“In the old days, the winds swept through the irrigated plains around Jalalabad where farmers grew sugarcane, and impregnated the city’s air with a sweet scent. I closed my eyes and searched for the sweetness. I didn’t find it.”-
The above line from the novel is one of the many lines used to narrate the transition in the social, political and economical scene of Afghanistan from the 1970s to the year 2002. The book with its clear and witty pace briefly talks about the nexus between the protagonist’s past-present-future and Afghanistan’s brief history.
The book with its various components is a closed and clear track record of Afghanistan’s not so thinkable past. With the entire world believing that the nation in question is synonymous to inhuman Taliban has a brief lesson to learn and understand from the book. The book is more of an appealing collection of prose written to inform the people of the entire world that before Afghanistan was made tantamount to violence, the country was a rather peaceful nation with a flourishing economy.
The book talks volumes of the Afghani culture, and the major thematic cultural practice being the Grand Kite Tournament. The author does an overwhelmingly positive work of converging heavy weight emotions with the dramatic kite tournament. The kite tournament and the subsequent episode of Hassan getting raped brings in another cultural component of the country and that is the caste based discrimination. The book in its initial chapters talks momentarily about Pashtuns being considered as a higher sect than the Hazaras. It also further contends that Hazaras were given status of slaves and hence were looked down upon. And in the later part of the book there is a massive heart wrenching and inhuman description of how ruthlessly the Taliban kills people from the Hazara community under the pretext of ethnic cleansing. The description more or less tries to clarify that the Taliban’s persecution of Hazaras is not a new development but is a result of the traditionally induced cultural discrimination. The cultural aspect of food has also its fair share of description and with all the consequent imagery the author makes it apparent that meat is an important and integral part of their diet. The dress of the Afghanis is often described with turban and chapan. However, the kids even in the initial narrative of the 1970’s Kabul are illustrated to be wearing t-shirts and jeans or shorts.
Throughout the novel the author has described many strong characters. The characters have varying influences on the protagonist’s life at different stages. The beautiful narrative and strong characterization grabs the reader’s attention and makes the reader to flip through another page and to read more of the high intensity drama. Hosseini creates some heroic characters such as protagonist's father, Baba, the bear wrestling, honest, and respected Pashtun who distrusts the mullahs (clerics); while Rahim Khan a progressive, social conscious friend of Baba. Gradually Rahim Khan is forced to flee to Pakistan due the Taliban regime's draconian edicts on women, education, and even kite flying. But one of the most important character and sometimes more connective to the reader than the protagonist is Amir’s friend and servant, Hassan. Hassan’s characterization and the events that take place in his life’s description is a volatile piece of emotion-filled drama and at times a reader’s heart might just clench like a little fist behind the bones of one’s chest. Hassan’s episodical narrative is so strong that the boy with the hare-lipped smile makes the reader think at the kind of innocence and trustworthiness he exhibits. The characterization of women is also quite beautiful in the book, with each women being characterized strongly way apart from each other with respect to personality, nature and social identity. Sanaubar (Hassan’s mother), Sofia Akrami (Amir’s mother) and Soraya (Amir’s wife) are the important and prominent female characters from the book. The writer describes Sanaubar with adjectives like notoriously beautiful, protagonist’s mother as an inspiration for him to write and Amir’s wife as a very understanding and dutiful wife.
The book also revolves a lot around emotionally strenuous family ties. Afghanistan is described to be a country where culture and traditions are of monumental importance for the elder member of the family. The protagonist goes through a feeling of immense guilt when he comes to know that Hassan is related to him and is his brother. He further sees himself as the major cause for Hassan’s death and thus goes back to Afghanistan to get Sohrab back. Family is the reason why Amir fights to bring Sohrab home and, ultimately, the channel through which he redeems himself.
The book is a quiet trail of the changing scenarios in the Afghan world of politics and socio-economic unrest. However it shows steadiness through Hassan’s innocence and Asif’s cruelty. The book tries to talk for the misunderstood and mouth-less people of Afghanistan. The narrative tries its best to portray Afghanistan’s culture, people, social bonds and the resourceful Kabul, which was earlier free and pure of the pollutant -Taliban. The author also makes a hopeful expectation when he says-“I dream that lawla flowers will bloom in the streets of Kabul again and rubab music will play in the samovar houses and kites will fly in the skies.” The author through the above lines wants and urges the Afghanistan populace to dream and hope that the past glory and respect be restored to their motherland. And that once again the country will be peaceful as before with different sects co-existing contentedly.
