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Zahir Shah begins forty-year reign
Amir describes the year 1933 as, "the year Baba was born and the year Zahir Shah began his forty-year reign of Afghanistan" (Hosseini 24). Zahir started killing innocent Hazaras, and stereotyped them making them a lower social class for their religion. -
Hassan Cleft Lip
Hassan has his cleft lip fixed as a birthday present from Baba which would, "last forever" (Hosseini 46). On Hassan's birthday, Baba decides to present Hassan with plastic surgery to fix his lip as Hassan's "father" Ali does not have enough money to fix it himself. The significance of this is to represent the difference in social classes between a Hasara and Afgans as Baba being a higher social class has to step in and give Hassan plastic surgery. -
Amir and Hassan Win Kite Running Contest and Hassan gets raped
Amir wins the town kite competition and sends Hassan to get the winning kite. In doing so, Hassan gets cornered and raped by some local bullies. Assef (the bully), "put his hand on Hassan's hips and lifted his bare buttocks... He undid his own jeans and positioned himself behind Hassan." (Hosseini 75). Assef rapes Hassan because he feels he is of a different social class than him. All Amir can do is watch because he feels Hassan isn't worth putting himself at risk for. -
Ali and Hassan leave and go to Hazarajat
After Amir's 13th birthday, he hides money under Hassan's mattress accusing him of stealing. Baba confronts them, and Ali makes the decision to leave saying, "We are leaving... Life here is impossible for us now" (Hosseini 106). Ali decides to leave because he found out about Hassan's rape, and felt the tension between Amir and Hassan. Although Baba begs for Ali to stay, he leaves anyway for fear of Hassan's safety. -
Soviet Invasion
Afghanistan was an economically stable, prosperous and secular country until the Soviet Union invaded and, "the turmoil and extremist that have dominated its history since can be traced back to the 1979 invasion by the Soviet Union." https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BD5CY0peWsSTHdSaHF4dmhHR19yYnMwR0xucmMwd0tGU1A0/view -
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Soviet Union stay time in Afghanistan
In the winter of 1979, Russian forces invaded Afghanistan, "to assist Babrak Karmal, who had become president in a coup within the Afghan Communist leadership."
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BD5CY0peWsSTHdSaHF4dmhHR19yYnMwR0xucmMwd0tGU1A0/view
In this event, Soviet soldiers did not leave the country for 9 years. During this time period, the Soviet army lost a total of 15,000 lives fighting against the rebel groups throughout Afghanistan. -
Baba stands up to Russian soldier
Amir and Baba are on a truck out of Kabul when they get stopped by a Russian soldier who wants to rape one of the women in the truck. Baba being the brave person he says to the soldier when threatened, "tell him I'll talke a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place" (Hosseini 116). In this, Amir reflects upon his own unability to stand up to Assef unlike Baba who was able to stand up to the soldier. This showing how Amir and Baba differ. -
Amir and Baba leave Kabul
Because of all the Soviet soldiers who have invaded Afghan, Baba decides it's best to leave Kabul for the safety of both him and Amir, "just after two in the morning" (Hosseini 110). They must leave silent, early and undetected for fear of neighbors, servants, and people in their community who might turn them in. If caught trying to leave, you could face penalties of jail, or even death -
Amir graduates high school
Amir has finally graduated high school and earned himself a degree. As a reward for him graduating, Baba rewards him with, "an old model Ford, long and wide, and Navy Blue" (Hosseini 133). Baba being the proud father he is gifted him with the car as a reward for his accomplishments in academics. This is a sort of "turning point" in the novel as this is really the first time Baba treated him with kindness and respect as a son. -
Amir meets Soraya at the farmer market
Amir and Baba start selling things at the flea market where they meet the Taheri family and Soraya, Amir's future wife. The moment Amir meets Soraya he can't stop thinking about her, "lying awake in bed that night, I thought of Soraya Taheri and the way her luminous eyes had fleetingly held mine (Hosseini 142). Amir meets the love of his life, Soraya and he can't stop thinking about her. He loves her so much, he pursues after her in want of her being his wife. -
Amir and Soraya get married
From being a shy, timid boy who couldn't stand for himself to the man he is now, Amir finally found his soulmate, Soraya. During their wedding, Amir said to Soraya, " I whispered to her for the first time that I loved her" (171). Amir has finally found his wife, the person he will spend his life with. Although like him she has some issues with her past, Amir forgives her and tells her to move on looking to the future as he is. -
Baba's death
Baba had lung cancer for a while,and refused to take medication because he wanted to die on his own terms, so one night when Baba went to sleep, "He never woke up" (Hosseini 173). This quote shows Baba's strength and courage because he never wanted to lose his dignity or himself while he was fighting the cancer. Baba never wanted to give up and he wanted to give some of his strength to Amir before he died. -
