The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini #8 105-120

The start of these 15 pages picks up where the last passage ended with Baba forgiving Hassan for supposedly stealing Amir’s watch and money. Baba is pleading for them to stay and has forgiven them, but Ali gives hints to Amir that he knows what happened to Hassan in the alley. Ali believes that it isn’t possible for them to be living with Baba and especially Amir. While Baba pleas he begins to cry. Amir has never seen Baba cry before. He believed grown men couldn’t cry and it was also the first time he had seen fear in Baba. Baba’s endless begging was at a loss; Hassan and Ali decided to leave. In the next chapter Baba and Amir are forced to leave their house because of the invading Russians. They are put on a refugee bus to leave Kabul. During the ride they are stopped at a checkpoint. A Russian solider lifts the covers from the truck and searches the passengers. He finds a young woman holding a baby with her husband. He asks for 30 minutes with her. She bursts into tears fearing the worst. All of a sudden Baba stands up in defense. He tells the solider that this is wrong and will tear him to pieces. Amir tries to sit him down but to no effect. This makes Baba even more disappointed in Amir because it shows that he hasn’t taught him anything about standing up for him self. The solider threatens to shoot him, but Baba replies that he would take a thousand bullets from him. Baba is saved when another Russian solider intervenes. As they drive along the husband comes over to Baba and kisses his hand. This is familiar to Amir, as he has seen this many times before. They arrive at a house to switch trucks. They are shocked to find that the truck would need repairs. Baba goes in a rage and begins to choke the driver, Karim. The woman with the baby calms Baba down saving the Karim’s life.
The traits of Amir are consistent throughout the book. He is portrayed to be a coward and it does not go unnoticed. Baba notices that Amir doesn’t stand up for him self and is somewhat disappointed in his only son. This is relevant when Baba is standing up for the woman with the baby and her husband. Amir tries to sit him down, but this only angers Baba because it embarrasses him making him feel like he had taught nothing to his son. This is not the only event, Amir also never stood up for Hassan numerous times including the alleyway. Overall, Amir made choices in the book which portrait him as a coward.
There were many words that I need to define. Tarpaulin is a protective covering of canvas or other material waterproofed with tar, paint, or wax. The definition of Precipitous is extremely steep. The definition of Retching is to try to vomit. The meaning of exasperated means to irritate or provoke to a high degree; annoy extremely. The meaning of Silhouettes is a drawing consisting of the outline of something, especially a human profile, filled in with a solid color. A carburetor is a device for mixing vaporized fuel with air to produce a combustible or explosive mixture, as for an internal-combustion engine.