The Kite Runner Chapter 8

     For a week after Hassan came home bloodied and his shirt torn, Amir barely saw Hassan. In fact, he was sleeping all the time. Sleeping is human's defend instinct and I believe he wanted to forget what three bullies had done to him, something unbelievably brutal.

     The relationship between Amir and Hassan started to go wrong too. I believe they were both tired, each for different reasons. Silence fell when they went out to play together, which never happened before. Hassan tried to rekindle things but Amir rejected. He snapped at Hassan, ''I'll tell you what I want you to stop doing. Anything. I want you to go away.'' I think the reason Hassan finally gave up restoration by this remark was that he thought Amir hated Hazara. It's quite natural for him to think that way because he had done nothing. On the other hand, Amir was cornered mentally as he became an insomniac and remembered Hassan getting raped every time he tried to sleep, suffering from lie, the curse. We can see this from the scene that takes place in Amir and Hassan's favorite hill where there was a pomegranate tree they used to read together on. Suddenly, Amir hurled pomegranate at Hassan, pelting hardly but then, he craved Hassan to hit him back because he wanted punishment he deserved. However, Hassan never did that and even crushed pomegranate against his forehead, asking if Amir felt better. In my opinion, Amir couldn't bare the situation which he kept hurting Hassan one-sidedly.

     Meanwhile, Amir and Baba immersed themselves in a sweet illusion and deceived themselves into thinking kite could somehow close the chasm between them. However, Amir was always filled with a feeling of emptiness. When Baba, Amir, and relatives went to Jalalabad together. Baba ranted to his cousins about Amir's win in kite-flying tournament. Amir had Baba all to himself and Baba was proud of him, it must have been a moment Amir desired all the time but emptiness continued at the bottom of his heart.

     Summer of 1976 was Afghanistan's next to last summer of peace and anonymity. Things between Baba and Amir were already cooling off again. What started it was Amir's little question. When Hassan and Amir's relationship got worse than ever, Amir asked, ''Baba have you ever thought about getting new servants？'' Hearing this, Baba got really furious and said Ali is his family and that Hassan's not going anywhere. Baba didn't give a reason for Hassan. I assumed Hassan was actually not a child of Ali, his father was Baba and many elements in the first few chapters implied it. 

     Baba held a big thirteenth birthday party for Amir and invited more than four hundred people. Of course, Amir soon noticed who the real star of the show was, Baba. Amir grew up as a member of the privileged class in Afghanistan but he hated never lasting social etiquette to the strangers.

     Assef and his parents, Mahmood and Tanya participated in the party too. Assef pretended like an embodiment of every parent's dream on the surface but Amir revealed a glimpse of madness hiding in his eyes. Assef's parents implied it too. They never spoke a word and had stretched smiles all the time during conservation between Baba and him. I believe he frightened them. The situation of son ruling the house is quite hard to imagine for me but as Amir said, Assef is definitely a sociopath so there is a possibility.

     Rahim Khan is a key character in chapter eight. Rahim gave Amir a brown leather-bound notebook for the present which shows his support for Amir's dream of becoming a story writer. On the other hand, he kept looking ar Amir in an odd way when Baba boasted his son's championship. Maybe, he perceived Amir's sin and If he did, we can explain what he said in chapter one, ''There is a way to be good again.'' He must have shown Amir what he has to pay for redemption. In addition, he left meaningful advice in the last part, that in the end, the world always wins someone against the world. 

     To conclude, chapter eight was iconic chapter that depicted how every relationship went worse as if it is the penalty for the betrayal. I could see some characters are related to Hosseini's background too. His mother, a Farsi language teacher appeared a little.