The Kite Runner Chapter 21 Quotes
The Kite Runner Chapter 21 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
I saw a dead body near the restaurant. There had been a hanging. A young man dangled from the end of a rope tied to a beam, his face puffy and blue, the clothes he'd worn on the last day of his life shredded, bloody. Hardly anyone seemed to notice him. (21.2)
This is a smart move by Hosseini. Now that he's accustomed his readers to the devastation of war in the previous chapter, he casually introduces a shocking image. We think most readers will pause here and say, "Gosh, this is really awful," and then move on because that's what Hosseini does. Hosseini knows his readers, like the Afghani citizens, are getting used to horror.
Quote 2
A scrawny boy in a tweed jacket grabbed my elbow and spoke into my ear. Asked me if I wanted to buy some "sexy pictures."
"Very sexy, Agha," he said, his alert eyes darting side to side – reminding me of a girl who, a few years earlier, had tried to sell me crack in the Tenderloin district in San Francisco. The kid peeled one side of his jacket open and gave me a fleeting glance of his sexy pictures: postcards of Hindi movies showing doe-eyed sultry actresses, fully dressed, in the arms of their leading men. "So sexy," he repeated. (21.67-68)
There's some charming innocence here in the midst of poverty and oppression by a totalitarian regime. This kid is trying to sell pictures of fully-clothed actresses.
Quote 3
When the prayer was done, the cleric cleared his throat. "Brothers and sisters!" he called, speaking in Farsi, his voice booming through the stadium. "We are here today to carry out Shari'a. We are here today to carry out justice. We are here today because the will of Allah and the word of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, are alive and well here in Afghanistan, our beloved homeland. We listen to what God says and we obey because we are nothing but humble, powerless creatures before God's greatness. And what does God say? I ask you! WHAT DOES GOD SAY? God says that every sinner must be punished in a manner befitting his sin. Those are not my words, nor the words of my brothers. Those are the words of GOD!" He pointed with his free hand to the sky. My head was pounding and the sun felt much too hot.
"Every sinner must be punished in a manner befitting his sin!" the cleric repeated into the mike, lowering his voice, enunciating each word slowly, dramatically. "And what manner of punishment, brothers and sisters, befits the adulterer? How shall we punish those who dishonor the sanctity of marriage? How shall we deal with those who spit in the face of God? How shall we answer those who throw stones at the windows of God's house? WE SHALL THROW THE STONES BACK!" He shut off the microphone. A low-pitched murmur spread through the crowd.
Next to me, Farid was shaking his head. "And they call themselves Muslims," he whispered. (21.79-81)
We probably don't need to remind you the cleric here is actually none other than Assef. Farid comments that Assef isn't a real Muslim – and it is difficult to square the theatricality of the punishment here with Islam. This event seems to have more in common with totalitarian regimes than with Islam in particular. Also, it's worth thinking ahead to Assef's own punishment: partial blindness by Sohrab's hand. In what ways is this an ironic punishment for Assef? Is it a punishment "befitting his sin"? However, we at Shmoop think you shouldn't consider justice in The Kite Runner too long – because it seems like there's such a short supply of it.