Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

123.The laftz ceremony is also known as the “giving word” ceremony. This ceremony entails the acceptance of both families for the new member of the family (the husband’s family accepting the wife and the wife’s family accepting the husband) this differs from American customs because American families don’t necessarily abide by the strict ceremonies and don’t have to be approved of by the opposite family to be wed.

124.The memory that comes to mind during his wedding is one of Hassan. He wonders if Hassan married and whose face he saw in the mirror under the veil. He wonders who the woman Hassan married was and what she was like.

125.When Amir sees the leather bound book given to him by Rahim Khan he feels sad. He goes off to cry away from Baba and Soraya.  Even though they like his writings, he still is emotional about others reading it. Baba did not take any interest in him before… why start now.

126.General Taheri doesn’t work and Baba does. General Taheri is very restrictive of his family and Baba wasn’t as strict on Amir. Baba and the general share a common pride for the Afghani people and for their country.

127.The standards are seen in different customs for male and female in America verses in Afghanistan. Amir and Soraya like the American dream… the American customs. However, their parents conform to the traditional customs from their home in Afghanistan. They may have liked the idea of America but their traditoion made them proud. The segregation of the male and female roles are seen strongly in the characters of the General and his wife. While more American conduct is observed in Amir and Soraya.

128.The fact that the general makes Soraya cut off her hair shows that the General is strict with traditional customs and hard on his daughter. Amir is different from any Afghan guy she has met- he is not a traditional maniac, and he is still willing to marry her despite his faults.

129.The presents they get from Soraya’s parents are: a leather couch, a set of dishes, and a typewriter with a note. “Amir Jan, I hope you discover many tales on these keys. General Iqbal Taheri” This signifies their acceptance of Amir as a writer and that they are proud of his profession, unlike Baba.

130.Amir wonders if he deserves all of the happiness in his life. This relates back to the attack on Hassan.

131.Afghanistan was forgotten because of china, Tiananmen square and other news that “was more important.”

132.Soraya and Amir cannot conceive children. They try but to no avail. After tests with numerous doctors, no answer is found for why they cannot conceive. They consider adopting but through the general they decide that adopting may not be the best idea for them. 

Chapter 22

210. The house has a well manicured lawn with geraniums and stubby bushes. It is a large house and has an Afghan flag draped on one of the walls. There are twin mint green sofas and a big screen TV.

211. Amir wonders what he is doing there. He thinks of himself as gutless and that there is nothing wrong with being a coward.

212. The man Amir meets has sallow colored skin and tiny sweat beads are present on his skin. He is wearing a black turban and has cut like those of the homeless in San Francisco. This means that he is doing something that hurts himself and others as well.

213. They searched Amir.

214. He tells Amir about when they went around and shot all the men all boys in front of their families. He also says that he went into houses and let the bullets fly. He tells Amir this because Hassan was a Hazara and this was the Hazara massacre.

215. The Taliban think that by killing Hazaras they are doing God’s work and purifying the world. He probably became this way because he wasn’t raised in what was right by his parents.

216. The man says that Amir could be arrested for treason because he abandoned his waton when it needed him. It is ironic, because the Taliban are killing people, and that is also considered to be treason.

217. Sohrab looks a lot like Hassan. He had a round moon face, pointy stub of a chin and seashell ears along with the same frame.

218. The men treat Sohrab like scum. They make him dance and don’t care for him well.

219. The man reveals himself to be Assef and Amir is sickened.

220. When Amir offers pay for Sohrab, Assef states that his own family is rich and that if he needed money he would get it from them.

221. Assef and his family were taken to jail by the communists. Then one of them took him away and starting kicking him. One kick helps him pass a kidney stone and with relief Assef starts laughing. He believes that God is on his side.

222. His mission is to “help” the world by punishing those he believes has done wrong.

223. Sohrab’s eyes are surrounded by mascara.

224. Assef states that if Amir wins then he will walk away with the boy, and if he doesn’t then he will be dead. The fight isn’t fair because Assef has brass knuckles.

225. The story is about a man in a surgical cap and with an Allah necklace around his neck. Amir says that he thinks that he gave him, Assef a good fight. It shows how Assef has changed.

