The beginning of this chapter focuses on Amir’s thoughts while the doctors are attempting to save Sohrab from his self inflicted injuries. There are two main parts to this extract. The first part focuses on Amir’s attempt to live out his panic about Sohrab’s health. The second part focuses on the attempt Amir makes to calm himself down whilst he is forced to wait. Hosseini takes the reader along into these situations by employing techniques like personification and sensory writing to further the mood of panic and fear. Further, the reader will find that Amir is in panic about Sohrab not for the obvious reason.
The structure of the extract is very basic. After the first one line paragraph, there are two paragraphs. The first of which is mainly demonstrating the fear, panic and confusion Amir is in, letting the reader fell that with the use of personification and sensory writing. The second paragraph focuses less on the description of the scene, but the possibilities of further action and the internal conflict Amir is going through while he is excluded from Sohrab’s room. These are shown by the feelings Amir has as he feels like his legs are “blocks of concrete”, his lungs are “empty of air” and his throat is “burning” (lines 18-19). Throughout the whole passage Hosseini also writes quite long sentences with a multitude of punctuation. These especially emphasize the jumps in Amir’s thoughts as he attempts to analyze the situation he is faced with in the quickest possible way. This structure is only contrasted by the opening sentence:”They won’t let me in”. This colloquial statement places the reader in the situation where he or she realizes that Amir has a Problem.
The techniques Hosseini employs throughout the extract are mostly sensory writing and personification. These establish the mood of panic and fear in the extract. Already in the second sentence, “the smell of iodine and peroxide hits” (line 3) Amir rather than him just smelling iodine and peroxide. Later on the sliding doors are also personified as they “swing shut behind him with a sigh”. These aspects show the reader what Amir is going through in all his misery and create that tone of panic and helplessness.
Sensory writing is also an important tool made use of by Hosseini. It envelopes the reader with Amir and lets them vividly imagine the scene. The strong emphasis on color and lighting shows the may jumps there are in Amir’s mind as he analyses the situation before him. Besides the obvious mentions of color like the “woman in green” (line 4) and the “man in blue” (line 7), there are also subtle and indirect mentions of color like the “pair of small bloody feet” (line 6) alluding to the color red and the “grimy checkered tiles” (line 5) to a dull and dirty color.
There is an underlying tone of selfishness in the passage that may be noticed through the fear and panic Amir is in. This tone comes through in the context of the passage. Sohrab was Amir’s chance for redemption, and if he dies, Amir has ‘killed’ not only Hassan, but also Sohrab. This selfishness is linked with the obvious fear in the passage. Amir is indeed afraid of Sohrab dying but it is uncertain if it is for Sohrab’s of for his own sake. The indication Hosseini has given for this is the constant repetition of the words “I” and “me” despite the first person perspective. These words are used multiple times per sentence: “I see them wheel him through a set of double doors and I follow.” (line 2) or “I want to scream again, I remember the last time I felt this way, …” (lines 14-15)
This extract shows the second part of the novel very well. Hosseini subtly indicates to the reader that Amir fears that his chance for redemption gets taken from him. Further, he takes the reader along into these situations by employing techniques like personification and sensory writing to further the mood of panic and fear. The reader will consequently be able to live with the character of Amir through this scene. Most importantly, Hosseini demonstrates how a typical situation full of panic, fear and confusion leads to the recognition of all he minor details that are actually irrelevant to it, but help the unfortunate victim of the situation to process it.
