Amir tells us the scar from the surgery heals by the following winter.Kumar performs surgery on Hassan, correcting his harelip. Think awesome toys instead of reindeer sweaters. Baba always gets Hassan something special, like a Clint Eastwood cowboy hat or train set. Kobe Bryant probably isn't this coordinated. In a single movement, he picks up a rock, takes his slingshot out of his back pocket, places the rock in the cup, pulls back the elastic band, and aims it at Assef's left eye. (Don't forget Hassan is a Hazara.) Assef, like always, has other ideas: he takes his brass knuckles out of his pocket. Assef will tell him about Hitler and ethnic cleansing and how Afghanistan needs to get rid of the Hazaras. Assef starts talking some nonsense about the new leader Daoud Khan and how he's going to have a man-to-man talk with Daoud Khan next time Daoud is over at his house.We learn a little about Assef: he uses brass knuckles, has a German mother, and is known for his meanness.(In an earlier chapter, they carved their names in this tree.) On their way there, trouble strikes in the form of Assef, Wali, and Kamal, three neighborhood boys. Amir and Hassan decide to go climb their pomegranate tree.Baba shows up safe and sound at sunrise, having made it through or around the blocked roads. Ali, Hassan, and Amir huddle together in the living room while gunfire and explosions thunder around them until morning. In this chapter, there's a sort of hodgepodge of events which set up for events to come in Chapter 7.What does this mean? We're not sure – but it's worth noting because Ali is both the scariest-looking and the possibly the kindest character in the book. Amir, Baba (notice the similarity between Baba and Babalu), and Assef don't have any disfiguring marks. The real boogeymen, the real monsters of this novel, don't have any deformities. In an interview, Hosseini admits the book uses the language of movies but denies he intended to do so ( source ). The descriptions often mimic the camera movements and cuts of movies. That said, we do want to point out a stylistic quirk in The Kite Runner. We often think of deformities as the calling cards of villains: a hook, a scar, or an eye that twitches. Too present a writing style might distract from the plot. Remember how Hassan has a harelip? Also, Soraya has a sickle-shaped birthmark, and Amir picks up a scar on his lip while rescuing Sohrab. (2.22) It's almost as if deformities, in this novel, suggest goodness. Some had taken to calling him Babalu, or Boogeyman. Ali's face frightened some of the younger children in the neighborhood. It seemed a minor miracle he didn't tip over with each step. I watched him swing his scraggy leg in a sweeping arc, watched his whole body tilt impossibly to the right every time he planted that foot. (2.20) But polio had left Ali with a twisted, atrophied right leg that was sallow skin over bone with little in between except a paper-thin layer of muscle. Here are some early description's of Ali: Ali had congenital paralysis of his lower face muscles, a condition that rendered him unable to smile and left him perpetually grimfaced. We also want to say a word about appearances. This book deals with some pretty adult issues. Ali is also devout – his humble, constant faith perhaps influences Amir's own religious awakening later in the novel (see Themes: Religion for more). Before watching this video, please make sure all children have left the room. He remains faithful to Baba even though Baba dishonored Ali by sleeping with Sanaubar. He has a beautiful voice and Amir and Hassan love to hear him sing. However, like Hassan and Sohrab, Ali is a kind and good person. Finally, in the random violence now so common in war, Ali steps on a land mine and dies. Then, Amir forces Ali and Hassan to leave Baba's house. The day Baba gets a job, he goes to the welfare office and returns his food stamps. For a while, Baba and Amir were on welfare. This image sums it up: 'Babas face drawn and pale under the bright fluorescent lights' (11.28). He works a twelve-hour shift six days a week. First off, Baba has an affair with Ali's wife and fathers Hassan. Amir reveals that Baba works at a gas station. School text books barely mentioned them and referred to their ancestry only in passing. For years, that was all I knew about the Hazaras, that they were Mogul descendants, and that they looked a little like Chinese people. This guy takes some serious abuse in the novel. They called him 'flat-nosed' because of Ali and Hassans characteristic Hazara Mongoloid features.
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