Amir experiences a sensation of a weight being “lifted off his chest” at the beginning of the chapter. We get a feeling here that things are starting to work out. Amir feels that he has righted the wrongs of his past, that Sohrab can begin to heal and that Amir and Soraya will finally have a version of the family they have longed for.
Mr Andrews is the American Ambassador and to begin with we see him as largely unsympathetic to Amir’s plight. He does not seem to care about Sohrab’s unusual situation and seems jaded by all the paperwork. It is later revealed that his daughter committed suicide which softens Amir’s attitude towards him.
Omar Faisal, the adoption lawyer seems much more sympathetic to Amir and Sohrab’s plight. He seems overworked and underpaid but he offers what he feels is the best and soundest advice, suggesting that SOhrab be placed in a Pakistan orphanage till Amir and Soraya can fill out official adoption papers.
The thought of going back to an orphanage obviously traumatises Sohrab. He has already spent time in the Afghan orphanage where he would have spent most of the time hungry and cold. He would have received little comfort whilst grieving the murder and loss of his parents. He was then snatched from the orphanage and abused. This is all he knows about orphanages, it is understandable that he would not wish this to happen again.
The weather during Amir’s phone call is dramatic epithet. It has become dark and rainy, this is a premonition of what is to come – Sohrab’s attempted suicide.
When Amir finds Sohrab half-dead in the bath he tells us “suddenly I was on my knees, screaming. Screaming through my clenched teeth. Screaming until I thought my throat would rip and my chest explode.
Later they said I was still screaming when the ambulance arrived.” Amir feels torn apart by seeing Sohrab in this state. He has fought too hard for his nephew to end up dead. The repeated “screaming” tells us that this is almost a aprimal reaction to seeing Sohrab this way. He clearly doesn’t remember much either, probably going into shock as he claims others had to tell him about how long his screams lasted.
Amir feels compelled to visit the mosque when Sohrab is recovering in hospital as he is desperate and has no other options. Even though he is not religious he decides to give praying a shot.
The “timid guest” analogy for Sohrab’s hope is an apt one. Sohrab has lived in fear for so long that he has forgotten what hope is and so it occupies his body shyly, as if he has no right to feel this emotion.
At the end of the dinner scene with Amir, Soraya and her parents we see a complete change in Amir. In the past he would have bowed down to the General’s wishes and not wanted to start a fight. In this scene though, he sticks up for Sohrab when the General insults him and puts the General in his place by commanding him to refer to Sohrab by his name and not as “that Hazara boy”.
Kite flying and running is what connected Amir and Hassan and showed us how strong their relationship was to begin with. It is also something that Hassan used to do with Sohrab when they were back in Afghanistan. It is important that the book should end this way as this is how Amir will bond with Sohrab, and it is how Sohrab can begin to heal himself. It is also a way for Amir and Sohrab to remember Hassan.
