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Amir and Hassan are born
In the neighborhood of Wazir Akbar Khan, a big house lies and in the back of that house holds a "little shack, that Hassan was born in the winter of 1964, just one year after [Amir's] mother died giving birth to [Amir]" (Hosseini 6). Birth is a very important event that jumpstarts all of Amir's conflicts and is really the beginning of the storyline. This quote also shows how close Amir and Hassan are and will be, by just the location of their births. -
Amir shows his writing to his father and Rahim Khan
After Amir reads a story to Hassan, Amir decides to write his own real story. When Amir announces the news, "Baba nod[s] and ... convey[s] little more than feigned interest ... didn't offer to read ... It was Rahim Khan who [rescued me and] held out his hand" (Hosseini 31). This moment supports how Baba lives life: conflicted. While he does try to act as the best father as he can, he really can't (the reason will be clarified later in the story). That's when Rahim shows his father ship to Amir. -
Hassan displays his loyalty towards Amir
Amir and Hassan are threatened by Assef and his gang, and suddenly "Assef rais[es] his fist and [goes] for [Amir] ... [Amir] turn[s] and [comes] face to face with Hassan's slingshot ... 'leave us alone' Hassan sa[ys] in a flat tone" (Hosseini 42). Hassan saves Amir without any hesitation, which reflects his loyalty as a friend and servant to Amir. However, Amir, later on, does not show the same amount of loyalty towards Hassan, which is the main conflict of the story. -
Hassan gets surgery for lips
On Hassan's eleventh birthday, Baba "summon[s] Dr. Kumar from New Delhi ... to fix things on [Hassan's] ... face" (Hosseini 45). The present Hassan gets is quite large in contrast to the pen Amir got for graduating college. This shows how Baba tries to make both Amir and Hassan equal as both his sons, even when on the outside it doesn't seem like it. However, this present is a waste because as seen later in the story, this smile is wasted. -
Hassan's last smile (for a long time)
After Hassan and Amir win the kite tournament, Hassan goes to run the kite, but before he goes, he "smile[s] his Hassan smile [for the last time until 26 years later]" (Hosseini 67). However, while Amir thinks it is a "happily ever after" for him and his father (Hosseini 67), Amir doesn't realize that what he does soon will change his world forever. This event leads to the main conflict of the story: Hassan and gaining back redemption. However, it is unclear if Amir ever really gets redemption. -
Hassan gets raped, Amir runs
After Hassan runs the defeated kite, Assef and his gang rape Hassan as revenge for calling Assef "one-eyed." Amir watches this, and does nothing to stop it, instead he "[runs] because [he is] a coward ... afraid of Assef ... afraid of getting hurt" (Hosseini 77). This displays Amir's selfish personality because while Hassan saved Amir, Amir does not do the same. This also demonstrates Amir and Hassan's broken friendship. -
Period: to
History of Afghanistan
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Hassan still displays loyalty even after being abandoned by Amir
Amir takes Hassan to their sacred tree to read a story. However, instead of reading the story, Amir throws pomegranates at Hassan in an attempt to make Amir feel better of himself after the rape. When Hassan doesn't throw pomegranates back and "crushe[s] it against his own forehead" Amir responds "'You're a coward!'" (Hosseini 93). Even after Amir betrays him, Hassan is still loyal. Their friendship is broken now, and Amir is going nowhere to fix it. This is the main conflict: redemption. -
Hassan and Ali leave Baba's home
When Amir plants his gifts as if Hassan stole them, Hassan confesses everything that has happened to him to Ali, encouraging their decision to leave. When they announce this, Baba yells, "'I forbid you to do this' and then "he crie[s] ... a grown man sob[bing]" (Hosseini 107). Baba truly needed them. They were his family and Amir was a son of disappointment. This displays Baba's anxious and desperate personality. -
Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
On Dec. 25 of 1979, the Soviet Union "invades and props up communist government" jumpstarting the Soviet-Afghan War that lasted ten years ("Afghanistan Profile - Timeline"). -
Amir graduates high school and Baba is proud
After moving to America, Amir goes back to school and "graduat[es] from high school at the age of twenty" (Hosseini 131). At the graduation, Baba "gave [Amir's] brow a single kiss" saying he is proud, "with his eyes gleaming" (Hosseini 131). This is the moment Amir has always been waiting for; his dad to be proud. All Amir's life he has been fighting for Baba's attention and now he has it: in America, where Baba can forget the guilt of Hassan and Ali. -
Soraya and Amir marry, she spills her secret
After Soraya's father accepts Amir's hand, she tells him a secret that might change his idea of her, but doesn't. After Soraya relieves this pressure, Amir "envi[es] her ... Spoken. Dealt with ... [she is] a better person than me. Courage was one of them" (Hosseini 165). Amir still lives with guilt even twenty plus years later. While Soraya is able to push past her mistakes, Amir with his hard personality cannot come to terms with himself. -
