How does Amir react to Rahim’s story?
What do we learn from Hassan’s letter? What does he learn about the treatment of women under the Taliban? What does the re-discovery of the pomegranite tree symbolise, do you think?
How does Rahim offer Hassan a chance of redeeming himself? How does Amir reply? What do you think of the characterisation of Amir at this point?
Rahim reiterates Baba’s fear that Amir is a “man who can’t stand up to anything”.
What does Rahim now reveal to Amir about Hassan’s father?
How does Amir respond?
The Kite Runner Reloaded 
Rahim Khan tells Amir the story of how he found Hassan (causing the narrative to shift into first person). Rahim Khan went to Hazarajat in 1986 as he was lonely and was struggling to look after Baba’s house alone. He found Hassan living in a small mud house, working in the yard. Having greeted each other, Hassan took Rahim Khan inside to reveal to him to his pregnant wife, Hazara woman named Farzana. Rahim Khan found out that Ali was killed by a land mine. Rahim Khan offered Hassan and Farzana to come and live in Baba’s house with him, so that they could help him maintain it, yet Hassan declined, saying that Hazarajat was their home now. When he told Hassan that Baba had died, Hassan got upset and cried. Rahim Khan stayed the night and the next morning, Hassan told him that he and Farzana would go back to Kabul with him. Hassan did not stay in the house, he stayed in the servant’s house, just as he did when he was younger. This is important to Amir as the news of Hassan’s death means that he has lost his childhood friend forever, but also that he can never apologize to Hassan for allowing his rape and then lying about him stealing Amir’s birthday money. Making up for these actions was part of the reason he travelled to Pakistan in the first place.
We then learn in Hassan’s letter to Amir that he had a son, Sohrab. Now that Hassan and Farzana are dead, Sohrab is an orphan, and Amir is the only person able to save him. Yet this is a way of making it up to Hassan, even if he is dead. Initially, the story suggests that Amir will have to live with his guilt permanently, but Rahim Khan says one way remains for him to make amends: going to Kabul to retrieve Sohrab. Although Amir is afraid to go to Kabul, it becomes a test of his honour, loyalty, and manhood. He knows he is going to an extremely dangerous place and in returning there he is risking his life. Being in Kabul also forces Amir to face up to his past that he has tried so hard to forget over the years. Rahim Khan knows that this is a difficult decision for Amir and to convince him, he brings up the conversation he once had with Baba, when Baba said he feared that Amir would not be able to stand up to anything as a man if he could not stand up for himself as a boy. Amir realises that Baba was probably right, gets angry and storms out of the apartment. Rahim Khan then reveals that Ali was not Hassan’s father and that Hassan was actually Baba’s second son. Amir then realises that Sohrab is no longer just his old friend’s son, but he is his nephew. By bringing Sohrab home, Amir can become the man that Baba always wanted him to be and also make up to Hassan what he did when they were young boys.