Soviet Unions fight weakens and Afghanistan begins to rebel
The fight had a consequence of many lives taking 15,000 for a wasted cause, "After 1986, the Soviet Air Force was also was also rendered largely useless by advanced Stinger antiaircraft missiles supplied by the United States to the rebels" The fight had a consequence of many lives, and "After 1986, the Soviet Air Force was also was also rendered largely useless by advanced Stinger antiaircraft missiles supplied by the United States to the rebels" (New York Times). -
Anarchy established and Power distributed
With Afghanistan wrecked and still recovering from the devastation of the war, too much power was distributed among people, "Soviet forces departed, Afghanistan descended into vicious internecine strife; by the summer of 1994, power was anarchically divided among competing warlords and individual fiefdoms" https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-D5CY0peWsSTHdSaHF4dmhHR19yYnMwR0xucmMwd0tGU1A0/view -
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Talib Takeover
The taliban initially started as a student movement to cleanse Afghanistan and rid it of anything other than what is Pashtun. This began when a Pashtun named Mullah Omar and a group of other individuals decided to kill a group of warlords who had raped a girl. His group grew and, "by the end of 1994 he had nearly 12,000 followers." https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-D5CY0peWsSTHdSaHF4dmhHR19yYnMwR0xucmMwd0tGU1A0/view -
A way to be good again
After Amir has established a successful life in America, he gets a call from Rahim Khan telling him, "there's a way to be good again" (Hosseini 192). After making a name for himself in America, restarting his life and living off a clean slate, he gets this phone call bringing back his past and all that he left behind. Rahim Khan knows about the witness of a rape and wants Amir to come back to Afghanistan to rescue Hassan's son as a way of redeeming his past sins -
Hamid Karzai president of Afghanistan
In December 2001, a new president of Afghanistan hoping to restore Afghanistan rose up named hamid Karzai, he, "was named chairman of interim government that replaced the Taliban." https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-D5CY0peWsSTHdSaHF4dmhHR19yYnMwR0xucmMwd0tGU1A0/view -
Amir rescues Sohrab
After his fight with Assef, Amir, "took Sohrab's hand. It was small, the skin was dry and calloused." (Hosseini 286). After traveling far and long to find his nephew finally does it. Amir feels like his guilt of not doing anything when Hassan was raped was lifted off his chest so he could finally sleep at night. -
Amir fights Assef
To get to Sohrab, Amir and Assef fight, and while all this Amir says,"I don't know at what point I started laughing, but I did... What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace" (Hosseini 289). After so many years of guilt and regret, Amir finally feels at peace for his crimes. He sees this as a way of atoning and getting what he deserves. -
Sohrab tries to commit suicide
After Sohrab finds out the false lie that he will have to stay in an orphanage again, he tries to commit suicide where Amir finds, "a blood-soaked razor sitting on the toilet...and his eyes still half open but lightless" (Hosseini 348). Sohrab feels like it is hopeless and that he will never feel happiness so he tries to take his life, luckily he gets saved. Although in reality, Amir had plans to bring him to America where it is safe for him and he will be loved. -
Post 9/11
September 11, 2001, the day America changed. After the attack on the world trade center with the suicide terrorist hijackers, "President George W. Bush gave the Taliban an ultimatum to hand over Bin Laden... When they refused... An air and ground campaign drove them out by the end of the year" https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BD5CY0peWsSTHdSaHF4dmhHR19yYnMwR0xucmMwd0tGU1A0/view -
Attack on world trade center
The U.S. was forced to respond immediately, "after the Sept. 11 attacks by Al Qaeda" (NYT). -
Sohrab finally smiles
Towards the end of the book, Amir and Sohrab finally bond by flying kites together at an Afghan gathering on a field. While flying the kites, Amir says to Sohrab, "for you a thousand times over" (Hosseini 371). This quote by him signifies his love for Sohrab saying he'd do anything for him, saying to him what Hassan said to him all those years back. By saying this, it represents the repentance for what he did to Hassan all those years back. -
Amir stands up for Sohrab to The General
After Amir and Sohrab come home to America, they invite the Taheri's over where the general refers to Sohrab as a "Hazara boy"
(Hosseini 360). Amir then confronts him saying, "You will never again refer to him as 'Hazara boy' in my presence (Hosseini 361). This showing how Amir is making up for not being able to stand up for Hassan so he instead atones for that standing up for Sohrab. -
Obama plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan
Barack Obama announced that the U.S. will begin withdrawing some of the troops of Afghanistan by the end of 2011, but, "the Obama Administration changed its tone to increasingly emphasize the idea the U.S. will have troops in the country until 2014" https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-D5CY0peWsSTHdSaHF4dmhHR19yYnMwR0xucmMwd0tGU1A0/view