Baba dies
The night Soraya and Baba talk about Amir's writing, Baba says there is no need for morphine because "'there is no pain tonight'" (Hosseini 173). Baba finally comes to terms with his son and his other forbidden one. He learns to get past his mistakes and forgive himself and finally atone. He accepts Amir and is at peace, at last. -
Peace Accords between Soviet Union, Afghanistan, Pakistan, US
After long years of war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan, as well as supporting forces from Pakistan and the US, the four countries "sign peace accords and Soviet Union begins pulling out troops" ("Afghanistan profile - Timeline"). -
Sohrab is born, Sanaubar changes
After Farzana and Hassan marry, they have a child which Hassan's mother, Sanaubar delivers. She was a very different person back then, but now had "sewed clothes for him, built him toys ... she stayed up all night ... the two of them were inseparable" (Hosseini 211). The character development that Sanaubar went through was extravagant. She had abandoned Hassan and ran off with a dance team, but had matured over the years and now was taking care of her own grandson. -
Drought adds fuel to the fire
To make matters worse after the Taliban Conquering, "continuing drought devastates farmers and makes many rural areas uninhabitable" (A Historical Timeline of Afghanistan"). -
Taliban conquer Kabul, also Najibullah is assassinated
The Taliban, also known as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, are Sunni Muslims, who "seize[d] control of Kabul and introduce[d] hard-line version of Islam, ban[ned] women from work, and introduc[ed] Islamic punishments, which include[d] stoning to death and amputations" ("Afghanistan profile - Timeline"). -
US launches missiles to target bin Laden
After Osama bin Laden, founder of Al-Qaeda, destroys two American sites in Africa, "President Clinton orders cruise missile attacks against bin Laden’s training camps in Afghanistan" ("A Historical Timeline of Afghanistan"). -
Amir finds out he has a brother
Once Amir goes back and sees Rahim Khan, Rahim Khan reveals to Amir that Baba had "stolen ... the right [for Amir] to know [he] had a brother" (Hosseini 225). Baba had once said that theft was the worst sin, but he himself had lied and stole many people of their belongings. This reveals Baba's personality, that even when he seems like a very generous, kind man, he is hiding lots of things from everyone else. -
Rahim Khan calls
After a peaceful life in America with Soraya, Rahim Khan calls and says "Come. There is a way to be good again" (Hosseini 192). This is Rahim Khan's way of saying that Amir can fix his mistakes and receive himself of the guilts he lives with everyday. At first, Amir was very reluctant, but after hearing Rahim Khan say this, Amir knows that this will be the solution to his lifelong problem. -
Assef gets revenge
When Amir finally finds Sohrab, he realizes that the captor is Assef, his old enemy. Assef gets revenge on Amir by punching Amir and kicking him; however, while "[Amir's] body was broken, ... [he] felt healed. Healed at last" (Hosseini 289). Amir finally atoned for his mistakes, and he was getting punished. The guilt he had been carrying for all his life, had been relieved by the punishments he had suffered from Assef. Amir knew he deserved this pain and was glad to take it. -
Twin Towers Fall
After many attacks and bombings between Al-Qaeda and the US, Al-Qaeda "[h]ijackers commandeer four commercial airplanes and crash them into the World Trade Center Towers in New York, the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., and a Pennsylvania field, killing thousands" ("A Historical Timeline of Afghanistan"). -
Northern Alliance enters Kabul
The Afghan Northern Alliance, which was also known as the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan, fought against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Finally after multiple weeks of war, "the Northern Alliance enters Kabul. The retreating Taliban flee southward toward Kandahar" ("A Historical Timeline of Afghanistan"). -
Taliban Government ends
After five years of rule, the Taliban "leaders surrender the group’s final Afghan territory, the province of Zabul. The move leads the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press to declare 'the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan has totally ended'" ("A Historical Timeline of Afghanistan"). -
Karzai made interim leader of Afghanistan
After getting rid of the Taliban, Afghanistan was in need of a leader, in which they, "sworn in [Hamid Karzai, a royalist and ethnic Pashtun] as the leader of the interim government in Afghanistan" ("A Historical Timeline of Afghanistan"). He was a very popular choice as he "already ha[d] the support of the United States and by the end of the conference [was] elected leader of the six-month government" ("A Historical Timeline of Afghanistan"). -
Osama bin Laden is killed
Finally past several years of war between the US, Taliban, al-Qaeda, and many other countries fighting in Afghanistan and other neighboring countries, "U.S. forces overtake a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and kill al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden" ("A Historical Timeline of Afghanistan").
