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Amir writes his first story
Amir gave Hassan a sample of his own writing and Hassan loved it, so that night Amir wrote his first story about, "a man who found a magic cup and learned that if he wept into the cup, his tears turned into pearls" (31). Hassan helped Amir find his calling in life and his love of writing. This causes Amir to feel like he owes even more of his lifelong happiness to Hassan and later make Amir feel even more guilty about not helping Hassan out. -
Amir wins the kite fighting competition
Amir won the kite fighting competition and suddenly it seemed to him that, "everything was color and sound, everything was alive and good" (66). It felt this way to him because he knew that winning would earn him respect and acceptance among his friends and from Baba. Amir cared a lot about approval from the people in his life so winning the kite fight was a big boost to his confidence and his ego. This was a really great thing because Amir really was yearning for some admiration from Baba. -
Hassan gets violated by Assef
Assef, Kamal, Wali, and Hassan were all in an alleyway and Assef decided to violate Hassan in order to teach him a lesson that he 'deserved'. Assef told Wali and Kamal to, "hold him down" as Assef took advantage of him (74). Amir saw this but didn't do anything and the fact that he pretended not to see it really demonstrated how poor his morals were. This experience would become something that haunts both Amir and Hassan for the rest of their lives. -
Hassan and Ali leave Amir and Baba
Eventually Amir felt so guilty about not saying anything when Hassan got raped that it became hard for him to even live with Hassan. This drove Amir to frame Hassan; he went into the servant hut, "lifted Hassan's mattress and planted my [his] new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it" (104). Amir was so desperate to relieve himself of guilt that he thoroughly betrayed the one person who loved him unconditionally. This just really demonstrateed how badly Amir's shame was killing him. -
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History of Afghanistan
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Soviet Union Invades
The chaos in Afghanistan started in 1979 "when the Soviet Union invaded" (1). -
Amir and Baba arrive in America
When Amir and Baba first got to America, Baba had a hard time adjusting to the new lifestyle. Life in America was very different from life in Afghanistan and, "the Bay Area's smog stung his eyes, the traffic noise gave him headaches, and the pollen made him cough" (126). The atmosphere in America was clearly very different than Afghanistan in terms of the city's noise and pollution levels. This caused a difficult transition for Amir and Baba in terms of how they conducted their day to day lives. -
Amir meets Soraya
When Amir first meets Soraya he is blown away by her. He described her as, "a slim-hipped beauty with velvety coal black hair" (140). Amir knew right away that Soraya was the woman that he was going to marry. He was immediatley taken with her and always would get nervous when she was around. This is important because it demonstrates that the love he had for her was true and genuine. -
Baba gets sick
After being in America for a small amount of time, Baba began to develop a sickness. He would, "hack into his handkerchief, stow it in his pocket" (153). Baba would stow away his handkerchief in order to conceal the fact that he was coughing up blood. He wanted to hide this from Amir so that Amir wouldn't worry about him but Amir only became more distressed when he found out that Baba had been hiding his illness. -
Baba dies
Baba ended up dying from his cancer and Amir described his death by saying, "Baba never woke up" ( 173). Amir was very upset by Baba's death because he looked up to Baba as a rolemodel. Baba had always been a very powerful force in his life, making a big difference and impact on the lives of everyone he met, so it was devastating for Amir to see Baba so weak to the point where he simply could not go on. -
Last Soviet troops left
In Februrary 1989, "the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan" (2). -
Power was divided up unevenly
When Soviet troops left, there was no government system in place so "power was anarchically divided among competing warlords and individula fiefdoms" (2). -
Taliban gains power
Mullah Omar was the leader of the Taliban group and "by the end of 1994 Mullah Omar had nearly 12,000 followers" (2). -
Taliban supports Osama Bin Laden
The Taliban also supported Bin Laden, the leader of Al Queda, "who arrived by chartered jet and Jalalabad Airport in May 1996" (3). -
Taliban has control of Afghanistan
By 1996, the Taliban "had taken control of Afghanistan" (3). -
Amir decides to go back to Afghanistan
Amir got a letter from Rahim Kahn telling him to come back to Afghanistan and a week later Amir, "sat on a window seat aboard a Pakistani International Airlines flight" (194). Amir didn't have any desire to return to his homeland because he felt that doing so would bring up all the feelings of regret and guilt from his troubled past. The reason Amir ended up going was because he knew that if he went, he would be given the oppertunity to set things right and atone for his sins. -
Amir discovers that Hassan is his half brother
When Amir goes back to Afghanistan, Rahim Kahn tells him that Baba was Hassan's father and in turn, Hassan was Amir's half brother. When Amir asks why no one told him or Hassan, Rahim replyed that, "it was a shameful situation. People would talk" (223). Rahim was explaining to Amir that it would not have been okay for people to know about Baba being the father of a Hazara and this did make sense, but not to Amir. Amir only saw it as Baba keeping a secret from himself and Hassan. -
Amir meets Sohrab
Amir first meets Sohrab in the Taliban house because he is a Taliban slave. Amir thinks that Sohrab looks a lot like Hassan, saying that "the resemblance was breathtaking. Disorienting" (279). It was very hard for Amir to meet Sohrab because he looked so much like Hassan. Seeing a carbon copy of Hassan probably brought back many feelings of guilt and regret because he hadn't seen Hassan in so very long. -
Amir discovers Assef is in the Taliban
When Amir goes to retrieve Sohrab, he discovers that Assef is the Taliban soilder. The realization hit him that the soilder was Assef when he said, "I heard your father died. Tsk-tsk. I always did want to take him on. Looks like I'll have to settle for his weakling of a son" (281). Amir was in a state of shock when he figured this out because he just never expected to have another encounter with Assef. The fact that the man was Assef gave Amir a perfect chance to truely atone for his sins. -
Sohrab attempts suicide
Amir was under the impression that he was going to have to take Sohrab back to the orphanege in order to adopt him but Sohrab couldn't bear to go back. Sohrab went to take a bath and then Amir found Sohrab with his, "left arm dangling over the side of the tub, the blood-soaked razor sitting on the toilet tank" (347-348). This was scary for Amir because he had no idea Sohrab was even contemplating suicide. Sohrab just couldn't deal with going back to the place that caused him so much pain. -
Amir and Sohrab return to America
When Amir brought Sohrab back to Soraya, she greeted him with enthusiasm and love but he didn't return it. Soraya told Sohrab how much she had been anticipating his arrival and in return he, "shifted on his feet and looked away" (358). This was a big blow for Soraya because she was so excited and ready to have a child of her own and Sohrab didn't live up to the expectation at all. Sohrab was added to Amir and Soraya's family but never really joined it the way that they wanted him to. -
USA government gets involved
The united states government felt the need to get involved "[a]fter the attack on the World Tade Center in New York" (3). -
Sohrab begins to warm up to Amir and Soraya
Amir, Soraya, and Sohrab are at a picnic and some people are flying kites. Amir shows Sohrab how to fly the kite and he cuts down another kite. People started clapping and when Amir looked at Sohrab, "one corner of his mouth had curled up just so. A smile" (370). This was a huge step for Amir and Sohrab because Amir had not seen Sohrab happy for such a long time. Just this miniscule gesture represented a huge jump in the right direction for the progress of Amir's relationship with Sohrab. -
Afghanistan gets new government