Chapter 16 “The Hassan’s story”

The Amir’s friend, Rhamin Khan, tried to search Hassan and Ali in Hazarajat, when Rhamin finally found Hassan, Hassan introduced to his wife Farzana. She was a pregnant woman and they lived in a little house. Rhamin Khan asked about the life of Ali, buy they had bad news, Ali and one of his cousin were killed by a land mine outside of Bamiyan. Rahim asked to the couple if they could return to Kabul with him, but the couple at the begging said no, however they accepted the next day the morning.

Unfortunately, the Hassan’s wife, Farzana, gave birth to a stillborn baby girl, although 1 year after she was pregnant again. And one day, an unknown woman arrived to the house of Baba. This woman was Hassan’s mother. Hassan hated this moment but after some hours he forgave her. The days for the family of Hassan changed completely and were very happy. Farzana gave birth to a baby boy. This boy was Sohrab.

Chapter 15 “What is happening in Afghanistan”.

Amir arrives to Afghanistan, he went by taxi with Rahim Khan. He arrives to the address where was Rahim Khan. Amir began with a little description about his life in Fremont, California. He mentioned things such as the job, wife, Baba’s death and a few troubles in U.S.A.
However, Amir asked to Rahim about the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, and Rahim said that the regimen was very worse. He thinks that at the beginning, the Taliban regimen could save Kabul of the Russian soldiers but it was worse because the Talibans don’t let them be humans.

In addition, Rahim Khan is still with life and he was living in the house of Baba because they sold the house to Rahim. But the house was very large and it was difficult to maintain. Nevertheless, Rahim tried to clean and maintain the house but he couldn’t do that. Finally Rahim try to find to Hassan and his father for helping him with his house and he found to Hassan.
In my opinion, this chapter is very interesting because Amir and Rahim describe the situation of Kabul between 1992 and 1996 when the Russian soldiers were changed by the Taliban regime. On the other hand they give us a little information about the Muslims.

Chapter 14 “Amir comes back to Afghanistan”

The general gave a cocker sapiniel to Soraya and Amir, his name was “Plato” because they thought in the adoption of a baby but it never happened because the General and Amir thought that an adoption was not an option when their blood has been maintained by many generations. The problem with the pregnancy increased between them because they wished a child, as consequence Amir was not well and he needs to change that.
On the other hand, Amir received a call from Rahim Khan. Rahim was very sick and Amir needed to come back to Afghanistan, because Rahim was the most important friend for Baba and also for Amir. His wife sometimes has listened about Rahim but she never met him.
A week later, Amir was sitting on a window seat aboard a Pakistani International Airlines flight. Finally he left his wife and now he goes to Kabul to see his friend Rahim Khan.

Chap. 13 “The wedding and an unexpected event”

Amir asked the Soraya’s hand in the house of the General Taheri. After that, the wedding was a success. This day was one of the happiest days for Amir and Soraya. The marriage included a lot of guests and family. Baba was very happy because, his only son was married. Altough Baba was sick, he was suffering cancer but this day for him was excellent.

Amir and Soraya lived with Baba because of his sick. Baba was taking medicine but one day he said that he doesn’t want medicine because he didn’t have pain. They closed the door and Baba never woke up.
Amir tells us how they bury to Baba. This event changed the life for Amir. When Baba died, Amir tries to have a son, Soraya and Amir were fertile but they couldn’t have a baby. The doctors called it “Unexplained Infertility”.

Chapter 12 “The Soraya’s hand”

All the days, Amir thinks in a woman. She is Soraya. Soraya is the daughter of the General Taheri. He is one of the most recognized generals in Afghanistan. But Amir in this moment have a trouble, his father have cancer. Although, one day, Amir said to Baba: “I want you to ask General Taheri for his daughter’s hand”. Finally the General Taheri accepted the request but Amir didn’t know the answer of Soraya.

Amir called to Soraya and asked if she accepted, but she had a condition. The condition was very simple. They needed to say if they had some secrets. Probably in this moment the future couple could say any hidden secret in their lives. Soraya had a little secret and she said it to Amir. But Amir never said his secret and never Soraya listened the story of the Hassan’s rape.

Chapter 11 “Fremont, California 1980s”

After the incidents in Afghanistan, Amir and Baba arrive to California. In this chapter Amir give us an introduction about how Baba and he lived in Fremont. Amir had his graduation from the high school at the age of twenty. This day for Amir was an excellent day, because he celebrated his achievement with his father in a bar of the city accompanied by beers, cigarettes, friends and strangers.

When the party finished, Baba gave a present to Amir, this was a beautiful car and Amir loved more this day but at the end of the party, a comment of Baba changed all the day completely. Baba said: “I wish Hassan had been with us today”. He hated this opinion because he was forgetting the previous life with his playmate Hassan.
In spite of this comment, the life of Amir was happy and one day he met Soraya probably his first love.

Letter for Khaled Hosseini.

I consider that the story is amazing because when I was reading the novel, all the time it has a great rhythm. I like that one paragraph you can be happy and in the next paragraph you can be very sad.
In the story the events that occur in Afghanistan show the different problems that lived this country. With these events I imagined how they lived and knew about his customs, traditions, culture, religion and ethnic groups.

Actually I don’t know what the end is but I think that the main character will continue with live but he will have a lot of problems related with concepts like the price of betrayal, the possibility of redemption and the influence of fathers over sons. 

Chapter 10 “Good bye Afghanistan”

This event takes place in March 1981, Amir and Baba left their lives in Kabul however they prefer to escape toward Pakistan because the situation in the district of Kabul was dangerous with the Russian soldiers.

