Chapter 21

Question 1

On the way to Kabul, what does a man try to sell to another man, who haggles with him over the price?

Answer 1

his prosthetic leg

Question 2

When Amir finds the pomegranate tree, why is it significant that it is barren?

Answer 2

as the tree serves as a powerful symbol that the Kabul Amir knew is dead, at least figuratively if not yet literally

Question 3

What is the significance of “I saw Baba’s house straight away”

Answer 3

1) It was large

2 Amir never belonged in Kabul, he was westernised from being a child

Question 4

What stadium do Farid and Amir go to to find Assef- the man in the black sunglasses-?

Answer 4

to Ghazi Stadium

Question 5

What colour trucks do the Taliban drive?

Answer 5

red

Question 6

What is the mid game entertainment at Ghazi Stadium?

Answer 6

a public stoning to two people accused of adultery

Question 7

“____ __ _____ __ __ ______, my father’s house was the picture of fallen splendour”

Answer 7

Like so much else in Kabul,

Question 8

“Like so much else in Kabul, __ ______ _____ ___ ____ ________ __ _____ _________”

Answer 8

my fathers house was the picture of fallen splendour

Question 9

What do Baba and the General Taheri symbolise?

Answer 9

the Afghanistan that is no longer there

Question 10

What are Mullah Narsruddin jokes and what do they show the similarity between?

Answer 10

they are the equivalent to “dumb blonde” jokes and show the similarity between Afhgan and American cultures; and how humour is often used as a means of dealing with stressful and difficult situations

Question 11

Why was Baba right in saying “God help us all if Afghanistan ever falls into their hands”?

Answer 11

as the Taliban are self righteous and hypocritical. The Taliban use their own interpretation of the Koran to forward their own agenda

Question 12

What law do the Taliban enforce?

Answer 12

Sharia law

Question 13

Why does Sharia govern everything from business ethics to criminal justice?

Answer 13

as Islam makes no distinction between religious and non religious matters

Question 14

Why does a cleric rather than a judge or some other secular official come out to speak to the crowd before the stoning begins?

Answer 14

this is because Islam makes no distinction between religious and non religious matters

Question 15

What does Farid say in Ghazi Stadium during the stoning?

Answer 15

“And they call themselves Muslims”

Question 16

If Zaman protests to the official, what happens?

Answer 16

they take 10 instead of 1

Question 17

What are the jokes in Afghanistan which resemble dumb blonde jokes?

Answer 17

Mullah Nasruddin

Question 18

Why does Amir’s childhood neighbourhood remain largely unchanged?

Answer 18

as he lived a privileged life in a preferable place of Afghanistan which reinforces Farrid’s earlier comments about his upbringing

Question 19

explore the fact that the pomegranate tree Amir and Hassan once played on is now dead?

Answer 19

This tree was a symbol of the close relationship between them; its death symbolises the end of their physical relationship. However the inscription that Amir carved is still there reflecting that that their friendship transcends the barrier of death.

Question 20

Amir strongly reacts to the stoning by hiding his face and waiting for it to be over. Why may this be?

Answer 20

as his naive and child like response connects him to his childhood where his development as an Afghan stopped when he was still a child unlike those who stayed behind; desensitised to the constant violence.

Question 21

How does Assef in the football stadium appear hypocritical?

Answer 21

as the Tablib shun all such things Western yet he is wearing John Lenon styled sun glasses.