The Kite Runner---Week 6

Since the time that I found out Amir was going to find Sohrab, I had a feeling that he would bring Sohrab back to America with him. Although I now know the outcome of the story, I want to discuss some of the foreshadowing that Hosseini uses throughout the last few chapters to let the reader know that Sohrab will indeed be going to the United States.

One night while in the hotel room, Sohrab is lying on the bed sleeping, and Amir sitting on the edge of the bed. “I wondered what I’d do with the wounded little boy lying on the bed, though a part of me already knew.” Although Amir has only had Sohrab in his possession for a short amount of time, his conscious is already telling him what is right. When this part in the book happened, I thought that “he might already” know what to do because he was trying to make amends for what he did that day in 1975. Even if Amir is going to take Sohrab for different reasons, every reason will lead back to Hassan and the brotherly love they have. As always, family comes first.

Late in the chapter when Sorab goes missing and Amir begins looking for him at the front desk, the man states, “I will drive you [to the masque] because I am a father like you.” These words not only foreshadow Amir bringing Sohrab to America, but also display irony. It is ironic that the man at the front desk speaks these words to Amir, because he and Soraya were not able to bear their own children. At the time of their inability to conceive, Amir blamed his selfish acts in 1975 on their infertility, as if it was a curse. Now that the man has said this, Amir is reminded how badly he wanted his own children, which makes him fight even harder to get Sohrab back to America. These two instances prove that at some point, Amir and Sohrab will return to Amierca together, and eventually, they do.

I also want to highlight the fact that Sohrab is quite literally Hassan back in his young age. Sohrab admits to Amir that, “the bad man and the other two…they did things…did things to me.” Just like Hassan, Assef and his followers sexually abused Sohrab. Sohrab is here to save Amir from his guilt, just like Hassan saved Amir from multiple instances. Through Sohrab, Amir finally finds some relief from his guilt. Just like Amir said at the end of the novel, “When spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting.”