He also gives Amir an old Ford Grand Torino as a gift. In the days after, Amir tells Baba that he wants to study writing. Baba disapproves and says the degree will be useless, but Amir has made up his mind. Amir describes the drives he takes in his car. He passes through rundown and rich neighborhoods and talks about the first time he saw the ocean.
For Amir, America is a place to forget the past. The next summer, in , Baba buys an old van. On Saturday mornings, he and Amir load the van with purchases from garage sales, then on Sundays they set up a booth at the flea market and sell everything for a profit. One morning Baba speaks with a man whom he introduces to Amir as General Taheri. Baba tells General Taheri that Amir is going to be a great writer.
On the drive home, Amir asks Baba about her. Amir falls asleep that night thinking of her. It also gives some detail about how Kabul has changed in the roughly five years that have elapsed since Chapter 9. The coup created a split in Afghan society that led to numerous executions and widespread paranoia. Regular Afghans were encouraged or forced to turn in anyone who might be an enemy of the ruling faction. It turned out to be the first in a series of events that led to an invasion by Russia at the end of , plunging the country into even greater turmoil.
Baba and Amir flee from this atmosphere and the Russian occupation at the opening of the section. To Baba, for whom doing the right thing is so important, the loss of honor and decency in Afghanistan is perhaps the greatest tragedy to befall his country.
Though the war has forced Baba and Amir to leave their home and nearly all their possessions behind, Baba only believes more strongly in the necessity of acting with dignity and doing what is right.
As he declares to the Russian guard, decency becomes even more important during times of war. To him, he is trying to preserve the honor of not just one person, but of all of Afghanistan. The move to America represents two completely different things to Amir and Baba. In California, Baba feels disconnected from everything he knows. In Kabul, he would send Amir and Hassan to the baker with a stick.
The baker would make a notch in the stick for each loaf of bread he gave, and at the end of the month, Baba paid the baker according to how many notches there were. When the manager at the convenience store asks Baba for ID, Baba feels insulted because he takes it as a sign of distrust. Related Quotes with Explanations. The driver, Karim , is first taking them to Jalalabad, where his brother will drive them the rest of the way to Peshawar, Pakistan.
Karim has an arrangement with the Russian soldiers that guard the road. They arrive at a checkpoint, and a young Russian soldier eyes a woman in the truck and decides to increase the price of passing through — he wants half an hour with the woman.
This is the first example of the power shift that has occurred in Afghanistan. Violence and Rape. Baba stands up and tries to shame the Russian soldier, but the soldier says there is no shame in war.
Amir tries to get Baba to sit down, but he pushes Amir away. Just before the soldier shoots, another Russian stops him.
He is willing to face danger and death for his principles, but in this he is a minority. Baba tries to shame the Russian soldier, but there is little honor left in Afghanistan any more. When the truck reaches Jalalabad, Karim tells them that his brother Toor can no longer take them to Peshawar, as his truck broke down the week before. Baba is furious that Karim kept this information from them just so he could get paid for his leg of the journey, and he attacks Karim and starts strangling him until the young woman asks him to stop.
Baba is again insulted by a lack of honor, this time in Karim, one of his countrymen, who lies to get paid. The group then joins a larger group of refugees who are staying in a basement. Amir recognizes Kamal among them, but he looks sickly and old.
Rape returns here as another example of the atrocities in Afghanistan. Kamal, who, in a tragic irony, helped Assef rape Hassan, is clearly haunted by his past trauma now. Fathers and Children. Before they get in the truck Baba picks up a handful of Afghan dirt, kisses it, and stows it in a snuff box next to his heart. Inside the truck it is terrifyingly dark and the air is thick with fumes, which makes it hard to breathe.
As a graduation present, Amir receives a car. Baba mentions Hassan, wishing he were with them, and the name momentarily chokes Amir. Amir is entering junior college and decides to major in creative writing, a choice that Baba disapproves of. Baba buys an old Volkswagen bus that he and Amir use to travel around to garage sales and purchase items that they resell at the San Jose flea market. The Afghanistan section of the flea market includes people who used to be doctors, professors, and ambassadors.
One of Baba's acquaintances at the flea market is General Sahib, Mr. Iqbal Taheri. Baba introduces Amir as his son who is "going to be a great writer. The gossip of the flea market passed stories about the general's daughter.
When Amir asks Baba about it, Baba makes an analysis that parallels Amir's own situation with Hassan. The preface to the chapter indicates the time and place of the current section of the narrative. An early commentary about Reaganomics indicates the author's political leanings and his concern for working blue collar people — no matter whether they were Americans or foreigners.
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