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Birth of Baba and the New King
"In 1933, the year Baba was born and the year Zahir Shah began his forty-year reign of Afghanistan"(Hosseini, 24). Having the new King can affect the country either positively or negatively and Baba's life might have been affected by him too. -
Republic of Afghanistan
After Daoud Khan takes over Afghanistan, "Kabul awoke the next morning to find that the monarchy was a thing of the past"(Hosseini, 36). This quotation is important because by becoming a republic country, something might change characters' lives. And the introduction of Assef, who is a bully, represents something bad is going to happen due to the new leader. -
Hassan's Lip Surgery
For Hassan's birthday gift, he gets the surgery for his harelip from Baba. "I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget Baba's affections"(Hosseini, 46). This shows that Baba loves both Amir and Hassan and this is making Amir jealous of Hassan for getting Baba's attention more than what he gets. But soon Amir realizes Baba did this to Hassan as a father loving his own son. -
Amir Wins the Kite Running Competition
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The Winter of 1975
When Hassan was looking for the blue kite, he confronts Assef and his friends while Amir is hiding behind the wall, watching them. Assef tells him to give him that kite but when Hassan refuses, "Hassan get raped"(Hosseini, 86). This is the reason why Amir is guilty even when he grew up, and also why he was thinking about the alleyway in the beginning of the novel. Amir was considering whether he should save Hassan or not but eventually doesn't because he thinks it is okay to do that to Hazaras. -
Before Amir's 13th Birthday Party
Before Amir's birthday party, he asks Hassan to come with him to read a book. They sit under a pomegranate tree and Amir throws pomegranate at him and tells him to "Hit me back!"(Hosseini, 92). Amir wants Hassan to punish him for what he had done to him but Hassan does not. This shows that Hassan is loyal towards Amir while Amir's love towards Hassan is weak since he chose his father's love instead of the friendship. -
After Amir's 13th Birthday Party
For his own good, Amir decides that Hassan and Ali should leave the house. Amir hides his watch and birthday money under Hassan's bed and tells Baba that he thinks Hassan stole them. Baba asks Hassan "[d]id you steal that money? Did you steal Amir's watch, Hassan?"(Hosseini, 105) and Hassan says yes. Hassan scarifies himself for Amir again for his good even though Amir did not when Hassan was in danger. This shows that how loyal and loving he is towards Amir when he is really not towards Hassan. -
Amir's 13th Birthday Party
Assef and his family comes to Amir's birthday party and gives him a book. When Amir is not taking the gift, Baba tells him that it is rude "in a low voice, the one he took on whenever I embarrassed him in public"(97). Amir is being guilty of letting Hassan get raped and when he was trying to get rid of Assef to get rid of his guilt, he acts the way Baba doesn't want. Having a guilt leads Amir to disappoint and get disapprovals from Baba rather than gaining his love. -
The First Soviet troops in Kabul
In order to help Babark Karmal, who had become a president by the seizure of power, "[T]he first Soviet troops parachuted into Kabul ion Dec. 27, 1979"(NYT). -
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Afghanistan Overview
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Amir and Baba Move to California
After Hassan and Ali leave, Baba and Amir leave Kabul and move to California due to the Soviet invasion. "Baba loved the idea of America"(Hosseini, 125). This demonstrates that since Baba thinks keeping himself and Amir safe is more important than his business and friends so he decides to move to the U.S., where it is safer than Afghanistan. -
Death of Baba
Because of cancer, "Baba never woke up"(Hosseini, 173). The death of Baba impacts Amir's life because he needs to be independent and the loss of his dad whom he respected so much can affect Amir's life after. Also, the death of Ali, Baba, and Rahim Khan's ill can be indicated as the consequences that Amir gets because of his sin. -
Rahim Khan goes to Hazarajat
Rahim Khan goes to Hazarajat to look for Hassan because he was feeling lonely in that house. "So one day, I fueled up the Buick and drove up to Hazarajat"(Hosseini, 204). This illustrates that if Rahim Khan finds Hassan in Hazarajat, there is a possibility that Amir can atone for his sin to Hassan. -
Amir Marries Soraya
After knowing their feelings toward each other, Amir tells Soraya that "I want us to marry"(Hosseini, 165). This illustrates that Amir is now independent of Baba -- he is going to marry a woman and eventually loses his dependence and becomes responsible for himself when Baba dies. -
The Peace After a Conflict
After Soviet troops staying in Afghanistan for 9 years, "[E]ventually, after peace talks moderated by the United Nations, the last Soviet troops left Afghanistan in February 1989, in what was in effect a unilateral withdrawal"(NYT). -
Mullah Omar And His Followers
Mullah Omar gained popularity by promising to restore the centrality of Islam to daily life, and he had "nearly 12,000 followers and was rolling up the warlords to the north and east"(NYT). -
Anarchy in Afghanistan
After Soviet troops left, Afghanistan was in conflict again and "by the summer of 1994, power was anarchically divided among competing warlords and individual fiefdoms"(NYT). -
Taliban Taking Control of Afghanistan
Taliban banned movies and musics, took women out of school so they can't be educated, and this shows that "Taliban by 1996 had taken control of Afghanistan, imposing strict enforcement of fundamentalist Islamic law"(NYT). -
Taliban kills Hassan and Farzana
Taliban comes over to the house where Hassan and Farzana, his wife, was staying at and they "shot him in the back of the head" because they thought he was lying about taking care of the house instead of his friend(Hosseini, 219). Hassan's death causes Amir to be desperate because not only did he lose his best friend, he can no longer atone for what he did. This means that Amir needs to live the rest of his life with guilt and he eventually finds another way to atone for his sin -- rescue Sohrab. -
Amir Rescues Sohrab
After realizing that Hassan is his brother and Sohrab is his cousin, Amir thinks rescuing Sohrab from Taliban is the way to atone for his sin. "I want to take him to a better place"(Hosseini, 285). Amir thinks one of the ways that he can atone for his action is to rescue Sohrab from Taliban and bring him to the U.S., which is the better place to live. Amir can not fully atone for his sin but by helping Sohrab to get out of Taliban, Amir is taking a step towards atonement. -
The New Leader of Afghanistan
Hamid Karzai became the leader of Afghanistan because he "was named chairman of an interim government that replaced the defeated Taliban"(NYT). -
The Afghanistan's Revival (After 2001)
Even though Afghanistan was defeated in 2001, they still "continued to wage a guerrilla warfare from a base in the mountainous and largely lawless tribal area on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border"(NYT). -
Post 9/11 Invasion
The United States joined the rebel groups that do not accept Taliban rule because of Taliban rejecting the final demand after "the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on Sep. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush gave the Taliban an ultimatum to hand over Mr. Bin Laden"(NYT). -
Amir and Sohrab fly the kite together
After Amir and Sohrab come back to the U.S., they go out to fly kite. When Amir runs to get the kite for Sohrab, he says "for you, a thousand times over"(Hosseini, 371). This shows that Amir is trying to make up for what he had done to Hassan due to his repentance since Hassan got raped while getting the kite for Amir. Later on, Sohrab smiles at Amir, which indicates that Sohrab is opening his mind towards Amir. -
General Petraeus Taking Charge of United States Central Command
Because General Petraeus received much respect and credits for the success of the surge, he "had taken charge of United States Central Command in October 2008, with responsibility for military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and across the region"(NYT). -
United States Extends Having Forces on Afghanistan
Even though the United States was supposed to have forces in Afghanistan until 2011, "Obama administration changed 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).
