The Kite Runner  Summery and Commentary of Chapters By Alice Murch

Chapter 14 We flash-forward 10 years to where Amir is reflecting bitterly on his childless marriage. He sometime thinks that love making, while “still good” is “futile”. Some readers may question Amir’s very traditional view of marriage and lovemaking as being primarily concerned with pro-creation. Rahim’s phone call to Amir in which Amir is presented with an opportunity to atone his past sins. The call ends with Rahim Khan saying “Come. There is a way to be good again.” This surprise phone call is a hint of a challenge for Amir and a pointer that we are about to move into the final phase of Amir’s moral quest: his redemption. This is reinforced by the dream, in which he hears Hassan uttering those words of loyalty on the fateful day of the tournament. These words haunt Amir and underpin a moral duty to repay Hassan’s loyalty. Amir thinks about Amir’s words as he watches a pair of kites which no doubt reminds him of Hassan and the guilt he feels for his actions. He realises that Rahim must know about “Assef, the kite, the money and the watch...”

Chapter 15 A key event in this chapter is Amir’s meeting with Rahim. Amir arrives to be greeted by “a thing made of skin and bones pretending to be Rahim Khan.” Rahim coveys several bits of bad news to Amir: -The alliance has been destroyed along with other buildings and Baba’s orphanage, killing many of the children. -Rahim is dying - The story of what happened to Hassan Amir’s desire to take Rahim “home” to find “a good docter” reveals a typically “American” optimism in the possibility of scientific miracles, while Rahim’s pragmatism underpins a characteristically eastern acceptance of “God’s will”

Chapter 16 Rahim Khan tells the story of what happened to Hassan to Amir and how he dies at the old house. Hassan stayed in the servant quarters even though Amir and Baba weren’t there. He was a loyal servant till the end.

Chapter 17 Hassan taught Sohrab to read and write, saying he would grow up unlike his father. Hassan left Amir a letter saying if he ever comes back to Kabul the will be “an old, faithful friend waiting”. This shows his unwavering loyalty despite Amir’s betrayal. He is even shot dead when he is ordered to leave Baba’s house. Amir is presented with his greatest challenge by Rahim Khan when he asks him to redeem himself by rescuing Hassan’s son In the end it is the brotherhood between Hassan Amir that persuades Amir to rescue Sohrab.

Chapter 18 Amir thinks about Baba and Hassan. He reflects that he and Baba are both sinners “like father, like son”. He sees that they both share a moral weakness Amir realises that Baba has been right about one thing: that in order to grow up, he will need to start “doing his own fighting” This chapter is the key turning point in the novel as Amir finally faces up to his moral responsibilities. Amir is not only redeeming himself but his father too and taking on his role as the “hero”. Amir earns the right to be admired by the reader finally.

Chapter 19 There is evidence that Taliban control is everywhere as Amir is forced to wear traditional attire. Amir’s nationality is challenged as he reveals how far he is from understanding the “real Afghanistan” Amir’s “vision” of Hassan “kneeling on the street” with “blood” on his pants is a graphic representation of his enduring sense of guilt

Chapter 20 Amir arrives in Kabul. The Taliban are portrayed as brutally violent and corrupt, abusing their power for personal gain. Amir goes to the orphanage to find Sohrab. Things are so bad that Zaman reveals that he is forced to accept “filthy money” he receives as “payment” for a child, in order to buy food for the others who Zaman describes as “the lucky ones”. He also reveals that Sohrab was taken a month ago. The implied rape of innocent children recalls the earlier rape of Hassan by thug, Assef.

Chapter 21 Amir visits his childhood home. He is filled with painful memories. Farid advises “Nothing that you remember has survived. Best to forget” to which Amir replies “I don’t want to forget anymore.” As instucted Amir goes to the Ghazi stadium and witnesses an execution. This makes a striking point about the horrors of any kind of extremism. Farid manages to arrange a meeting with “the man in white”

Chapter 22 Fadrid drives Amir to his apointment and waits in the car Amir meets “the Talib”. The Talib rips Amir’s false bead from his face and laughs. He also enthusiastically recounts the joys of “liberation” describing an orgy of shooting men and boys (the massacre of Mazar) “infront of their families” as doing “God’s work”.

Amir shockingly discovers that the Talib is the childhood bully, Assef. This has a dramatic impact on the reader as this is already a point of high anxiety in the narrative. Assef is presented as the arch-vilain as he is associated with Hitler. The Taliban ethnic cleansing is implicitly connected with Hitler’s genocide Assef challenges Amir to a fight over some “unfinished business”. The bloody fight is recounted as a series of images and memories. Amir remembers laughing

Chapter 23 Amir treated in hospital “The impact had split your upper lip in two...Like a harelip.” This connects Amir and Hassan making them (symbolically) physically simular. Amir has finally become an adult “symbolically” replacing his dead father and atoning for his sins.

Chapter 24 Amir is grateful for Farid’s help. Friendship and mutual respect has developed between the men. Sohrab feels he has sinned. Amir convinces his he has not and that he will not be punished. Will God punish me in hell for what I did to that man”.

Chapter 25 Amir visits Sohrab. When the child eventually speaks it is to say “I want my old life back” and to tell Amir that he wishes he had been left “in the water” to die. Having repaid his debt to Hassan by rescuing his son, Amir is still not at peace with himself. He beggs forgiveness, of the child, he turns to God. His sudden need for God however is understandable given the grief he is experiencing. The “conversion” indicates a change of heart and suffering.

Sohrab arrives in America, he passively accepts whatever is offered but remains silent. General Taheri comes over for dinner with his wife, he asks “why is a Hazara boy living with my daughter”. Amir explains that he is “never again” in Amir’s presence to refer to Sohrab as a “Hazara boy”