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Amir's birth
In 1963 Amir is born, but his "mother died giving birth to [him]". (6). Amir is born, and already there is a problem in which his mother passes, leaving him without a mother in his childhood to take care of him. -
Hassan's birth
The year after Amir is born, Hassan loses "his [mother] less than a week after he [is] born". (6). Hassan has had the same fate as Amir, which shows how closely related they really are without knowing that they are brothers. -
Hassan stops Assef
right before Assef is about to hurt Amir, Hassan steps in and explains that if Assef "[makes] a move, they'll have to change [his] nickname from Assef 'the Ear Eater or to 'One-Eyed Assef." (42). Hassan is trying to imply that he will shoot Assef with his slingshot because he wants to appear more courageous and powerful than he is. -
Hassan gets a present
Hassan's had a cleft lip, and Amir's father decided to get plastic surgery for him, which got him to smile, but in "the winter [of 1975] Hassan stopped smiling". (47). This is trying to foreshadow what happens later on in the story by saying that something may go wrong. -
Hassan's rape
After the kite competition, Hassan is caught by Assef who rapes him to get revenge, while Amir "ran because [he] was a coward, [and he] was afraid of Assef and what he would do to [him]." (77). This moment is what starts the conflict, and Amir feels really guilty about leaving Hassan, which causes him to ignore Hassan any way he could. -
The Kite Competition
In the winter of 1975, Hassan and Amir attend a Kite flying competition, where Amir is "acknowledge[d for his] worthiness. Vindication. Salvation. [and] redemption." (67). This is what Amir envisions as he is congratulated, but when searching for Hassan, he realizes that something will happen to change his future. -
Hassan and Ali leave
After Amir asks Baba for new servants, Ali and Hassan decide to leave, and Amir feels like he'd "been slapped. [His] heart sank and [he] almost blurted out the truth." (105). Amir feels really guilty about doing what he did to get rid of Hassan, and this shows how Amir and Hassan are completely different in how they treat eachother. -
Background
In the beginning, Afghanistan was a very humble place, but a sudden war has caused everyone to think that "Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, has known little peace since 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded." (New York Times 1) -
Soviet Troops come in
Due to the Soviet Union feeling the need to start a war with Afghanistan, this led to "[t]he first troops parachut[ing] into Kabul on Dec, 27, 1979, to assist Babrak Karmal, who had become president in a coup within the Afghan Communist leadership. (New York Times 2) -
Period: to
Timespan
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Amir graduates high school
Amir and Baba leave their home and arrive in San Francisco, and "Baba loved the idea of America. It was living in America that gave him an ulcer." (125). Baba feels like he lost what he had in in his home country, so he is uncomfortable being in a new part of the world, where the people are very different. -
Amir Graduates
When Amir and Baba came to America, Amir went into high school, and he "graduated from high school at the age of twenty, by far the oldest senior tossing his mortarboard on the football field that day." (131). The moment shows how proud Baba is of Amir, and Amir's opportunity to do something in the western world. -
Amir marries Soraya
Amir and Soraya have been together for a while, and they finally decide to get married, but Amir believes that "there [are] many ways in which Soraya Taheri [is] a better person than [him]. Courage was just one of them." (165). Soraya explains her past life with another man, and Amir thinks about how honest Soraya was. Amir does not tell her about what he had done, and does not tell her because of his lack of courage. -
Baba dies
About a month after Amir and Soraya's wedding, there is a moment at midnight in which Baba wants to be put to bed, so Soraya "pulled up his blanket. Closed the door, and Baba never woke up." (171). Amir says his final goodbyes without knowing that his father would pass away, and he loses his only parent that he has left, which causes him to think deeply about himself without Baba. -
Soviet Troops leave
The Soviet Union decided to stop the war, and "[e]ventually, after peace talks moderated by the United Nations, the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in February 1989." (New York Times 2) -
Sohrab is born
It was the winter of 1990, and Hassan and his wife, Farzana, have their child together, and "they named him Sohrab, after Hassan's favorite hero from the Shahnamah." (211). Amir finds out about Hassan's son, and it also shows how much Sanaubar had changed from when she birthed Hassan. -
The Taliban Takeover
The Taliban began as a small group, which led to "student movement dedicated to purifying the country, based in the southeast, the home of the dominant ethnic group, the Pashtun." (New York Times 2) -
Taking control of Afghanistan
The Taliban was very powerful once it reached its many members, so they were able to "[take] control of Afghanistan, imposing strict enforcement of fundamentalist Islamic law, banning movies and music and forcing women out of schools and into all-enveloping burqa clothing." (New York Times 3) -
Amir finds out about his brother
Rahim Khan has a conversation with Amir and explains that Baba had made Hassan with Suanabar, and Amir "[learned] that Baba had been a thief. And a thief of the worst kind." (225). Amir realizes that Hassan is his brother, and that Baba has lied to him up until his death showing that Baba was very similar to Amir, when talking about how much courage they have. -
Rahim calls Amir
Amir gets a call from Hassan to tell him to come over so he can atone for what he had done, and Amir's "suspicions had been right all those years. [Rahim] knew about Assef, the kite, the money, the watch with the lightning bolt hands. He had always known." (192). The event triggers something in Amir's mind because he has always felt guilty for what he had done, and he feels as this is the last option he has to atone for what he did. -
The 9/11 attacks
The Taliban were very ruthless, which was shown when they destroyed the Buddha statues at Bamiyan, so "after the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush gave the Taliban an ultimatum to hand over Mr. Bin Laden." (New York Times 3) -
Sohrab's smile
While Amir, Soraya, and Sohrab are out one day they see many people kite flying, so Amir wants to fly it with Sohrab and when he "[looks] down at Sohrab. One corner of his mouth had curled up just so. A smile. Lopsided. Hardly there. But there." (370-371). Amir is filled with joy just like in his childhood with Hassan, while Sohrab also has this feeling, but for the first time. -
The Karzai Government
A man by the name of Hamid Karzai was elected president of Afghanistan in 2004, but the "Afghan population blamed him for the manifest lack of economic progress and the corrupt officials who seem to stand at every doorway of his government." (New York Times 3) -
The Taliban fights back
President George W. Bush fought back against the Taliban and won the fight, but in response, "the Taliban continued to wage a guerrilla warfare from a base in the mountainous and largely lawless tribal area on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border." (New York times 3) -
The beginning of Obama's war
After years of war, there was not a big difference compared to when it started, so "Mr. Obama's plan to widen United States involvement in Afghanistan [which] was shaped by a debate in which Vice President Biden warned against getting into a political and military quagmire [started]." (New York Times 4) -
Obama's future plan
After 3 years of war, Obama decided that he wanted "the United States [to] have forces in the country until at least the end of 2014" (New York Times 4)