Chapter 17 Flashcards
What does Rahim Khan show Amir?
a polarised photograph of Hassan and Sohrab that was mentioned in chapter 7 and a letter
Why was Hassan ad Fazara killed?
as the Taliban officials arrived at the house while Rahim Khan was seeking medical care, accused him of being a lying Hazara and killed them in the street
Who does Rahim Khan say will look after Sohrab after Amir has rescued him which turns out to be a lie?
a christian, american couple who run an organisation in Peshawar for children who have lost their parents
What does Rahim Khan reveal about Baba and Hassan in Chapter 17?
that Hassan was biologically Baba’s son
The pomegranate tree Amir and Hassan hung out by is now fruitless, what does this symbolise?
Taliban rule to what was once beautiful and bountiful had become desolate and barren. Yet the tree is still there, a physical reminder of the past that Hassan and Amir have shared
Although the murder of Hassan is shocking, why do many critics consider this as an essential part of the novel?
as this is a realistic portrayal of senseless violence, which captures the atrocity of life under Taliban rule
How is Sohrab indirect proof of Hassan’s love for Amir?
the fact that he was named after a character from his and Amir’s favourite story book
Hassan’s death is a combination of what ? (2)
- political strife which ravaged Kabul and
- the entrenched prejudice against Hazara’s that has turned up repeatedly in the novel
What was Hassan’s fear for Sohrab?
that he would become fatherless and an orphan
What is Amir’s relation to Sohrab?
he is his nephew
How does rescuing Sohrab redeem Amir and the struggles he faced in his childhood?
he would become the man Baba had always wanted him to be and atone for the way he failed Hassan as a friend. More than this, the reference to the orphanage is a clear connection to Baba and thereby reinforces Amir that this is something his father would have done.
When Amir offers to pay someone to retrieve Sohrab, what does Rahim Khan refer to?
the night when Amir’s father felt that a “boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything”
Amir’s development as an Afghan is stunted at an early age when he leaves in 1981, in comparison to Hassan who grew and changed with his country. What does this parallel too?
Farrid’s assertion that he has “always been a tourist here, you just didn’t know it.”
