Jamie's Blog

Plot

• Rahim ruminates about Baba’s legacy of deceit
• Amir decides to go find Sohrab

Characters

• Thomas and Betty Caldwell
  • Offer to take Sohrab

Themes/Motifs

• Truth
• Children

Plot

• Talibs attempt to claim Baba’s house
• Hassan and Farzana killed by Talibs
• Sohrab taken to orphanage
• Rahim asks Amir to retrieve Sohrab
• Rahim tells Amir that Hassan was his half-brother

Characters

• Ali
  • Died due to land mine
• Farzana
  • Hassan’s wife
• Sanaubar
  • Returns to Kabul to find Hassan
  • Rejoins the family
• Sohrab
  • Hassan’s son
  • Named for hero from Shahnamah

Locations

• Bamiyan
  • Hassan’s Hazari village

Dates

• 1986
  • Rahim goes to Hazarajat to find Hassan
• 1990
  • Hassan’s son Sohrab born
• ~1994
  • Sanaubar dies
• 1996
  • Taliban arrives in Kabul
• 1998
  • Hazars massacred in Mazar-i-Sharif

Plot

• Rahim goes to find Hassan
  • Loneliness
  • Needs help with the house
• Hassan is married, does not want to leave until he hears Baba has died
• Hassan and Soraya help Rahim rebuild the house
• Farzana gives birth to stillborn
• Sanaubar returns

Locations

• Peshawar
  • Where Amir lands in Pakistan

Plot

• Amir goes to Pakistan
• Amir meets with Rahim who is dying
• Rahim had been steward of Baba’s Kabul house
• They discuss Afghan history since Amir left
• Rahim wants to talk about Hassan

Characters

• General Taheri
  • Breaks hip
  • Becomes more agreeable
• Rahim Khan
  • Asks

Dates

• 2001
  • June: Rahim asks Amir to come to Pakistan

Themes/Motifs

• Redemption

Plot

• Rahim Khan asks Amir to go to Pakistan

Thoughts

Rahim Khan offers a path for redemption. Amir’s life is plagued with guilt ever since Assef’s attach on Hassan.

Characters

• General Taheri
  • Migrains
  • Expects to return to Afghanistan
• Khanum Taheri
  • Former singer
  • Hypochondriac
  • Suffered stroke
• Sharif
  • Khanum Taheri’s brother
  • Worked with INS
  • Poet
• Soraya
  • Angry about her past following her

Locations

• Bernal Heights, San Fran
  • Amir and Soraya move to a new house here
• Furniture Warehouse, Sunnyvale
  • Amir works security here
• Mosque in Hayward
  • Where Baba’s funeral ceremony is held
• San Jose State University
  • where Amir studies english

Dates

• 1988
  • Summer: finishes first novel, sold
• 1989
  • Novel published, book tour
  • Shorawi withdraws from Aghanistn
  • War between Afghans (Mujahedin) and Najibullah
  • Amir and Soraya attempt to have a child
  • Move to new house

Themes/Motifs

Plot

• The families engage in ceremony to agree to marriage
• Baba gives speech
• Baba throws a wedding ceremony
• Soraya and Amir consummate the marriage
• Soraya moves in with Amir and Baba
• Soraya takes care of Baba
• Baba dies
• Baba’s funeral
• They move to apartment
• Amir begins college
• Soraya decides to be a teacher
• Amir sells a book
• Soraya and Amir decide to have a child
• “Unexplained Infertility”
• They decide against adoption

Other Notes

• lafz – the ceremony of “giving word”
• khastegari – ? agreement to marry

Characters

• Dr. Schneider
  • Oncologist rejected by Baba for Russian background
• Dr. Amani
  • Baba’s Iranian Oncologist
• Khanum Taheri
  • Matriarch of Taheri family

