Chapter 1

Question 1

What does Amir say he has been doing?

Answer 1

“peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty six years”

Question 2

What does Amir reference Rahim Khan said?

Answer 2

“there is a way to be good again”

Question 3

Where does Amir now live?

Answer 3

Golden Gate Park in San Francisco

Question 4

What does it mean that this book is from a first person narrative view?

Answer 4

This means that the novel is coloured by Amir’s personal reactions and emotions rather than being from an objective viewpoint

Question 5

What is the purpose of the first chapter which acts as a double frame for the narrative?

Answer 5

as this allows Hosseini to foreshadow and build dramatic tension

Question 6

explore

`‘burying” the past and how it “claws its way out”

Answer 6

this involves an image of something dead rising from its grave, alluding to the death of childhood innocence in chapter 7 after Hassan’s rape. In conjunction to Rahim khan’s message that “there is a way to be good again” indicates that the narrative will centre around Amir’s atonement and his search for redemption.