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by Khaled Hosseini. Pages 161 - 180. Go to the Beginning (Brought to you by jat impatientreader.com) Baba gets discharged from the hospital, but refuses to have any treatment. Amir asks if Baba can go to the General's house and ask for Soraya's hand in marriage for him. Baba says yes, and gets dressed to visit the general's house. Amir waits at home to hear what happened, and Baba calls with the news that the general has said yes. Amir talks with Soraya, and she tells him that she once ran away with an Afghan boy who was into drugs, and her father made her come home, and they haven't seen completely eye to eye ever since. She asks Amir if that changes his mind about her and their marriage, and Amir says no. Amir and Baba go to the General's house the next day for the lafz ceremony (the ceremony of "giving word"). Soraya's entire family is there. Both Baba and the General make speeches, and then Soraya comes out and sits next to Amir with her father's blessing for the first time. They are officially engaged now, but there is an engagement period that they all agree to skip because they know Baba is not going to last that long. Baba pays for the wedding and rents a large hall for them as well as buying the rings and tuxedo for Amir. The wedding happens, and Amir thinks about if Hassan has gotten married as well. He and Soraya consummate their wedding that night, the first time Amir has been with a woman. Soraya moves in with Amir and Baba and helps take care of Baba. Baba shows Soraya one of Amir's novels. A month after the wedding, Baba passes away. The funeral is held at the mosque, and Amir goes through the rituals of greeting everyone and thinks about how life is going to be without Baba. He finds Soraya and breaks down in her arms. After the funeral, Amir thinks about what he's found out about the family he's married into; that the general has migraines that send him into a dark room for days. And how Soraya's mother had a stroke when Soraya ran away with the Afghan boy, and is an accomplished singer, but isn't allowed to sing because the General thinks it's beneath them. Khanum takes to Amir very quickly, and Amir knows it's because he's married Soraya, which she was afraid no Afghan would do because of her past. They are at another wedding one day and Soraya hears relatives talking about her. She said she's never forgiven her father for making her cut off all her hair when he brought her back home. She is glad Amir doesn't care about her past, but Amir knows it's because he has a past of his own. Amir and Soraya move out of Baba's apartment and into their own. Her parents give them a couch, dishes, and for Amir an IBM typewriter. Characters introduced: Sharif (General Sahib's brother) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Amir starts college at San Jose State as an English major and Soraya soon follows. Her father the General wishes she would choose another career such as law or political science, but Soraya wants to be a teacher. After he says this, she remarks that at least she's making something of herself and not sitting around like her father. Her mother scolds her for this. Amir finishes his first novel and sends query letters to a number of agencies. Soon, an agent calls and wants to represent Amir. Amir sends the novel and to his surprise, it sells almost immediately. They have dinner with Soraya's family to celebrate. Amir becomes a minor celebrity in the Afghan community, but now his mind is on trying to have a child with Soraya. They try for a year, but it is not happening, so they go to see a doctor. Amir tests out ok, but it seems like Soraya is infertile for an unknown reason. They discuss adoption, but when they bring it up with Soraya's family, they seem very reluctant, and Soraya has her own reasons for not wanting to adopt. Amir is reluctant as well, but only because he sees their failure as being payback for what he had done in the past. A few months later, Amir and Soraya buy a house in San Francisco, mostly to get away from the General and Soraya's mother. After that, we jump ahead to June 2001, back to where the book first started, where Amir gets a call from Rahim Khan. Soraya asks him what's wrong; he says that Rahim is sick and that he has to go to Pakistan. He suspects that Rahim knows about what happened back in Afghanistan, and wants him to atone for it. When he comes back from a walk, he finds out that her parents are coming to stay with her for a while. He gets on a plane to Pakistan a week later. He lands in Peshawar and takes a taxi to Rahim's house. He remembers the last time he saw Rahim back in 1981 before he and Baba fled Afghanistan. The taxi lets him off and Amir knocks on the door of a house. An incredibly frail old man answers; it's Rahim, and he's wasted away to almost nothing. They sit and talk about Soraya, and Baba's last days, and the Taliban occupation. Rahim had been staying in Baba's old house since 1981. He saw the Russians destroy Baba's orphanage, and how they originally greeted the Taliban as liberators. Characters introduced: Dr. Rosen (Soraya's fertility doctor) |
