Quotes, Quotes and More Quotes

QUOTES, QUOTES AND MORE QUOTES

PAGE QUOTE 28 Sohrab (son) and Rostram (Father) Didn’t all fathers in their secret hearts harbour a desire to kill their sons? 31 Letter to Your story has irony...you may not know what that means but one day you will Amir from Rahim Khan 40 Assef Someday I’ll make you face me 43 Amir Just after Baba has paid for Hassan’s operation.... Why Baba waited until I was 10 to have me circumcised...was one of the things I’ll never forgive him for 46 Snow as a The chill between Baba and me thawed a little. We lived in different spheres of existence – Kites one metaphor paper thin slice of intersection between those spheres 53 Maybe Baba would forgive me for killing my mother 55 Hassan I like where I live – it’s my home 68 Amir is my friend Amir Hassan is my servant 54 Baba Better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie 58 Amir about I was the smart one, how could he read me like that? Hassan 58 Baba’s gaze was like the blistering sun.... Baba...proud of me at last (at the kite tournament) 72 I had a final opportunity to decide who I was going to be... 78 After winning the kite tournament... They were all clapping, yelping their praises – only Rahim Khan was silent... 100 When Hassan and Ali leave 178 Rain, melting like silver... After Rahim Khan’s phone call The parallel silver lines made on the wall by moonlight...I dreamt of Hassan 113 Amir This happy memory of he and Hassan ... fleeing A stroke of colour on the grey barren canvas that our lives had become Afghanistan IMAGINATIO N Afghanistan We’re a melancholic people (Rahim) 186 Afghans are independent and cherish custom and abhor rules...the rule is – no rules – fly your kite Rafiqs Communist rebels in power before the Taliban Memory Fortune Teller (Tells Amir and Hassan’s fortune) 69 On the other side of the wall a rooster crows (metaphor for betrayal) Dream I am lost in a snow storm...I am a ghost with no footprints 70 A hand reaches for me...we are in a field of apple green grass (notice what Sohrab says about green apples later in the text) 80-81 Hassan had said there were no monsters in the lake, only water but there was a monster in the lake...I was that monster....I became an insomniac 83 When he (Hassan) was present or mentioned, the oxygen seeped out of the room A pair of steel hands closed around my windpipe... 124 86 Incident with the pomegranate ... I wished he could give me the punishment that I craved...

91 -92 Rahim Khan tells Amir about his love for an Hazara servant girl when he was 18... In the end the world always wins You can tell me anything you want Amir jan...anytime 95 After his birthday The only gift that didn’t feel like blood money was Rahim Khan’s notebook About Hassan One of us has to go 98 Hassan doesn’t defend himself against Amir’s accusations (money and watch) I loved him (Hassan) in that moment... I was the snake in the grass, the monster in the lake 107 Baba after the Russian invasion War doesn’t negate decency, it demands it... 111 Kamal – another of Assef’s victims – he dies in the passage from Afghanistan to Pakistan, his father commits suicide 111 The summation of Baba’s life – One disappointing son, two suitases 117 Baba was the lone Republican (like Liberals) in our building Democrats (like Labour) EXAMPLES OF BABA’S PRIDE AND STRUGGLE TO ADJUST TO AMERICAN LIFE 1. Lies about fathering Hassan 2. Refuses welfare money 3. Fights with Nguyen shopkeepers who won’t give him credit and want ID 4. His reaction to the doctor with the Russian surname 5. Refuses chemotherapy

121 He walked out of the welfare office like a man cured of a tumour 120 For me American was a place to bury my memories, for Baba a place to mourn his... 125 Amir decides to become a writer... I didn’t want to sacrifice for Baba anymore...I would stand my ground... 126 Kabul compared with America A city of handicapped ghosts...America a river unmindful of the past...In America, no ghosts, no memories and no sins... 131 Baba speaking about Soraya and her history, then reflecting on himself... What happens in a day can change the course of a whole life time Amir NANG = Honour, NAMOOS = Pride 140 Amir reflects on Soraya’s passion for teaching... I thought of how I’d used my literacy to ridicule Hassan 147 Baba In your hour of need there’s no one you’d rather have by your side than a Pashtun How is this ironic in view of how Amir behaved towards Hassan? 151 I don’t want us to start with secrets...(Soraya)

152 I suspect there were many ways she was better than me – Courage was just one of them 157 RE-READ THE WORDS OF THE WEDDING SONG They are also used ironically when the Russian soldier drunkenly sings the lyrics intending to rape one of the refugee women

160 Baba had been wrestling bears his whole life – losing his young wife, raising a son by himself, leaving his homeland (watan), poverty, indignity, cancer, the bear he couldn’t/wouldn’t wrestle 161 Baba couldn’t show me the way anymore, I’d have to find it on my own

164 General Taheri and his wife (who had been an accomplished singer – they have a traditional Afghan relationship. Compare it to Amir and Soraya’s... Amir – Every woman needed a husband, even if it did silence the song in her

