Chapter 22

Chapter 22

1. CHARACTER

   • Amir
     • Badly frightened by the situation he is found in
     • Finally standing up for himself, Hassan & his father
       • Confronting his past, his childhood fears
   • Assef
     • Now a leading Talib
       • Appropriate that he has risen to this position in authority
       • Clearly in his element, fulfilling a role which suited him
       • Finally found a role to emulate his hero- Adolf Hitler
     • Amir & Hassan's childhood bully
     • First notices the blood on his white clothes from the stoning
       • Symbolism
         • White suggests purity & peace- but no like a butchers apron
         • Blood on white sheets suggests the loss of vaginity
           • The fight with Assef suggests that Amir is loosing the last of his innocence & naivety
   • Sohrab
     • Comments again on how much he looks like Hassan
       • Constantly reminded of his betrayal of Hassan
         • This spurs him on to protect Sohrab
     • Rescues Amir with his slingshot
       • Reminds the audience & Amir of the first fight in his childhood between Assef & Hassan
         • In this case Amir takes part in the fight & has no reason to be ashamed of himself
         • Sohrab performs the action with a slingshot to Assef that Hassan threatened to do in 1975
         • Ends the original childhood battle from chapter 5
           • Circular nature of the narrative

2. He fights Assef in order t save Sohrab, a symbolism of being able to fight to save Hassan & repay his debt.

   • Amir is able to finally lay his childhood demons to rest
     • Amir starts to laughing during the beating as it banishes the pain & guilt he had felt since Hassan rape
     • Amir feels that he deserves the beating he gets since that day
       • He tried to provoke this originally after from Hassan by throwing pomegranate at him

3. LANGUAGE

   • Amir repeats the descriptive language he previously used to describe Hassan
     • "The Chinese doll of my childhood"
   • Less poetic
     • Reflects the harsh, difficult circumstances they are in