226. Amir is losing badly and doesn’t fight very well. Assef is hurting him badly and dominating the match.

227. Amir feels healed because he used to be mean to Hassan and he believes that he has gotten what he deserved. He laughed because he feels healed while his body is being broken.

228. Sohrab shoots Assef in the eye when it is obvious that Amir is about to be killed. Hassan used to do the same thing and stand up to Assef with his slingshot when Assef would try to hurt him.

229. The brass ball from the slingshot gets stuck in Assef eyesocket.

230. Farid helps them to his car and they drive to the hospital.

Chapter 25

I don't know what Q 280 is.

266. Amir is very nervous. He says that he already has Hassan’s blood on his hands and don’t want Hassan’s son on his too. He compares it to riding with Baba in the tank of the fuel truck with all of the rest of the refugees. At both times he is scared and wants to escape from the predicament.

267. Amir sets out his prayer mat and says that he is sorry for not praying for all those years and that he has neglected god. He says that he will fast and commit to memory the Holy book. Also he will think of him every day and take a pilgrimage.

268. Sohrab is white faced with plastic tubes and IV tubes along with a ventilator.

269. Amir thinks that he sees one of the doctors in his dreams but it turns out to be the embassy man Raymond Andrews. I think that Amir dreams of him, because he is the person that he went to try and get Amir to America.

270. The hotel manager asks Amir to leave because it is bad for business for him to stay. Amir says that he understands and leaves.

271. Amir takes the Shahnamah to the hospital, because it is Sohrab’s favorite book. He hoped to get Sohrab to trust him again after he broke his promise.

272. Sohrab really wants his old life back.

273. Amir thinks about how he wishes that he had his old life back, but his old life is gone. It is in italics, because it shows a main theme of the story.

274. Amir has become more attached to Sohrab, but he wishes that Amir had let him die.

275. Amir tells of when he and Hassan sit beneath the cherry tree and Amir asks Hassan to eat dirt for him to prove his loyalty. He says that it is now his turn to prove his worthiness.

276. Sohrab used to have faith in a better life but now he had no hope.

277. Sohrab wouldn’t speak a word for the next year.

278. When things are bad your head is confused and you can’t think straight. America wasn’t bad, but Sohrab couldn’t see it because he wanted his old life back.

279. In Afghanistan the end or result is all that matters, but in America until the end has happened it shouldn’t be stated. Anything could happen.

280. Sunday’s tiny miracle was when Amir takes Sohrab to America.

281. Amir was the socially acceptable half of Baba and Hassan was the other. Amir believes that Baba thought of Hassan as his true son and not Amir.

282. Amir and the General talk about where Sohrab came from and why Amir brought him to America. Amir tells him not to refer to Sohrab as the Hazara boy, because it is disrespectful.

283. There are American flags everywhere.

284. Soraya and Amir join Afghan prodjects. They do this for civil duty and to fill the silence of Sohrab. It is similar to Baba building the orphanage.

285. March 2002

286. The General had been summoned for a military position in Afghanistan and accepted. He wanted to support his country.

Chapter 21

197. As Farid and Amir drive towards the stadium, the see a dead man hanging near a restaurant as well as a beggar aiming to sell his prosthetic leg.

198. The Street Of Guests seems to be a reference to the people behind the Taliban and the somewhat nicer neighborhood, or street, they live in.

199. When Amir sees the pink house, he is reminded of the times when Baba would tell him that if he ever got lost, he should remember that they live on the street with the oink house on the end.

200. When Amir walks around his old house, he sees that its run down and gloomy. The asphalt is cracked and broken, the paint is peeling, the bricks had faded, and the driveway seems shorter than it used to be. Amir feels like a stranger.

201. Farid tells Amir, "Nothing you remember has remained. Best to forget." Amir responds by running to the old pomegranate tree and finding the carving he did with Hassan years ago. The one that said "Amir and Hassan. The sultans of Kabul."

202. The tree used to symbolize forgiveness in times of hardship, hope, and innocence. When Amir sees it now, it is wilted, lifeless, and without fruit. Now it symbolizes the change in Afghanistan, and possibly in Amir as well.

