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Kite Runner: Chapter 25
Element

Notes

Plot summary

Sohrab almost dies and Amir is not allowed to see him in the
hospital for many hours
...
Nevertheless, Soraya greets
Amir and Sohrab at the airport enthusiastically, but Sohrab still
will not speak
...

Sohrab stays mute, but a breakthrough is made when Amir takes
him kite fighting in a nearby park
...


Themes and
features

“They won’t let me in” ​builds tension from the beginning of the
chapter, due to the short declarative which draws a divide
between Amir and the hospital staff
...
The
“windowless corridor” ​which Amir is kept in also creates a
prison-like sense of claustrophobia and sinister tension
...

This suggests that religion is ingrained in Amir, as he can
remember vague prayers from his childhood
...
He makes a life-long dedication to do zakat, namaz and
pilgrimage, as well as memorising the Quran, as long as Sohrab
lives
...

Sohrab’s suicide attempt is narrated to the reader through one of
Amir’s flashbacks, as he wonders if it was all a dream
...
Disgust towards the
Taliban grows in the reader, as the realities of conflict are once
again revealed
...
Sohrab also had to be revived twice and they
“would have lost him if his heart hadn’t been young and strong”
...


Sohrab’s progress is concerning to the reader, as he is on an
ICU ward for 3 days and is kept on a ventilator with ​“a tangle of
gleaming plastic tubes and IV lines” ​coming out of him
...
Mr Fayyaz insists, empathetically, that Amir leaves the hotel
as the suicide is ​“bad for business”
...

Sohrab is kept on 24/7 suicide watch, with a security guard at his
bedside
...
Sohrab’s desperation is also shown in how he
is ​“tired of everything”, ​which is whispered
...
Sohrab wants his old life
back, including his mother and father, and wishes that he was
dead
...
The conversation between the pair is not
sugar-coated for the reader, who may find it hard to believe that
Sohrab has lost all hope and has no choice but to be adopted by
Amir and Soraya
...
Sohrab sleeps with the
Polaroid photo of him and Hassan every night, showing how the
father-son bond cannot be broken
...
Amir has become
a more resilient and brave character, gaining the courage Baba
never had
...
This
shows how Amir no longer cares about other people’s
perceptions of him and feels able to stand up against prejudice
due to his fierce love and protection of Sohrab
...

Sohrab’s severe depression is shown in how he remains silent
and sleeps most of the time, regardless of Soraya’s
carefully-organised plans
...
This drains Amir and Soraya
...
Contrastingly, the world is in terrifying chaos as 9/11
occurs, the US bombs Afghanistan and the Taliban finally falls
...
To compensate for their
wealth and privilege as Afghan-Americans, Amir and Soraya help

to fund a hospital in Afghanistan and fundraise for causes to help
their homeland
...

Many members of the Afghan community gather in Lake
Elizabeth Park to celebrate Afghan New Year’s Day
...
The celebrations include tea, food cooked
on barbecues and music, with gaggles of children playing happily
together
...
Luckily for Amir,
the questions about Sohrab have ceased and he reminisces with
friends about Baba
...
Amir remarks that he ​“wished time would stand still” ​and his
buying of a kite from a seller appears to be a full-circle moment
for the reader
...

The kites start to engage Sohrab, for the first time in months, and
he loses the ​“glassy, vacant look in his eyes” a
​ nd becomes more
“alert”, “awake” ​and ​“alive”
...
Whilst this isn’t a gushy, happy ending, it gives the
reader hope that Soraya and Amir may become the parents they
have always wanted to be
...
This
sensory description ends the novel, as Amir is transported back
to his youth
...

Context

The 9/11 terrorist attack on New York puts the story into
real-world context
...


Afghan
vocabulary

Aush​ = stew
...

Sabagh​ = lesson
...




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