Characters

• Narator, Amir
  • I had thought at first that the narrator was Hassan
• Baba, Narrator’s father
• Narrator’s mother
• Hassan
  • Cleft-lip
  • Narrow, gold/green/sapphire eyes
  • Low-set ears
  • Pointed, stubby chin
  • Perfectly round face
• Hazaras
  • Ethnic group, mongul descendants
  • Shi’a
  • Flat-nosed, mice-eating, load-carrying donkeys
  • 19th Century uprising
• Ali, Hassan’s father
  • Baba’s servant?
  • Congenital paralysis in lower facial muscles
  • Atrophied right leg due to polio
  • Called Babalu “Boogeyman” by children
  • Called Flat-nosed, Mongoloid heritage
• Khorami – Irananian Female Historian
  • Wrote book about Hazaras
• King Nadir Shah
• Narrator and Hassan’s Midwife
  • From Bamiyan
  • Nursed both narrator and Hassan
• Pashtuns
  • “True” people of Afghanistan
  • Sunni
• Rahim Khan
  • Baba’s best friend and business partner
• Sanaubar, Hassan’s mother
  • loose morals
  • Deserted Hassan running off with traveling troupe
  • Ridiculed Ali
• group of soldiers insult Hassan’s about his mother

Locations

• Bamiyan
  • City of Giant Buddha Statues
• Narrator’s father’s house
  • Narrator lived there 18 years
• Wazir Akbar Khan district, northern Kabul Location of Narrator’s father’s house
• Isfahan mosaic tiles
• Calcutta gold-stitched tapestries
• servant’s home mudhut on Baba’s property where Ali and Hassan live
• Mashad Baba bought Ali tapestry from here
• Cinema Zainab

Dates

• 19th Century
  • Uprising of Shi’a Hazaras against Sunni Pashtuns
• 1933
  • King Nadir Shah assassinated
• 1963
  • Narrator Born
  • Narrator’s mother dies
• 1964
  • Hassan Born
  • Hassan’s mother runs off

Themes/Motifs

• Childhood Narrator describes his youth of playing with Hassan, and random childhood mischeif
• Childhood v Adulthood, Future v Past Baba’s “adult-time”, old grainy photos
• Affluence v Poor Carefree childhood, narrator’s father’s house, servant’s house “mud shack”
• Ethnic animosity, class issues

Thoughts

This section introduces the class relationship between Hazaras like Ali and Hassan who serve Pashtuns Amir and Baba.  Some religious elements of Islam are introduced including the hymn sung by the midwife to Hassan and Ali. Also, the final words of the section allude to the later conflict. Amir’s first word is “Baba.” Hassan’s is “Ali.” This hints at some conflict in the relationship between Baba, Hassan, and Ali.