203. The Hotel Amir and Farid spend the night in doesnt have any running hot water, the toilet is cracked and  doesnt flush, the mattress is worn and accompanied by a ragged blanket, and there is a bloodstain on the wall just behind the bed.

204. Amir doesnt mind paying the cost for the room because he understands that the man he gave his money to probably has kids to feed, and he sympathizes with that.

205. The Mullah Nasruddin jokes are jokes about "the bumbling mullah" and are most likely included by the author to provide a sense of relief and possible a sense of hope for the reader.

206. Amir and Farid enter the stadium feeling sickened by what they witness. They watch during halftime as a man and woman get stoned by the Taliban for "spitting in the face of God".

207. The clerics seemed to be vicious members of the clergy. They didnt have much regret for their actions.

208. The man and woman were placed in holes in the field and buried up to their chest. As they awaited the stoning, the cleric gave a long and frightening speech about sin and punishment by order of their religion and God. They ask how one should punish an adulterer, one who dishonors the sanctity and spits in the face of God. And answers that "we shall throw stones back". The two people then take stones to the head until the Taliban can no longer hear their hearts beating. The poeple in the crowd seem shocked, gasping at each stone, and Amir states he had never wanted to leave a place so badly in his life.

209. To set a meeting with the man in the black glasses, all Farid had to do was tell someone had personal business he had to discuss with the man in white. The man he spoke to then confirmed the meeting with the man in the glasses, to which he nodded, and the meeting was set for three o'clock.


Please feel free to comment as much as you like. Id love to hear any extra input you have on the questions Ive answered.
-Summer

Chapter 16

I was supposed to do ch 16 but I forgot my english stuff at school. Sorry. I'll do it on monday!
-Anjolenna

Chapter 19

Chapter 19:

174: Farid’s family is very impoverished and they have been through many hard times. Two daughters of Farid's seven children were killed by a land mine, a disaster which mutilated three fingers on his left hand and also took some of his toes. He is bitter because he doesn’t think Amir really understands what has happened to the country and he has been through so much.

175: Farid is rude to Amir because Amir thinks he knows what has really happened in Kabul. But he really doesn’t, since it is much more serious then he thinks.

176: Amir had to: exchange dollars for Kadar and Afghani bills, find a artificial beard, get a garment ( pakol) all to prepare to go to Afghanistan.  

177: Amir wanted to leave as soon as possible so he would not change his mind about going to get Sohrab.

178: Everything had changed about the country since Amir had last been there. He felt like it was a whole new country because it had changed so much. He wasn’t familiar with it. Farid responds with the question of how Amir still referred to it as “his country”. Farid is curious of how it was still his country if he hadn’t been there through the horrible times.

179: Farid and his brother argue about how Farid assumes Amir is there to sell the land of his fathers and get the money and go back home. Farid’s brother defends him and tells Farid to mind his manners in his house. This shows that Farid is more critical and un compassionate and that Wahid cares about manners and being kind to guests.

180: Amir tells the men why he really is in Afghanistan. They both decide he is an honorable man and that they are proud to have him staying with them. Farid decides later that he was wrong to assume about why Amir was in Afghanistan.

181: Amir cringes because he believes that he is really not an honorable man for all the sin and wrong he had done towards Hassan. And that this one act didn’t make him honorable.

182: The boys’ eyes were glued to the watch throughout the dinner. But when Amir gives the watch to the boys they are shy and muter thank yous as if they are ashamed they had eyed it. They look at it for a while but then lose interest. Showing that while things may be wanted at first, you will lost interest.

** I don’t know if this is right.

183: The nightmare that Amir has is of Hassan’s murder in the streets. And that he is the man murdering him. Amir is blaming himself for Hassan’s death in this dream.

184: Amir shoves a wad of cash under the mattress of the family. This shows that he is turning into a very compassionate caring man.

-Meghan =)

We still need chapters!

It would be great if someone could help fill in the remaining chapters. 13, 16, 19, 21, 22, 25 still need to be completed.