\tIn Chapter 18 Hosseini describes how every mention of Hassan caused Amir to feel \u2018like the scab was being removed\u2019 on a fresh wound. This is very effective in demonstrating Amir\u2019s emotions at this point. Hassan\u2019s death is likened to a wound inflicted on Amir\u2019s body. It hurts him that his friend is dead. Every time someone mentions Hassan it causes this \u2018wound\u2019 to hurt again.
\n\tThere are a number of things that Amir sees as unmistakeable signs of Baba\u2019s relation to Hassan. First of all Baba paid for Hassan\u2019s lip surgery so his cleft pallet wasn\u2019t as obvious. He bought him an expensive kite for his birthday. He always gave Amir and Hassan money to go to the cinema. He forgives Hassan for \u2018stealing\u2019 Amir\u2019s watch. He completely over reacts when Ali says he is taking Hassan away from Kabul and at Amir\u2019s graduation he states that he wishes Hassan could have been there.
\n\tThe truth that Baba kept certain information hidden from Amir hurts so much because of two elements. Baba told Amir that the worst thing any person could do was to steal. He said that if you tell a lie or hide the facts then you are stealing the truth from the people involved. By not telling the truth about Hassan Baba has hidden the facts from both his children. It also suggests that Baba was embarrassed about Hassan on some level as he didn\u2019t want to admit that his child was half-Hazara. Amir would have felt that his father didn\u2019t trust him completely.
\n\tThe clich\u00e9 \u2018like father, like son\u2019 is true because both Baba and Amir hide the truth and this has devastating effects on the future. Baba has hidden Hassan\u2019s true identity which leads to Hassan being left in Afghanistan and eventually leads to his death. Amir never admits to witnessing the assault on Hassan and therefore ruins his friendship with his best friend and brother.
\n\tWhen Amir speaks of his \u2018oblivion\u2019 he is speaking of the emptiness he feels now that he knows Hassan is dead and that his father lied to him.
\n\tThis chapter is ended very effectively on several levels. Hosseini begins to close the chapter by making Amir have a dream in which Hassan is seen praying, muttering the mantra \u2018a thousand times for you\u2019, over his bloodied hands. Taliban men then come and shoot Hassan in the head. This tells us that Amir\u2019s guilt still hangs heavy on him at this point in the book. He goes outside to get some air and accidently overhears Wahid, his host, and his wife arguing about food. There is none left because they gave it all to Amir. This reinforces just how poor and desperate many Afghan families have become under the Taliban regime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Chapter 18 Hosseini describes how every mention of Hassan caused Amir to feel \u2018like the scab was being removed\u2019 on a fresh wound. This is very effective in demonstrating Amir\u2019s emotions at this point. Hassan\u2019s death is likened to a wound inflicted on Amir\u2019s body. It hurts him that his friend is dead. Every … Continue reading The Kite Runner – chapter 18 analysed<\/span>