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Kite Runner: Chapter 21
Element

Notes

Plot summary

Amir and Farid drive to Baba’s old house in Kabul and Amir gets
out of the car and climbs the hill
...
They then drive to a small Kabuli hotel and stay
the night before setting off for Ghazi stadium the next day
...
At half time, Talib officials are driven out with “criminals”
in their trucks, who are stoned to death on the pitch
...


Characters

Farid - Amir’s driver
...
We also see two amputees
haggling over an artificial leg as well as learning that the Taliban
are occupying Baba and Amir’s house in the now desirable Wazir
Akbar Khan district
...
Weeds have overtaken the garden and the poplar trees
have been cut down too - everything is either dead or neglected
...

The once beautiful house appears smaller and unfamiliar as a
Jeep, as opposed to Baba’s Mustang, is parked on the driveway
...

The dead pomegranate tree, which is ​“wilted, leafless”,
symbolises the lack of fertility and new beginnings in
Afghanistan
...
Amir’s detail about the
cemetery, where Hassan buried his mother, is particularly
poignant, suggesting that the family will always stay in Kabul
...

The hotel room is portrayed as disgusting, as there is no hot
running water, the toilet didn’t flush, a ragged blanket, worn
mattress and a sinister bloodstain on the wall
...
The
hotel owner is exploitative, as he charges far too much for the
room, but Amir remarks that he doesn’t mind
...
Nevertheless, Farid and Amir are forming a
bond and enjoy exchanging ​“bumbling Mullah” ​jokes
...
However, Farid
cannot understand why Amir has returned to Afghanistan just for
a Shi’a boy
...

Ghazi stadium is a hub of activity amongst the death of Kabul,
with a bustling crowd of thousands of people
...
There are no assigned seats in the vast stadium and even
the pitch was a mess of dirt with no grass
...
The public shaming of the adulterous couple
occurs as they circle around the stadium in red pickup trucks
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He says that
they’re carrying out Shari’a law and that justice must be brought
to the accused
...

The Taliban official is described as a Jesus-esque figure with his
flowing white garments
...
The irony is also layered up as music was banned
under the Taliban and Afghanistan was an Islamic state (who
persecuted anyone thought to be preaching Christianity)
...
The Taliban’s disrespect
for the corpses would have also contradicted Muslim funeral
rituals, showing how extremist Islam contradicts the Quran
...
This appears to be a transition point within the novel Amir has realised the full extent of the Taliban’s violence and
destruction of Afghanistan
...

Symbolism of the dead pomegranate tree - death of Hassan / old
Kabul / past
...

Although the Taliban ruled Afghanistan for many years, the UN
never acknowledged them as a legitimate power
...
Nihilistic (no hope left)
...

Afghan
vocabulary

N/A

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