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The adoption of Ali
When Ali's parents were killed in a car accident, Baba's father adopted him so, in effect "Ali and Baba grew up together as childhood playmates" (25). This situation was very similar to that of Amir and Hassan. They spent their early years with a friend that was a Hazara servant but, in general respected each other fairly appropriately. This special bond made it especially hard on Baba when Ali and Hassan moved out. -
Baba's orphanage contruction.
Baba showed the characteristics of being a motivating and powerful man when "in the late 1960s, Baba decided to build an orphanage" (13). This was an interesting moment in the book because it showed a lot about Baba and how he compared to his son. Baba was a man of acheivement, while, up to this point, Amir had been a dissapointment to his father because he was much more fragile and never stood up for himself or anything he believed in. -
Hassan's harelip surgery
When Hassan recieved his harelip surgery for his birthday, Amir admitted, "I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget Baba's sympathy" (46). Baba showed how much he cared for Hassan by giving him a valuable and kind gift htta would fix his birth abnormality. Amir was jealous of Hassan because Baba had never given him such a thoughtful gift. Little did Amir know, Baba was giving a gift to one his sons and trying to make up for the little amount of love that he could give Hassan. -
Victory at the Kite Competition
When Amir won the kite flying tournament, he was overjoyed and added, "and that right there was the single greatest moment of my twelve years of life, seeing Baba on that roof, proud of me at last" (66). Baba had never before been pleased by one of Amir' actions, but this was a large turnig point in their relationship as father and son. This is especially important because, on this same day, Hassan was violated in that alley-way. This day was on of the most important events in Amir's life -
Hassan's violation
While Amir was watcing Hassan be violated he thougt to himself, "I had one last chance to make a decison. One final opportunity to deciide who I was going to be" (77). He knew that it was the right thing to do was to stand up for his friend; however, he could not make himself do this. Intead, he got up and ran away like the coward he would be for the mojority of his life. This even greatly impacted the way Amir looked at himslef and the way he treated Hassan. -
Amir asks for new servants
Amir asked, "Baba, have you ever thought about getting new servants?" (89). Because the situation with Hassan's violation on the day of the kite tournament was so awkward, Amir looked for a way to get Hassan to move away, hoping that it would help him with managing his guilt. This question made Baba furious and very emotional bacause both Ali and Hassan very very important people to him. Baba stated that he was very dissapointed and that it dishonered him by asking such a rediculoous question. -
Ali and Hassan leave Amir and Baba
Ali walked in and annouced, "we are leaving, Agha sahib. Life is impossible for us now" (106). In this moment, Amir realizes that Hassan had told his father about the inccident in the alley. It was an obvious solution for them to leave because this event was causing the families to become detached and uncomfotable. -
First Soviet Troops Land in Afghanistan
The war began when "the first Soviet troops parachuted into Kabul on Dec. 27, 1997" (NYT). -
Amir and Baba leave Kabul
Because Kabul was too dangerous with the soviet invasion they had to leave and Amir said, "my innards had been roiling since we'd left Kabul just after two in the morning" (110). Baba always found Amir's motion sickness as a weakeness and was embarrassed by the way he was reacting in front of the other traveler's. At this moment, not only the car moving over the harsh terrrain of Afghanistan made him sick. He was also scared for what would come from their escape and if they would be safe. -
Baba stands up for the woman from the Russian soldier
Baba snaps at Karim, "tell him I'll take a thousand bullets before I let this indecency take place" (116). Here Baba again shows how he is man who is willing to stand up for what he feels is right. He would not allow the woman to be taken. This frightens Amir, but Baba pushes him off and dislpays to his son that this is what a "real" man would do in a situation like this. He was not to sulk and run away. -
Baba and Amir arriv in America
Once they were settled, Amir admited, "Baba loved the idea of America. It was living in America that gave him an ulcer" (125). Amir expressed his fathers feeeling about being in America. His father was alwyas a man of Afghanistan and always planned to retuen when the war ended, making this adjustment much more difficult. The culture and lifestyle was very different and caused a lot of stress in Baba's way of living such as finding a job and common interacions with other civilians. -
Amir graduates high school
After a couple years in America, Amir "graduated from high school at the age of twenty" (131). Baba was very proud of his son for accomplishing something that, in his eyes, would have a purpose. Baba expressed his feelings of wantinghis son to go to college to become somthing big such as a doctor or lawyer, but Amir said his true passion was to write fiction. He told his father that he was going to a comunity collge to study literature. Baba, felt that this was not going to make him successful. -
Baba's death
At Baba's funeral, Amir shared many of his emotions and said, "soon we'd leave too, and for the first time ever, Baba would be all alone" (176). Baba was a man who enjoyed having the company of friends and family and having fun at parties and other gatherings. After his death, Amir found it difficult to handle and to leave his father because in the resent years, they had finally becoame close and created a strong relationship. -
Soviet Troops Leave Afghanistan
The war ended when "the last Societ troops left Afghanistan in Feburary 1989" and "15,000 lives" were taken (NYT). -
Mullah Omar Expansion
Controlling the warlords from north to east, "Mullah Omar had nearly 12,000 followers" by 1994 (NYT). -
Taliban Takes Control of Afghanistan
The Taliban leaders "impos[ed] strict enforcements of fundamentalist Islamic law" (NYT). -
Amir find out that Hassan was his half-brother
When Rahim Khan told him about Hassan, Amir felt betrayed and yelled "All of you, you bunch of lying bastads!" (222). Being mislead his entire life about his identity, Amir felt that he was lied to. He felt let down that his father, who believed lying, cualifying as theif, was the only true sin in life, would lie to him about his half-brother that he lived and grew up with all those years. -
Ramid Khan calls
When Ramid Khan called, he said, "There is a way to be good again" (2). This momenet is when Amir realized that Ramid Khan had known what he had done in the alley that day in the winter when he watched his friend get raped. Trying to help, and as a friend, he invites Amir to come and visit him in Afghanista so that he could atone for what he did when he was a child. -
Attack of the World Trade Center
The United States government was enraged "after the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001" when "President George W. Bush gave the Taliban an untimatum to hand over Mr. bin Laden" (NYT). -
Karzai Government
As one of the relatives of Mohammad Zahir Shah, "Hamid Karzai... was named chairman of an interim government that replaced the defeated Taliban" (NYT). -
Amir's final atonement
At tha parkk in San Francisco, Amir goes to run the kite for Sohrab and announces, "For you, a thousand times over" (371). Hassan said the very same thing to Amir on that winter day in 1975. Ironically, this concluded his atonement for all he had done to Hassan. Amir went to great leangths to rescue Sohrab from Afghanistan and taken him to America to live a safe life with him and his wife. This helped him make emends with himself and Hassan who he felt guilty for all of those years. -
General Patraeus Takes Control
In October 2008, "General Petraeus, the Iraq commander who received much of the credit for the success of the surge there, had taken charge of the Unted States Central Command" (NYT). -
Speech at West Point
On December 1, 2009, "Mr. Obama announced his plan to deploy 30,000 additional trooops" into Afghanistan (NYT). -
Removal of General McChrystal
After only a couple years, "President Obama removed Gen. McChrystal after contemptuous qoutes from the general and his staff" (NYT). -
Plan to begin withdrawing
Initially, the government predicted to start "withdrawing from Afghnistan in the summer of 2011" (NYT). -
US forces stay in Afghanistan
President Obama announced, "the United States will have forces in the country until at least the end of 2014" (NYT).