Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The chapter opens with gunfire in the street, and Amir says it was the beginning of the end of Afghanistan. The gunshots were part of a coup in which Dauod King, the king's cousin, took over the government. You can see that Amir is quite jealous of the father and son relationship between Hassan and Ali on the night of the explosions, as he is very caring and protective, a side that hasn't been shown from Baba yet. The roads are closed, so Baba does not return home until the morning. This is one of the first times we see Baba showing love and affection towards Amir, he "opens his arms wide", and the two boys embrace the hug. Amir also says that he had never seen fear in his father's face, and this is because he is quite a masculine, manly character, who would not let anyone see if he were upset.

The two boys go off to their tree again, as they don't really understand what is going on with the politics, when Baba and Ali are listening to the news in the smoking room. They encounter Assef and two other boys on their walk there though, and Assef is famous for his "stainless steel brass knuckles". Using the stainless steel to describe his knuckles shows that they are very strong, and could be feared of. Amir explains how he has beaten up other children in the village, and how he thinks it is cruel. This also backs up the point that Baba made, how Amir cannot be mean, as he does not agree with the violence. But this could also be seen as hypocritical, as they were being cruel to the animals earlier, and just seeing it as a bit of harmless fun, not realising the pain that can be caused when on the othe end of the deed.

The context of the Pashtuns and the Hazaras also comes up in this chapter, when Assef starts to insult Hassan about his "flat nose". He also says that "His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood." Watan means homeland in Pashtun terms, so is relevant to the setting in Afghanistan. He also says that Afghanistan should only consist of Pashtuns, and he says that he knows the president of Afghanistan, so will get the land ridden of Hazara's, the "dirty, kaseef Hazaras". He also talks about Hitler, and says that something like what happened in Germany need to happen in Afghanistan, to get rid of all the Hazaras.

Assef also picks on Ali a lot, due to the Polio that cripples him. He is well known for his meanness, and started off most of the chants that are called at Ali.

Hassan comes to the rescue, as he pulls his slingshot out of his back pocket, and threatens the other boys, with "a walnut sized rock" loaded in his slingshot. This shows out the "mean side, that Baba says Amir does not have, which is very true in this instant, as he tries to reason with words, not violence. Baba does not mention that Hassan is not manly enough, and by this gesture, he shows that he has a mean streak that can come out, when he is defending his beliefs.

This chapter seems to be a lot about violence and destruction, due to the explosions and shootings starting off the chapter, and then Assif becoming featured later on.