The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
Contributed by Youlanda Mill
Chapter 20
Summary

As Amir and Farid arrive in Kabul, Amir is shocked at the complete devastation that has left the city ravaged. All the trees are gone, and the city is full of rubble and child beggars. A truck full of Taliban men passes and Amir makes eye contact and holds gaze with one of them. He is warned both by Farid and a nearby beggar not to do this. The beggar, who had once been a university professor, tells Amir how the Taliban patrol the city streets looking for an excuse to start trouble. When they do not find it, they still engage in acts of random violence. The beggar shows them the way to the orphanage.

At the orphanage, the director named Zaman describes the horrible conditions the children suffer there. With no clothes, little food, and terrible living conditions, the children at the orphanage are considered to be the lucky ones. Zaman turns many more children away every day because the orphanage can hardly take care of the ones it already provides shelter for. The director admits that a Taliban official gives him money to buy food for the orphanage. In return, Zaman has to give him one of the children each time he arrives. Upon hearing this, Farid tries to strangle the man to death, but is stopped by Amir proclaiming that the children are watching. Zaman tells them that the Taliban official had taken Sohrab with him. He informs them that they can find the official at a nearby stadium during halftime.

Analysis

The beggar Amir and Farid stumble upon represents all the people who had suffered under the Taliban regime. Once a university professor, the man is now reduced to begging in order to stay alive. The beggar also reveals that he had worked with Amir’s mother, whose life is scarcely explored in the novel. Therefore, the man both provides some exposition and backstory for Amir’s mother and acts as a symbol of the devastation under Taliban rule. The director of the orphanage, Zaman, exemplifies the difficult and inhumane choices people are forced to make under the new conditions. Faced with either having the children he is caring for starve to death or giving some of them away to the Taliban, Zaman opts for the second choice.

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