Chapter+Nine+The+Kite+Runner

Chapter Nine of The Kite Runner  __** Amir is faced with a pile of birthday presents, but felt so guilty about not saving Hassan from being raped by Assef that he felt that it was all “blood money” **“Baba would have never thrown me a party like that if I hadn’t won the tournament.”** Amir had Hassan’s blood on his hands. Baba gave Amir a brand new Schwinn Stingray “the king of bicycles”. **“only a handful of kids in all of** ** Kabul **** owned a new Stingray and now I was one of them.” ** The bike frame was coloured red and all Amir could associate the colour with was blood. Amir decided that **“One of us had to go.”** Ali gives Amir a birthday present. It was a beautiful hardback book. All the pictures were hand-drawn. Ali said that it was not a gift that was worthy enough of Amir. **Amir wanted to tell Ali is was not the book, but I who was unworthy…I ended up tossing the book on the heap of gifts in the corner of my room. But my eyes kept going back to it, so I buried it at the bottom.** Amir plants his new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under the mattress on Hassan’s bed. **The I knocked on Baba’s door and told what I hoped would be the last in a long line of shameful lies.** They were all called into Baba’ study. **They’d both been crying; …they stood before Baba hand in hand, and I wondered how and when I’d become capable of causing this kind of pain.”** Hassan said that he had stolen the watch. **I flinched, like I’d been slapped. My heart sank and I almost blurted out the truth. Then I understood: This was Hassan’s final sacrifice for me. If he’d said no Baba would have believed him because we all knew Hassan never lied…I would have to explain and I would be revealed for what I really was. Baba would never ever forgive me. And that led to another understanding: Hassan knew. He knew I’d seen everything in that alley, that I’d stood there and done nothing. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again…I loved him in that moment, loved him more than I had ever loved anyone, and I wanted to tell them all that I was the snake in the grass, the monster in the lake. I wasn’t worthy of this sacrifice; I was a liar, a cheat, and a thief….except that a part of me was glad….this would be over soon. Baba would dismiss the, there would be some pain, but life would move on. I wanted that, to move on, to forget, to start with a clean slate. I wanted to be able to breathe again.** Baba tells Hassan that he forgives him even though he had told Amir that he considered theft to be the worst sin. **“there is no act more wretched than stealing.”** Amir was even more devastated. **“if Baba could forgive that, then why couldn’t be forgive me for not being the son he’d always wanted?** Ali tells Baba that they are leaving. “life here is impossible for us now, Agha sahib.” Amir notices that Ali draws Hassan to him in a protective gesture. **I knew whom Ali was protecting him from. Ali glanced my way and in his cold, unforgiving look, I saw that Hassan had told him. ..everything, about what Assef and his friends had done to him, about the kite, about me.** Amir felt relieved. **I was glad that someone knew me for who I really was; I was tired of pretending.** Baba begs them to stay and Amir finally understands the depth of pain he has brought to everyone. Ali didn’t tell Baba, why. **I could imagine the two of them in that dim little hut, weeping, Hassan pleading him not to give me away. But I couldn’t imagine the restraint it must have taken Alit to keep that promise.** Baba cries. Metaphor – but it rained the afternoon Baba took Ali and Hassan to the bus stations. Thunderheads rolled in, painted the sky iron gray.
 * __  The Kite Runner
 * I was sorry, but I didn’t cry and I didn’t chase the car. **