How does Hosseini convey a sense of tension and violence in chapter 22?
Throughout the 22nd chapter Hosseini convey a sense of tension and violence through many different language features. The chapter is written in a first person, which makes it more personal and sincere. The fact that it is sincere makes it even more dramatic, as we know that Amir really had to go through all this and that it is a real story. The chapter is told from Amir’s point of view and in a retrospective narrative, so we know that it is not happening at the time and it is Amir’s memory told in a past tense. Hosseini also want to give us some information by others points of view. Epistolary we get the point of view of Rahim Khan and Hassan through the letters they have addressed to Amir.
Hosseini begins the chapter with a sense of tension straight on a first page. “He parked in the shadow…” The dark scenery is suggesting us that something is blocking the light. It is a pathetic fallacy, as the common noun “shadow” signifies the atmosphere at the time. Pathetic fallacy is a literary device that attributes human qualities and emotions to inanimate objects of nature. “I heard terse voices from the other side and a pair of men toting Kalashnikovs answered the door”. The mood of this quote is also under the tension, as the noun “Kalashnikovs” stands for guns. It is signifying us the death and terror the Russians had brought to Afghanistan. There is also a sign of juxtaposition in the quote, “The older of the two men motioned toward the sofa with the barrel of his weapon. I sat down. They left the room.” Juxtaposition is used here as they made Amir sit down on a sofa even though they have left the room anyway. Juxtaposition means a contrast as the soldier is wrestling to a man to calm himself down. We have also another example of juxtaposition in here, which is the presentence of Meka. Meka is a religious image and it contrasts with the Talibs as what they do is not right and the way they say it is in the name of God is contrasting in what they really do. Also when talking about the use of white colours there is also confusing as white represents pure and goodness whereas the Taliban is a complete opposite and this also creates a tension along with confusion. All of this creates a sense of violence by using the contrast.
When Amir says to Farid with uncertainty “I’ll be back” but then straight afterwards he adds to himself “Not sure at all that I would be”, this makes us imagine how scary and dangerous the situation that Amir was involved in was. He is not sure if he is going to be alive after the meeting with the Talibs even though he is yet not aware of the fact that Assef, Amir’s biggest enemy is the Talib. This all makes the situation extremely hard.
Further on, we get the idea about how nervous Amir is at the time by the choices of language he makes. “I crossed my legs. Uncrossed them.” He is changing his sitting position all the time and this signifies us the fact that he is nervous as this is what you do when you are really anxious. Also the quote, “sat with my sweaty hands on my knees”, tells us that he is nervous and he is overthinking. The use of the adjective “sweaty” tells us that he is hysterical about the moment as he is not sure about what is going to happen to him. By the use of short sentences, the author creates a tension, as we want to know more and more. It makes us curious about the following events.
“Blood thudded in my temples”. The use of verb “thudded” makes us realize the fact how paranoid Amir is at the moment. Also all of this shows us that the Karma is back and Amir is going to pay for his past sins. He realizes that what he has done has put him to massive consequences and difficult situation. He is aware of the karma and this is why he is proper scared about what is going to happen with him.
Throughout this chapter Hosseini uses italics to represent Amir’s thoughts at the time. He is talking to himself to ensure himself and then he changes his mind again. This again shows us his confusion.
“Whatever happened to old Babalu anyway?” When Amir hears the question, he realises that Assef is the Talib. This question hit Amir with extreme power. We know that he is in fear. The use of word ‘numb’ as in a one sentence word, shows us how paralyzed he is with the fact that Assef is the Talib. The use of metaphor in the quote, “The question hit me like a hammer between the eyes” tells us that this was completely unexpected for Amir. He never thought that he is going to meet Assef ever again. We can see it when he says, “I tried to breath and couldn’t. I tried to blink and couldn’t. The moment felt surreal.” We get the idea that Amir was not ready for this meeting, especially now, when he is fighting his head off to get the boy, to get Sohrab so he can take him away from the Talibs. He knows that it is not going to be hard and when he sees Assed he is sure that it is not even feasible. Hosseini uses a lot of emotive and descriptive language here to build a tension. Words and phrases such as “surreal”, “my voice was trembling” and “wished my flesh wasn’t shrinking against my bones”. He does this so the reader understands that it was a shock for Amir to meet Assef. The explosion of terror hits him incredibly.
We get the idea of the importance of violence in this chapter. The ‘dark’ character which is Assef loves the idea of violence. “machine gun around the room”, he is satisfied when he sees violence and takes part in the fights. This is suggesting us about how dangerous he can be as the fact the he loves violence could mean that he is an experienced fighter so no one can stand up to him.
Hosseini slows down the events by having the two: protagonist and antagonist having a small discussion. By slowing down the events leading to fight, Hosseini creates tension as we want something to happen and we cannot wait until we get to know who the winner is. Also the use of short sentences here builds up the tension.
Assef is leading the conversation to make Amir uncomfortable and we know he is as we learn that his mouth went dry. “Are you thirsty?” – Assef is being sarcastic towards Amir asking him a stupid question to make him feel even more uncomfortable. The use of adverb “thirsty” builds up the tension as it signifies that he is completely frightened about what is going to happen. Assef asks the question smirking to show Amir that he is confident and he knows who the winner is going to be. He is trying to pull Amir down so he gives up but he does not.
Hosseini uses non chronological narrative as he has gone forward in time to after the fight, leaving what has happened to the fight and then comes back. He does this so we are more curious about what happened and we want to learn more. The non-chronological narrative draws the reader in and creates a tension. We also get the idea about the violence in this chapter when during the fight is screaming. The phrase “Sohrab screams” is repeated few times. The repetition shows us the violence that is taking place at the moment as the kid cannot stand the fight and he is paranoid so he starts to scream as this the only thing he could think of to stop them two fighting. We also have a repetition of “what is so funny?”. Assef is frustrated with the fact that Amir is laughing while he is beating him up. He does not understand it. Hosseini also uses capitals to emphasise the fact that Assef was shouting. Hosseini uses repetition to show the violence in this chapter.
Throughout this chapter Hosseini convey a sense of tension and violence through a use of many different language features. He creates a tension by the use of short sentences and descriptive language. At the end of the fight, Amir says, “My body was broken. I felt… I felt healed.” Even though he just got beaten up, he feels redemption as has finally been punished after what he has done. He feels no guilt anymore and he is happy about it as now Amir can have a normal life he always dreamed about but he could not get the sins out of his mind. As Rahim Khan said before Amir came back to Afghanistan “there is a way to be good again” and Amir has fulfilled his vocation, he is good, again…