STRUCTURE
Opening to Chapter 4:
} Hosseini delves into third person narration as he recounts how Ali and Baba grew up together. This reportorial narrative provides a contrast to the overtly personal narrative voice that has dominated Chapters 1-3.
} Hosseini begins the chapter by drawing an interesting parallel between Amir’s treatment of Hassan and Baba’s treatment of Ali...
} P22: ‘But in none of his stories did Baba ever refer to Ali as his friend. The curious thing was, I never thought of Hassan and me as friends either. Not in the usual sense, anyhow.’
} What does this suggest about Baba and Ali’s relationship and Amir and Hassan’s relationship?
Complicated Friendship:
P22: Never mind that to me, the face of Afghanistan is that of a boy with a thin-boned frame, a shaved head, and low set ears, a boy with a Chinese doll face perpetually lit by a harelipped smile.
Never mind any of those things. Because history isn’t so easy to overcome. Neither is religion. In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was a Sunni and he was a Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing.’
What is striking about these comments from the narrator?
} Implicit in these comments are some attempt from the narrator to justify his treatment of Hassan because of the power wielded by history, religion and ethnicity. Reinforces the innate differences between the two boys... BUT then Amir reveals: ‘But we were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that either.’
} Thus Hosseini’s presentation of friendship in Chapter 4 is fraught with complication as the differences in the boys religion, ethnicity and history stands at odds with the close way they have been nurtured together.
Hosseini’s use of contrasts:
P23: Amir then recalls his trips with Hassan to the bazaar. His recollections of watching John Wayne Westerns, drinking Coca-Cola and eating ice-cream indicate how both Amir and Hassan shared in the joy of their childhood experiences.
BUT...this shared enjoyment is juxtaposed with ‘the daily routine’ that occurred during the school year. Amir reveals that ‘While I ate and complained about homework, Hassan made my bed, polished my shoes, ironed my outfit for the day, packed my books and pencils.’
Thus, Hosseini’s use of contrasts underscores the chasm between the boys normal social experiences as master and servant.
Scenes and Places: The hilltop cemetery
} The hilltop cemetery with the pomegranate tree provides a symbolic setting for the two boys childish adventures.
} Here Amir carves in the significant inscription on the pomegranate tree:
‘Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul.’
Why is this significant? What does it symbolise?
Tacitly, Hosseini reveals that in the cemetery Amir and Hassan are in a place of retreat, in a place of refuge, unaffected by the outside world with its socially restrictive expectations....
HOWEVER, the inequality still exists!
} As Amir’s comment reveals:
‘That Hassan would grow up illiterate like Ali and most Hazaras had been decided the minute he was born...after all, what use did a servant have for the written word?’
Overt prejudices between the Pashtuns and Hazaras that not even the close bond of the ‘sultans of Kabul’ can extinguish. Crucially this deep set inequality manifests itself from childhood; no-one is immune from its divisiveness.
Development of Characterisation:
AMIR:
P24: ‘My favourite part of reading to Hassan was when we came across a big word that he didn’t know. I’d tease him, expose his ignorance.’ Imbecile. ‘When it comes to words, Hassan is an imbecile.’
P25: I would always feel guilty about it later. So I’d try to make up for it by giving him one of my old shirts or a broken toy. I would tell myself that was amends enough for a harmless prank.’ – is it harmless? Is such deliberate cruelty forgivable?
HASSAN:
P25: ‘If he felt the sting of my tease, his smiling face didn’t show it.’
‘Aaah,’ he said nodding.
P25: Sometimes tears pooled in Hassan’s eyes as I read him this passage, and I always wondered whom he wept for.’
NB: Hassan later names his son Sorab like the character in his favourite story.
Storytelling
Significance of Amir’s first story:
} Hassan’s praise for a tale which Amir has improvised persuades him to write his first short story.
} P26-27: Contrasts between Hassan’s reaction of that was the ‘best story you’ve read to me in a long time,’ and Baba’s reaction of ‘Well, that’s very good isn’t it?’ Then nothing more.’
Who is it who ‘rescues’ Amir from the empty response from his father? Why is this important?
Letter from Rahim Khan:
} Hosseini’s narrative style diversifies as he recounts word for word, the letter that Rahim Khan gives to Amir. As the novel progresses Hosseini will continue to give prominence to Rahim Khan’s letters and resultantly emphasises the impact he has on Amir’s life, as both a boy and a man.
} P28: ‘The most impressive thing about your story is that it has irony.’
What do you think Rahim Khan finds ironic about Amir’s story?
Hassan’s question:
} P29: ‘But will you permit me to ask a question about the story,’ he said shyly.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘if I may ask, why did the man kill his wife? In fact, why did he ever have to feel sad to shed tears? Couldn’t he have just smelled an onion?’
As an adult, Amir reflects on the irony that Hassan who ‘couldn’t read and had never written a single word in his entire life,’ had identified the Plot Hole. This incident economically reveals Hassan’s ability to see things clearly and ultimately Amir’s lack of foresight; his thinking is muddied and emotional as opposed to rational.
The astute revelations of Hassan is met starkly with Amir’s belief in his social superiority...
End of Chapter 4:
P30: A voice, cold and dark, suddenly whispered in my ear, ‘What does he know, that illiterate Hazara? He’ll never be anything but a cook. How dare he criticise you.’
Through the use of the callous subconscious thoughts of Amir, the reader is momentarily invited to judge his character. But this is quickly halted by the authoritative and definitive words that conclude the chapter and silence Amir’s justification of his story,
‘Because suddenly Afghanistan changed forever.’
