The Kite Runner Chapter 11 Quotes
The Kite Runner Chapter 11 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
Lying awake in bed that night, I thought of Soraya Taheri's sickle-shaped birthmark, her gently hooked nose, and the way her luminous eyes had fleetingly held mine. My heart stuttered at the thought of her. (11.104)
Soraya doesn't sound that hot here. From Hosseini's description, we picture the witch in "Sleeping Beauty": her nose is hooked like a scythe, and her eyes are glowing in a potion-induced mania. However, we do think Soraya's sickle-shaped birthmark should remind you of someone else in the book. Give up? That's right: Hassan. (Hassan has a harelip.) Why do you think Hosseini compare these two characters through their physical features? What else do they have in common?
Quote 2
The same day he was hired, Baba and I went to our eligibility officer in San Jose, Mrs. Dobbins. She was an overweight black woman with twinkling eyes and a dimpled smile. She'd told me once that she sang in church, and I believed her – she had a voice that made me think of warm milk and honey. Baba dropped the stack of food stamps on her desk. "Thank you but I don't want," Baba said. "I work always. In Afghanistan I work, in America I work. Thank you very much, Mrs. Dobbins, but I don't like it free money."
Mrs. Dobbins blinked. Picked up the food stamps, looked from me to Baba like we were pulling a prank, or "slipping her a trick" as Hassan used to say. "Fifteen years I been doin' this job and nobody's ever done this," she said. And that was how Baba ended those humiliating food stamp moments at the cash register and alleviated one of his greatest fears: that an Afghan would see him buying food with charity money. Baba walked out of the welfare office like a man cured of a tumor. (11.29-30)
Even in America, where Amir finally sees a more human side of Baba since they struggle to make ends meet, Baba never wavers in his principles. One of which, it seems, is to not be on welfare. This probably comes from Baba's strong sense of independence and self-sufficiency. This episode with the welfare eligibility officer makes Rahim Khan's revelation of Baba's affair with Sanaubar all the more surprising. Baba seems ready to sacrifice his comfort (here) and even his life (with the Russian soldier above) for the principle of honor (nang). So, how could Baba betray Ali? And how could Baba literally live with his betrayal (since he keeps Hassan around)?
Quote 3
Baba would enlighten me with his politics during those walks with long-winded dissertations. "There are only three real men in this world, Amir," he'd say. He'd count them off on his fingers: America the brash savior, Britain, and Israel. "The rest of them – " he used to wave his hand and make a phht sound " – they're like gossiping old women."
[...]. In Baba's view, Israel was an island of "real men" in a sea of Arabs too busy getting fat off their oil to care for their own. "Israel does this, Israel does that," Baba would say in a mock-Arabic accent. "Then do something about it! Take action. You're Arabs, help the Palestinians, then!" (11.3-4)
Baba's ideas about masculinity even seep into his politics. America, Britain, and Israel are the only real men in international politics because they take action instead of simply talk. Don't forget, though, how Baba's life changes once he immigrates to America, one of the "masculine" countries. He diminishes in stature; he's no longer throwing lavish parties and building orphanages, but instead working long hours at a gas station. And what caused Baba to move to America? The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, which sounds like a country "taking action." The very qualities – and countries – Baba praises actually ruin him. Is it possible for Hosseini to include any more irony in this novel?