation
and was very beautiful, but that was bad supposedly because she ‘tempted men into
sin’
-Amir found a history book of his mothers which had a whole chapter dedicated to
Hazaras which is shocking to him
-recalls how his first word was ‘Baba’ and Hassan’s was ‘Amir’ which we learn to be
the narrators name
KEY QUOTES:
‘His almost perfectly round face, like a chinese doll chiselled from hardwood’
‘Like it was added as a mere afterthought’
‘Sometimes I sat there for an hour, sometimes two, listening to their laughter, their
chatter.’
‘A beautiful but notoriously unscrupulous woman who lived up to her dishonourable
reputation.’
‘Rumour has it, tempted countless men into sin.’
‘People say that eyes are the windows into the soul. Never was that more true than
with Ali’
‘He wrinkled his nose when he said the word Shi’a like it was some kind of disease.’
‘He was incapable of hurting anyone.’
‘There was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a
kinship that not even time could break.’
,‘Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name.’
KEY THEMES RAISED:
-hassan and amir are reflected in the symbolism of the pair of kites in the park in
chapter 1
-hassan is introduced as a very perfect child, but there seems to be a slight
underlying problem what that is is unclear so far
-dichotomy between amir and hassan straight away, which is shown further in the
contrast between hassan’s ‘gentle’ father and amir’s father who tells him to ‘Go on
now’
-contrast between rich people’s excess luxury and the depravity of the poor’s living
conditions
-introduction to the division of muslims, and how Hazaras are treated (bias and
prejudice experiences)
-reputation and social standing being of importance in Afghan society
-religion majorly comes up, shows the prevalence it has within Afghan and middle
eastern culture
-temptation and sin
-beauty paradoxically being associated with evil
-innocence and censorship to knowledge
HOUSSEINI’S IDEAS OR INTENTIONS:
-intends to shape the world of Afghan society and inform readers of the dynamics
between different groups and what is considered normal
-expresses the idea that children are often immune to bias and hatred, but can be led
down wrong paths as a result of miseducation and adult’s teaching them bias
HOW THESE IDEAS ARE CONVEYED:
-portrays how stigma is widespread and institutionalised through the teacher’s
comments, and the soldiers who harrass Hassan
-Hosseini talks about the characteristics which boost social status and those which
reduce social status
-Amir is unaware of the Hazaras’ oppression yet perpetuates through his relationship
with Hassan
CHAPTER 3- AMIR AND BABA’S
RELATIONSHIP
SPPW: GENDER ROLES, POWER DYNAMICS, THE IMPACTS OF RELIGION
KEY EVENTS:
-Baba built an orphanage in the 1960s funded completely by him and made the plans
even though he's inexperienced
, -Baba and Amir went to Gharga Lake the day before the orphanage opened and Amir
pretended Hassan was ill so he could ‘have Baba all to (him)self’
-The opening was successful
-Baba married Sofia Akrami, Amir’s mother who was of royal blood
-Baba mocks religious teachings Amir receives in school
-Baba’s father was killed by a thief when Baba was six
-Amir’s class often play ‘Sherjangi’ and audiences are introduced to Amir’s love of
books
-Baba went to Tehran in 1970 to watch the world cup
-he signed Amir up for football, but he wasn’t interested and wasn’t athletic
-Baba took Amir to the ‘yearly Buzkashi’, and Amir was horrified to witness someone
die
-Baba questions how Amir is his son, and talks about Hassan is the one who always
defends him
-Amir overhears and takes out his frustration on Hassan the next day
KEY QUOTES:
‘In those dreams I can never tell Baba from the bear’
‘Toophan Agha, or Mr Hurricane.’
‘A black glare that would drop the devil to his knees begging for mercy.’
‘Attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun.’
‘Sofia Akrami, a highly educated woman universally regarded as one of Kabul’s most
respected, beautiful and virtuous ladies.’
‘My father moulded the world around him to his liking (...) Baba saw the
world in black and white. And he got to decide what was black and what
was white. You can’t love a man who lives the way without fearing him
too. Maybe even hating him a little.’
‘Piss on the beards of all those self-righteous monkeys.’
‘God help us all if Afghanistan ever falls into their hands.’
‘There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of
theft. Do you understand that?’
‘Sometimes I wished they’d all died along with their parents/ “When you kill a man,
you steal a life,”’
‘I was always learning things about Baba from other people.’
‘Real men- real boys- played soccer just as Baba had when he had been young.’
‘There is something missing in that boy.’
‘A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up
for anything.’
‘Rahim Khan had been wrong about the mean streak thing.’
KEY THEMES RAISED:
-gender roles and pressure to adhere to Afghan society’s masculine ideals
-history
-the persistence of the past