166 I didn’t care about Soraya’s past – I had one of my own 172 General Taheri Blood is a powerful thing – never forget that (says this when he is against them adopting) 173 Something, someone, somewhere...had decided to deny me fatherhood for the things I’d done...this was my punishment 182 Amir’s writing lecturer says – clichés, avoid them like the plague, but often they’re dead on, like the elephant in the room 183 Rahim Khan about Taliban They don’t let you be human 186 Rahim Khan There is no such thing as God’s will (Inshallah), there is only what you do and what you don’t do 186 Amir I still felt the thorny barbs of guilt (biblical reference – crown of thorns) 188 - 197 Rahim Khan’s account of how he made contact with Hassan and an account of his life. Hassan still chose to live in servant quarters out of respect for his former employees 199 - 202 Letters from Hassan to Amir – like a voice from the grave 204 Rahim Khan challenges Amir A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up for anything. Is that what you’ve become? 209 Amir finds out that Hassan is his half brother Like father like son...(He realises that his father is capable of betrayal, like him) 215 Farid to Amir You’ve always been a tourist here, you just didn’t know it 230 Amir encounters an old beggar who’d been a lecturer on Sufism in Afghanistan...He represents what the Taliban have done to learning and true spirituality 237 Zaman (director of the orphanage) – broken glasses, fractured morality If I deny him one child he takes 10, I swallow my pride, take his dirty money and go to the bazaar and buy food for the children 242 Amir: I don’t want to forget anymore 248 Baba’s comments prophetic God help us if Afghanistan ever falls into their hands 253 Amir’s internal monologue Your saving grace is that you know you’re a coward...there is nothing wrong with cowardice...you’ve never liked to yourself about it... 255 Assef about America How is that whore these days?

261 Assef talks about his ‘mission’ Amir replies What mission is that? Stoning adulterers, raping children, flogging women for wearing high heels, massacring Hazaras, all in the name of Islam? 259 - 260 Assef reveals his motivations for staying in Afghanistan despite his parents’ wealth 265 Amir remembers the pomegranate incident with Hassan after being beaten by Assef My body was broken but I felt healed (paradox of redemption/sacrifice) 276 Rahim Khan’s letter You were too hard on yourself then and you still are... A man who has no conscience does not suffer I know how hard you father was on you – he was a man torn between two halves. Good was born out of your father’s remorse 282 Amir’s dream with Assef We’re the same you and I, you’re my twin 292 Amir to Sohrab There are bad people in the world and sometimes bad people stay bad – sometimes you have to stand up to them 304 American embassy official (Andrews) to Amir It’s a dangerous business making promises to kids 313 Omar Faisal (Immigration lawyer) That’s how children deal with trauma – they fall asleep 324 After Sohrab’s suicide attempt Sohrab’s ashen grey face like Hassan’s when I saw him for the last time dragging his belongings behind Ali 325 Amir’s internal monologue 325 Sohrab – I want my old life back He yearned for his old life – what he got was me and America... 329 I had been the entitled half – society approved legitimate half, the embodiment of Baba’s guilt. Hassan was the un-entitled, unprivileged half who had inherited what had been pure and noble in Baba 332 While Sohrab was silent the world was not – the Twin Towers came tumbling down...Sohrab sleepwalked through it all 334 I prayed morning namaz (prayers)...the verses came naturally now - effortlessly Amir to General Taheri Do not refer to him as that Hazara boy in my presence again – his name is Sohrab 340 At the Kite Competition in the park – it is raining – A smile from Sohrab a leaf in the woods shaking the wake of a startled bird’s flight – when spring comes, it melts the snow one snowflake at a time.. Key Quotes for “The Kite Runner” o “ The man is Pashtan to the root. He has nang and namoos... Honour and pride”. P.134 o “There is a way to be good again.” (Pg. 1) This is said by Rahim Khan to Amir to encourage him to help Hassan’s son escape Afghanistan and finally redeem himself. o “I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”, Said by Amir, story opener that talks about the time he betrayed his best friend Hassan in an alley in Kabul. o “There was brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that even time could not break.” o "For you, a thousand times over." (Pg. 2) o "I brought Hassan’s son from Afghanistan to America, lifting him from the certainty of turmoil and dropping him in a turmoil of uncertainty." o "Because when spring comes it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting" (Pg. 372) Refering to the smile on Sohrab's face, the first one seen in America. o "I had been the entitled half, the society-approved, legitimate half, the unwitting embodiment of Baba's guilt. I looked at Hassan, showing those two missing front teeth, sunlight slanting on his face. Baba's other half. The unentitled, under-priveleged half. The half who had inherited what had been pure and noble in Baba. The half that, maybe, in the most secret recesses of his heart, Baba had thought of as his true son." p.359 o "I looked down at Sohrab. One corner of his mouth had curled up just so. A smile. Lopsided. Hardly there. But there." (p.370) o "I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years." - Ch. 1 o "Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors." - Ch. 3 o "If America taught me anything, it's that quitting is right up there with pissing in the Girl Scouts' lemonade jar." o "Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life. Silence is pushing the off button. Shutting it down. All of it." - pg. 361 o "War doesn't negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace." - Baba o "… I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering it things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night." - pg. 359 o "There was brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that even time could not break." o "I brought Hassan’s son from Afghanistan to America, lifting him from the certainty of turmoil and dropping him in a turmoil of uncertainty." o There is only one sin. And that sin is theft… When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth” p.208 o As it turned out, Baba and I were more alike than I’d ever known. We had both betrayed the people who would have given their lives for us.” P.209 o “You’ve always been a tourist here, you just didn’t know it.” P.215