Locations

• Flea market

Dates

• 1985
  • May: Amir first talks to Soraya
  • Baba’s cancer

Themes/Motifs

• Tradition/ceremony

Plot

• Soraya becomes Amir’s yelda
• Baba warns about respecting pashtun tradition in courting Soraya
• Amir engages Soraya anyway
• Khanum is excited about Amir’s affections
• Soraya wants to be a teacher
• General Taheri rebuffs Amir
• Baba diagnosed with cancer, Oat Cell Carcinoma
• Baba collapses at the flea market
• Afghans assemble at hospital
• Amir decides to wed Soraya
• Baba and the general discuss and agree
• Soraya confesses her secret past

Other Notes

• Yelda, the longest night of the year

Characters

• General Iqbal Teheri
  • Decorated Afghani General who worked for Ministry of Defense
• Mrs. Dobbins
  • Welfare eligibility officer
• Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen
  • Own a market where Baba loses his temper
• Soraya Teheri
  • Sickle Shaped birthmark
  • daughter of General Teheri

Locations

• Bay Area
• Fremont, CA
• Lake Elizabeth Park, Fremont
  • Baba and Amir spend time walking through this park
• Shor Bazaar, Peshawar
  • Baba used to walk down its aisles

Dates

• 1980s
  • Amir and Baba try to adjust to life in America
• 1983
  • Baba angered in the Nguyen’s market
  • Summer: Amir graduates from highschool at age 20
• 1984
  • Amir and Baba start selling at swap meets

Themes/Motifs

• Baba’s virtue, strength

Plot

• Amir and Baba adjust to life in America
• Baba works as a Day manager of a gasoline station
• Amir graduates high school and decides to go to school for English
• Amir enrolls in junior college
• Amir sees Soraya at swap meet

Thoughts

One of the more interesting parts of this chapter is the plight of refugees who used to be professionals in their countries. People who were military officers, doctors, professors in their home countries are reduced to working menial jobs. Since I am the child of refugees, this is not a unknown idea, but may be surprising to other Americans.

Characters

• Jalaluddin
  • Baba’s 7th servant in five years
• Kamal
  • Raped by soldiers
• Kamal’s father
• Kamal’s mother
  • Killed by stray bullet
• Karim
  • People smuggler
  • Drives the truck used to escape Kabul
• Russian officer “Mister Soldier Sahib”
  • Demands sex for passage
• Toor
  • Karim’s brother
  • Also a people smuggler
• Young mother
  • Russian soldier demands sex from her
  • She stops Baba from strangling Karim

Locations

• Jalalabad
  • Baba and Amir travel here on the way to Pakistan
  • Afghan winter vacation spot
• Kabul
  • Occupied by Shorawi
• Khyber Pass
  • Leads to Peshawar
• Mahipar Falls “Flying Fish Falls”
• Peshawar
• Pakistan
• Poleh-charkhi
  • Communist Dungeons

Dates

• 1967
  • Germany builds hydro plant at Mahipar Falls
• 1981
  • March: Baba and Amir leave Kabul

Themes/Motifs

• Childhood with Hassan
• Baba’s strength and virtue

Plot

• Baba and Amir escape Kabul
• Russian soldier demands woman
• Baba stands up to him
• Second Russian officer stops Russian soldier
• Arriving in Jalalabad, they find no passage available to Pakistan
• They meet Kamal and his father
• Take fuel truck to Pakistan
• Kamal’s father commits suicide after Kamal dies

Thoughts

Amir retreats to memories of his childhood with Hassan for an escape.

Other Notes

• Rafiqs – comarades

Locations

• Hazarajat

Plot

• Amir frames Hassan
• Ali and Hassan leave for Hazarajat

Thoughts

Amir is sorry for what he has done but cannot take it back now. He is ashamed of his actions and cannot leave his home. He can only force Hassan out in an attempt to remove the nightmares. This will most likely not work. Added to that is the jealousy he has for everything else his father loves. If his father had made more clear the relationship he felt with Ali and Hassan, maybe Amir would have been able to feel differently about Hassan. The class distinctions in Afghanistan play a huge part in the problem. While Hassan can treat Amir as loyally as a dog, Amir does not know how he should treat Hassan. He is a brother and yet not a brother.