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In-depth Facts:
Full title
AuthorKhaled Hosseini
Type of workNovel
GenreBildungsroman; Redemption story
LanguageEnglish
Time and place writtenLos Angeles, CA; 2001 - 2003
Date of first publicationMay 2003
PublisherRiverhead Books
Narrator
Point of viewThe narrator speaks in the first person, primarily describing events that occurred months and years ago. The narrator describes these events subjectively, explaining only how he experienced them. At one point, another character briefly narrates a chapter from his own point of view.
ToneThe tone is confessional, expressing profound remorse throughout the story
TensePast tense with extended flashbacks
Setting (time)1975 through 2001
Setting (place)Kabul, Afghanistan; California, United States
ProtagonistAmir
Major conflictAfter failing to intervene in the rape of his friend Hassan, Amir wrestles with his guilt and tries to find a way to atone for his actions.
Rising actionForced out of Afghanistan by the Soviet invasion, Amir flees to the United States, where he tries to rebuild his life until an old friend offers him a way to make amends for his past.
ClimaxAmir returns to Kabul, where he finds Hassan’s son, Sohrab, and encounters Assef, the man that raped Hassan twenty-six years earlier.
Falling actionAmir rescues Sohrab from a life of physical and sexual abuse and struggles to learn how he and Sohrab can recover from the traumas each has endured.
ThemesThe search for redemption; the love and tension between fathers and sons; the intersection of political events and private lives; the persistence of the past
MotifsRape; irony; regressing in time
SymbolsThe cleft lip; kites; the lamb
ForeshadowingBaba wonders if Amir will be able to stand up for what is right when the time comes; Baba worries that Islamic fundamentalists will one day control Afghanistan; Hassan threatens to shoot Assef’s eye out; Assef vows revenge on Amir.
