Early that spring, a few days before the new school year started, Baba and I were planting tulips in the garden. Most of the snow had melted and the hills in the north were already dotted with patches of green grass. It was a cool, gray morning, and Baba was squatting next to me, digging the soil and planting the bulbs I handed to him. He was telling me how most people thought it was better to plant tulips in the fall and how that wasn't true, when I came right out and said it. "Baba, have you ever thought about get ting new servants?" (8.63)
Amir's question, of course, must pain Baba quite a bit since Hassan is his son. It seems Amir can't handle anything that reminds him of his cowardice, even if it's his best friend. Unlike Amir, Baba keeps the reminders of his guilt around. (Those reminders would be Ali and Hassan since Baba slept with Ali's wife and fathered Hassan.) Do you blame Amir absolutely for Hassan and Ali's departure? Does some unconscious part of Amir send Hassan and Ali away so he can have Baba all to himself?
Quote 2
I felt like a man sliding down a steep cliff, clutching at shrubs and tangles of brambles and coming up empty-handed. The room was swooping up and down, swaying side to side. "Did Hassan know?" I said through lips that didn't feel like my own. Rahim Khan closed his eyes. Shook his head. [...]
"Please think, Amir Jan. It was a shameful situation. People would talk. All that a man had back then, all that he was, was his honor, his name, and if people talked...We couldn't tell anyone, surely you can see that." He reached for me, but I shed his hand. Headed for the door. [...]
I opened the door and turned to him. "Why? What can you possibly say to me? I'm thirty-eight years old and I've just found out my whole life is one big f***ing lie! What can you possibly say to make things better? Nothing. Not a goddamn thing!" (17.57-63)
Rahim Khan tells Amir about Baba's betrayal of him, Hassan, and Ali. Here's the story: Baba slept with Sanaubar, Ali's wife, and fathered Hassan. But Baba never told Amir or Hassan about it. We wonder if Rahim Khan's revelation makes life easier or harder for Amir. On the one hand, Amir sees, for the first time, the similarities between himself and his father. Now he knows he wasn't the only one walking around with a ton of bricks (a.k.a. secret guilt). But does this really help Amir? Is it comforting at all to know his father made similar mistakes? Amir's betrayal of Hassan brings him closer to Baba in ways he couldn't have predicted. Although the two don't share the same secrets, they do share the secrecy of guilt.
[Amir:] "Well, Mr. Faisal thinks that it would really help if we could...if we could ask you to stay in a home for kids for a while."
[Sohrab:] "Home for kids?" he said, his smile fading. "You mean an orphanage?"
[Amir:] "It would only be for a little while."
[Sohrab:] "No," he said. "No, please."
[Amir:] "Sohrab, it would be for just a little while. I promise."
[Sohrab:] "You promised you'd never put me in one of those places, Amir agha," he said. His voice was breaking, tears pooling in his eyes. (24.350-355)
Just when you thought Amir did something nice for a change...he goes back on his promise to Sohrab. Amir's broken promise has disastrous consequences: Sohrab tries to kill himself. Does Amir betray yet another person? Or, is this "betrayal" out of Amir's hands? If so, does Amir's helplessness in this situation force you to reinterpret Amir's earlier abandonment of Hassan? Does this passage suggest Amir really wasn't to blame for abandoning Hassan?
Quote 4
"We won! We won!" was all I could say. This wasn't happening. In a moment, I'd blink and rouse from this beautiful dream, get out of bed, march down to the kitchen to eat breakfast with no one to talk to but Hassan. Get dressed. Wait for Baba. Give up. Back to my old life. Then I saw Baba on our roof. He was standing on the edge, pumping both of his fists. Hollering and clapping. And that right there was the single greatest moment of my twelve years of life, seeing Baba on that roof, proud of me at last. (7.50)
Although we're happy for Amir, Shmoop's Department of Child Psychology firmly believes it's not a good thing if the child has to win his father's affection. Amir wins the kite tournament and returns to Baba's study with the infamous blue kite. He does gain his father's affection – for a little while. Amir's newfound closeness with Baba will last only a brief time. The sacrifices Amir makes (or has Hassan makes) will haunt him for much of his life.
"I think I'll major in English," I said. I winced inside, waiting for his reply.
[Baba:] "English?"
[Amir:] "Creative writing."
He considered this. Sipped his tea. "Stories, you mean. You'll make up stories." I looked down at my feet.
[Baba:] "They pay for that, making up stories?"
[Amir:] "If you're good," I said. "And if you get discovered."
[Baba:] "How likely is that, getting discovered?"
"It happens," I said.
He nodded. "And what will you do while you wait to get good and get discovered? How will you earn money? If you marry, how will you support your khanum?"
I couldn't lift my eyes to meet his. "I'll...find a job."
"Oh," he said. "Wah wah! So, if I understand, you'll study several years to earn a degree, then you'll get a chatti job like mine, one you could just as easily land today, on the small chance that your degree might someday help you get...discovered." He took a deep breath and sipped his tea. Grunted something about medical school, law school, and "real work." (11.47-57)
Amir has to be discouraged by Baba's response here. Majoring in Creative Writing – as Baba points out – won't land Amir a job and will likely force Amir to take a job he would qualify for now. Amir also won't be able to support a family with writing. All that sounds glum. But none of it compares, we think, with the proverbial drop-kick to the stomach Baba bestows on writing. "Stories, you mean. You'll make up stories." What is writing according to Baba? Fabrication. Writing sounds so silly when Baba says it that way. Is Baba's definition of writing reductive or is it clear-sighted? What is Baba missing about Amir's love for writing? Is he even been aware of Amir's love for writing?
One day, I came home from the pharmacy with Baba's morphine pills. Just as I shut the door, I caught a glimpse of Soraya quickly sliding something under Baba's blanket. "Hey, I saw that! What were you two doing?" I said.
"Nothing," Soraya said, smiling.
"Liar." I lifted Baba's blanket. "What's this?" I said, though as soon as I picked up the leather-bound book, I knew. I traced my fingers along the gold-stitched borders. I remembered the fireworks the night Rahim Khan had given it to me, the night of my thirteenth birthday, flares sizzling and exploding into bouquets of red, green, and yellow.
"I can't believe you can write like this," Soraya said.
Baba dragged his head off the pillow. "I put her up to it. I hope you don't mind."
I gave the notebook back to Soraya and left the room. Baba hated it when I cried. (11.36-41)
Baba finally hears Amir's stories after all these years. It's enough to move Amir to tears and enough to make us sniffle a little too. Hosseini also cleverly inserts a description of what good writing might be like: "Rahim Khan had given it to me, the night of my thirteenth birthday, flares sizzling and exploding into bouquets of red, green, and yellow." Doesn't fiction seem like that sometimes? The plot pauses and the prose bursts into a lyrical moment of ridiculous beauty.