Throughout the book I have been curious if Assef would make a return in the story, and if so, what role would he be in. During this week’s reading, Assef was back in the story line, and this time he was a member of the Taliban, the one wearing the “John Lennon glasses.” It comes as no surprise to me that he would be in the Taliban because his violent ways in the beginning of the novel foreshadowed him joining the Taliban.
When Amir goes into Assef’s office, Assef is unwilling to give Sohrab to him because Amir and Assef had “unfinished business.” Seeing Assef “kiss the side of [Sohrab’s] neck” reminded Amir of what happened that day in the alley. Amir’s guilt comes flooding back into his mind. Looking into the deeply hurt eyes of Sohrab, Amir can only see Hassan. The reflection of Hassan through Sohrab’s eyes foreshadows that Amir will attempt to make up all the wrong he did to Hassan through Sohrab.
Assef orders the guards out of the room because he and Amir need to take care of old issues and “whoever comes out alive” gets to keep Sohrab. Assef reaches into his pocket and grabs out his brass knuckles that he had had since his childhood. As Assef is beating Amir, Amir begins to laugh because he finally feels his guilt slipping away. After all the times that Amir tried unsuccessfully to get Hassan to get revenge for what happened, Amir finally feels that he is getting what he deserves. Through this scene I wondered if this beating would be enough to completely free Amir of his guilt, or if it would only temporarily work. Sohrab, who learned his father’s slingshot skills, shot Assef in the eye with a brass ball. After this happened, Sohrab took Amir and they got away from the Taliban as fast as possible in order to avoid further complications.
When in the hospital recovering from the fight, Amir asks Fraid to find Betty and Thomas Caldwell because they were going to take care of and house Sohrab. Fraid reports back to Amir that there is no record of any Betty of Thomas Caldwell ever having lived, at least not in Peshawar. Upon hearing this news Amir is flabbergasted and has no idea what he is going to do with Sohrab. After I learned that these people didn’t exist, it was evident to me that Rahim Khan made them up so that Amir would go get Sohrab. If Amir thought that he would have to take care of Sohrab for the rest of his life, I don’t think he would have gone to get him, but since there were people willing to take care of him, Amir believed this was a small sacrifice to make. Now that he discovered this people are nonexistent, what will Amir do? Will Sohrab be brought back to the United States with Amir, or will he again betray Hassan’s family by leaving him to fend for himself, like he did for Hassan that day in the alley?
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