Chaptre 17

I hope I didn't read the questions too literally. Oh well. Chaptre 16 will be here shortly.

-Anjolenna :)

161. Hassan’s letter first tells Amir to thank Rahim Khan and says that he wants to read a letter from Amir soon. Hassan says his wife and son enjoy hearing about Amir and Hassan’s childhood. Next Hassan tells Amir about what Kabul is like now, (which is described on question 163), then talks about Sohrab and how he will be smart. Then he tells Amir about the pomegranate tree. Hassan then tells Amir how sick Rahim Khan is. Hassan says he dreams a lot. He dreams nightmares, that Rahim Khan will get better, that his son will be a free person, that Kabul will be peaceful again, and that Amir will visit “the land of our childhood”. It ends with “may Allah be with you always.”

162. The letter makes Amir feel remorseful. He reads it twice to fully remember Hassan.

163. Hassan says fear is everywhere in Kabul. The savage rulers don’t care about human decency. Women aren’t allowed to talk loud and Taliban members can do whatever they want. Hazaras are not allowed to fight back. Life is scary and threatening to Hazaras.

164. The pomegranate tree is fruitless. Droughts dried up the hill it sits on and it hasn’t bore fruits for years. This symbolizes Hassan’s and Amir’s relationship with each other. It hasn’t “bore fruit” for a long, long time.

165. We learn that after Rahim Khan left, the Taliban learned that Hazaras were living in the house. They came and interrogated Hassan. Hassan argued and they shot him in the back of the head. Hassan’s wife “attacked” the people who shot Hassan and they shot her.

166. Amir keeps saying “no. no .no.” Amir thinks about when Baba, Ali, Rahim Khan, and he were huddled around Hassan’s bed after his lip surgery. He thought about how everyone in the room was dying or dead except for him. He also thought about the man who shot Hassan. He says “Hassan slumps to the asphalt, his life of unrequited loyalty drifting from him like the windblown kites he used to chase.”

167. Rahim Khan wants Amir to go to Kabul and free Sohrab from an orphanage and bring him to Pakistan to live with an American couple. Amir reacts by saying “You can’t be serious.” He says he can’t and doesn’t want to go to Kabul. Amir is just very surprised and is still in shock from learning about Hassan’s death.

168. Rahim Khan interjects with “A boy who can’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.” Amir responds after pondering with “Maybe Baba was right.”

169. Rahim Khan tells Amir that Ali has a wife before Sanaubar. She left him childless then got married again and bore three girls. Ali was sterile. We can assume that Sanaubar had Hassan with Baba but they didn’t tell anyone because Ali would lose his honor. Amir freaks out and asks why they would hide this from him and Hassan. He says “I’m thirty eight years old and I’ve just found out my whole life is one big f***ing lie!” After that, he storms out of the apartment. 

Hehehe! It's a rainbow!!!!! :D

I'm confused on why teachers say "don't say bad words" then they make us read a book with tons of bad words.  Hmm.