The Kite Runner Chapter 22 Quotes
The Kite Runner Chapter 22 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 4
They dragged me out and he started kicking me. He had knee-high boots with steel toes that he wore every night for his little kicking game, and he used them on me. I was screaming and screaming and he kept kicking me and then, suddenly, he kicked me on the left kidney and the stone passed. Just like that! Oh, the relief!" Assef laughed. "And I yelled 'Allah-u akbar' and he kicked me even harder and I started laughing. He got mad and hit me harder, and the harder he kicked me, the harder I laughed. They threw me back in the cell laughing. I kept laughing and laughing because suddenly I knew that had been a message from God: He was on my side. He wanted me to live for a reason. (22.81)
This guy's religion is weird. In the passage, Assef recounts how communist soldiers arrested him and beat him. But during his beating, Assef comes to a bizarre realization: God wants him to purge Afghanistan of Hazaras (see 22.83 to 22.89). Because the soldier actually helps Assef pass a kidney stone, Assef laughs during what should be a painful ordeal. Certainly Assef must have seemed insane to the torturer. As he beats Assef, Assef also shouts out a phrase which means "God is great." How do pain and religious insight mix in unsavory ways here? Does this episode explain Assef's cruelty (or was he cruel long before)?