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Hassan is born
Hassan was born, and the narrator states, "It was in that small shack that Hassan's mother, Sanaubar, gave birth to him one cold winter day in 1964."(6). Since Ali lived in the same house as Baba, Hassan was born in the shack in the backyard of the house. The the fact that Baba and Ali lived for so long together, demonstrates how close Amir and Hassan are. -
Baba makes an orphanage
When Amir was around the age of 5 or 6, "Baba decided to build and orphanage" (13). When Baba surprised everyone with his success, he was very respected. This impacted Amir's performance by people always having high expectations for him since his father was superior. -
Assef bullies Hassan and Amir
Assef threatens to beat up Amir with his brass knuckles, but Hassan stops him by holding "a slingshot pointed directly at Assef's face" (Hosseini 42). Hassan stands up for both himself and Amir, but Assef vows to get revenge. Amir is dependent on Hassan to save him, but he does not say that Hassan is his friend. -
Hassan's lip surgery
Baba gets Hassan harelip surgery for is birthday. For some reason, Amir gets jealous saying,"It wasn't fair. Hassan hadn't done anything to earn Baba's affections; he's just been born with that stupid harelip."(46). This shows how jealous Amir is of Baba's affection for Hassan. If Baba had been nicer, maybe Amir wouldn't have needed that kite so bad and have helped Hassan. -
Hassan gets raped
After Hassans rape, Amir thinks, "I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan ... or I could run. In the end I ran" (Hosseini 77). This example demonstrates the moral pillar or harm, for it shows how Amir being a bystander has harmed Hassan in terrible ways. This is significant, for it proves that although Hassan would do anything for Amir, to Amir Hassan "is just a Hazara". -
Ali and Hassan leave
After Amir planted a watch and money under Hassan's matters, he thought to himself, "Then I saw Baba do something I had never seen him do before: He cried. It scared me a little, seeing a grown man sob (Hosseini 107). Baba's character was truly exposed when his true feelings were shown for Hassan and Ali. Clearly, loosing loved ones is one of Baba's weakness's; therefore, it was only reasonable for Baba to be crushed when Hassan and Ali declared they were leaving. -
Soviet Union Invasion
On December 27, 1979 "The first Soviet troops parachuted into Kabul". (NYT) -
Amir and Baba moves to America
When Amir and Baba moved to America, Amir states, "For me, America was a place to bury my memories. For Baba, a place to mourn his" (129). This shows how Baba moved to America for Amir to have a better life. Baba misses Kabul because that's where he grew up, but now he has to be thoughtful of Amir's future. -
Amir Meets Soraya
Amir meets a woman named Soraya Taheri at the market. After that, Amir "invented excuses to stroll down the aisle" of the market just to meet with her (Hosseini 144). He liked her the moment he saw her and couldn't stop thinking about her. She is the daughter of a former general of Afghanistan. -
Baba dies of Lung Cancer
Baba goes to sleep without taking his cancer medications. Soraya let Baba not take his medications and found out that "Baba never woke up" (Hosseini 173). He died a happy person and on his own terms. He was stubborn even until death, but that was just the way Baba would have wanted it. -
Soraya and Amir gets married
Amir states, "Soraya and I settled into the routines-and minor wonders-of married life" (Hosseini 181). The couple truly lived happily, and lived an honest, and easy life together. This is significant, for it proves how although they both have unforgettable pasts, they overcame their pasts, and chose love, and honesty. -
Soviet Union leaves Kabul
After 10 years of peace talk, "moderated by the United Nations, the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in February 1989" (NYT). -
Amir's first book
Amir publishes his book a year later after he wrote the novel, proving his commitement to being a writer. The narrator say's, "The novel was released in that summer of the following year, 1989, and the publisher sent me on a five-city book tour"(160). This shows the dedication that Amir has for writing novels. Also, this shows how people who believed in Amir, like Hassan and Rahim were right about Amir being a good writer. -
Start of Taliban
There was a story where a small group of men lead by Mullah Omar "... gathered a small band of men and attacked a group of warlords who had raped a girl and shaved her head" (NYT). -
Growth of Taliban
Around the end of 1994, "Mullah Omar had nearly 12,000 followers and was rolling up the warlords to the north and east" (NYT). -
Amir finds out about Hassan death
After hearing about Hassan's death, "...all I could manage was to whisper "No. No. NO" over and over again" (219). It is clear that the devastation Amir had when finding out about his half brothers death proves her truly cared for Hassan, and cared about what happened to him. This is significant because Amir never had the chance to atone for his sins, which allows him to find other ways to gain forgiveness. -
Amir and Assef meet again
After the fight between Amir and Assef, Amir thinks to himself, "My body was broken...but I felt healed. Healed at last" (Hosseini 289). When Amir and Assef fight, he sacrifices his life to save Sohrab, just as Hassan had sacrificed his life to save Amir. The guilt Amir has been suffering from his childhood is finally lifted; therefore, he feels healed, and his mind can finally be in peace. -
Post 9/11 Invasion
After a tragedy at the World Trade Center In New York, "President George W. Bush gave the Taliban ultimatum to hand over Mr. bin Laden" (NYT). -
When Amir goes back to Kabul
Amir goes into Afghanistan to save Hassan's son Sohrab. Amir is driven by a friend of Rahim Kahn, Farid. They go through the country side and Amir says he "'feel[s] like a tourist in [his] own country'" (Hosseini 231). Post-war Afghanistan is nothing like the Afghanistan he knew as a child. He was shocked to see so much destruction, poverty, and fear in what he thinks of as his home country. There are many beggars in Kabul and everyone lives in fear of the Taliban. -
Sohrab tries to kill himself
In order to adopt Sohrab, he must go back into an orphanage. When he is told this, he attempts to kill himself and Amir brings him to a hospital. When Sohrab wakes up, he says to Amir: "'I wish you had left me in the water'" (Hosseini 355). Sohrab was so scarred by his experience with Assef and orphanages that he would rather die than go back. He wants to go back to his old life, just like Amir wanted to after originally leaving Afghanistan. -
United States New Command Center Leader
A Iraq commander who goes name is General Petraeus has had much success who " ... had taken charge of United States Central Command in October 2008" (NYT). -
Taliban Resurgence
The Taliban who was defeated in 2001, "Taliban continued to wage warfare from a base in the mountainous and largely lawless tribal area on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border." (NYT). -
Obama's speech
In the winter of 2009, Obama states "his plans to deploy 30,000 additional troops [to Afghanistan]. He vowed to start bring American forces home" (NYT). -
General McChrystal Removal
In the summer of 2010,General McChrystal was stripped from his powers "after contemptuous quotes from the general and his staff about senior administration officials appeared in an article in Rolling Stone" (NYT). -
Results of Obama's speech
While Obama said that he would take soldiers home before 2011, "Yet in a move away from that July 2011 deadline, the Obama administration changes its tone to increasingly emphasize the idea that the United states will have forces in the country until at least the end of 2014" (NYT).