They take a travel to Pakistan accompanied by 5 people but in this travel, they have a trouble with a particular soldier. One of the five people was a beautiful woman. The soldier previously mentioned tried to rape her, but Baba protected her, he confronted the Russian soldier and the solider shoot his gun, but the soldier was taking drugs and never shot to Baba. After that, another soldier offered apologies at the passengers.Finally Baba finished like a Hero for the other passengers.

This story serves to Amir for only one reason, he saw how his father protected the woman and he remembered and thought what he needed to do when the other boys raped to Hassan.

He must have protected Hassan but he couldn't protect him.

Chap. 9 Hassan and Ali said “Good bye”

After the party of Amir, he starts to open his presents, and he received a lot of things for example a Polaroid camera, a transistor, an elaborate electric train and several envelopes containing cash.
But these presents only serve for one purpose, when Ali and Hassan went out to shop the things for his home, Amir left the money and a watch in the house of Hassan. Amir set a trap for them and with this event Amir thought that his father would dismiss their servants.

Finally Baba speaks with Amir, Hassan and Ali, Amir knew that he was a guilty but when Baba asked to Hassan:"Did you steal the watch?", he lied and said: “I stole the watch and the money”.
Although, Baba forgives them, but Amir wasn’t satisfied because they had stolen in his house however it was a lie.
Hassan and Ali didn’t want to stay in this house for the rest of their lives because Amir knew the true, once more time he affected their lives and finally Hassan and Ali left the house of Baba.

Chapter 8 “The consequences of the betrayal”

Amir gave the blue kite to his father, but this victory for Hassan was a betrayal. The days between Amir and Hassan drastically changed because Amir didn’t want to see Hassan for nothing in the world. Amir passed the follow days doing homeworks in his room and he always rejects the invitations that Hassan sent him for going to read a book in the hill.

Amir felt guilt and he didn’t play with Hassan for the rest of his life. He has betrayed to his friend and he hasn’t made anything for help him.
In the Amir’s birthday, all the kids in the district had gone to the party, among them were Aseft and his friends, these boys were attended by Hassan. This moment was a trigger that influenced in Amir to take the worst decision in his life.
In conclusion, this chapter shows how Amir used Hassan for achieve his objective because in theory were friends but it was only a betrayal.

“Amir won the battle but lost a friend” Chap. 7

The next morning, Amir and Hassan run the kite. In the tournament up to 50 children run their kites but after a few hours the kite of Amir and Hassan compete versus a blue kite. If Amir win the tournament he would be a hero and his father would be proud of Amir for first time, because Baba always has resentment for the death of his wife.Finally they cut the blue kite and this is the trophy. 

Amir won the competition but an event unexpected happened. Hassan runs to search the blue kite while Amir is congratulated by the other friends, but Hassan doesn’t arrive and Amir goes to search him. When Amir find to Hassan, Hassan was fighting with Aseft and his two friends. Amir didn’t do anything and he only watched how the three guys rape to Hassan.

After the rape to Hassan, the life between Amir and he changed completely. Amir didn’t have the courage to fight and save his friend.

In conclusion, this chapter shows the main values of the novel such as loyalty, courage and friendship.

Chap.6 "How is the tournament?"

Every winter, districts in Kabul held a kite-fighting tournament. And if you were a boy living in Kabul, the day of tournament was undeniably the highlight of the cold season. Amir never slept the night before the tournament.

Amir gives the details of the tournament. The rules of the tournaments are very simple: they need to have a kite, they fight their kites versus Kabul's children, maintain the kite flying in the sky, cut the other kites and finally the last kite in the sky is the winner.

On the other hand, Amir explains how Hassan and he build their kites, they bought in the Bazaar the bamboo, glue, string and paper but sometimes Baba bought the kites with a shoe repairman, Saifo. He was also the city´s most famous kite maker but they prefer build their own kites.

Finally, Amir and Hassan relate the sensation that they had one previous day for the tournament. They describe this sensation such as a true battle, a war or a real fight.

Chapter 5 "An event changed Afghanistan forever."

The event mentioned in the previous chapter was a battle in Kabul with shootings, explosions and bombs. It was the start of new era which was described since the perspective of Amir.

The next morning, the monarchy was a thing of past, Daoud Khan had ended the reign. The same day, Amir and Hassan had a little discussion with Assef, the son of the Baba’s friend. In which they argued about the future of the Hazaras and Pashtuns. This discussion almost causes a fight between them.
In contrast, Amir gives us an introduction about how the constitutional monarchy was replaced by a Republic and how was the situation of Kabul in this moment. This change only affected the future of the Hazaras because this ethnic group is the poor class in Afghanistan.
In conclusion, this incident was the beginning of a big conflict in Afghanistan, which marked their lives forever.

"You and I are only playmates" Chapter 4.

Amir didn’t consider Hassan as his friend, but he said that they were only playmates, because Amir and his father were Pashtuns and Sunnies. On the other hand, Hassan and Ali were Hazaras and Shi’a. And nothing was ever going to change that.

Although, Amir and Hassan were good playmates and they enjoyed be together. For example, after the school, Amir read a lot of books for Hassan and they loved it because the stories always were amazing and fascinating.

Because of his creativity, Amir begins writing his first book. It was a little story which Amir read to Ali and Hassan but it was interrupted by an event that changed Afghanistan forever.

In my opinion, this chapter shows the main differences between two boys. However, these differences don’t have sense because in their childhood, they are living and playing together like friends.