Rahim Khan

Rahim Khan is an influential part of Amir’s life because he gives fatherly support and advice to him. He has always been there to help Amir and advise him. Amir considered Rahim Khan his first adult friend. So, obviously, Rahim played a large part in Amir’s life as a child. In fact, he has been in Amir’s life the whole time. “I am a baby in that photograph and Baba is holding me, looking tired and grim. I’m in his arms, but its Rahim Khan’s pinky my fingers are curled around,” (Hosseini, 5). Rahim Khan was also very supportive of Amir and his desires. “As always, it was Rahim Khan who rescued me. He held out his hand and favoured me with a smile that had nothing feigned about it. ‘May I have it, Amir jan? I would very much like to read it.’” (Hosseini, 31). Whenever Baba wasn’t there for Amir, Rahim Khan was.

Rahim Khan was genuinely supportive and helpful to Amir when he decided he wanted to be a writer. Rahim Khan never told him what he can and can’t do. He showed support to Amir by buying him a notebook for his stories. He was also a parental figure when he told Amir that he had to go get Sohrab to make up for what he did and to stand up for himself. “’And why you? I think we both know why it has to be you, don’t we?’” (Hosseini, 221). From these, you can infer that the main reason Amir returned to Kabul was because of Rahim Khan. He also probably took some responsibility for Amir pursuing writing. So, he was a very large influence on Amir.

Allison Thomas

Amir Needs Farrid

Amir needed Farrid because he knew the real Afghanistan as opposed to the wealthy upper class one Amir had grown up to recognize. More importantly he knows the Afghanistan that he needs to drive Amir through, the one after the war. From the beginning of Amir’s journey to retrieve Sohrab, Farrid had accepted to drive Amir through dangerous spots like their final destination, Kabul, which is littered with Talaban and the homeless. He knows his way around the streets and he also knows how to stay out of trouble. “Don’t ever stare at them! Do you understand me? Never!” (Hosseini 260) He warns Amir of the Taliban and expresses how urgent it is for Amir to not hold their attention because they are always just looking for another stranger to shoot. Being the taxi driver, he was helpful when searching for Sohrab because he was the one who knew where each location was. He drove Amir to Ghazi Stadium, to the orphanage and even to his brother’s house where he was taken care of for the night and given food, all free of charge. Even if he did not accompany Amir when going to meet the mysterious man with the white shirt and sunglasses (later known to be Assef), he did involve himself by driving him to the hospital and after that, to the bank in order for Amir to obtain money to pay for being fixed. Both situations could have caused Farrid major problems. For one, he helped Amir escape and now Amir has people searching for him and secondly he took Amir to the bank so he could take out a large sum of money which Amir had to walk around with in his pockets. In conclusion Amir needed Farrid to drive him around, because with everything that had occurred since Amir last saw Afghanistan, his ‘home’ is now unrecognizable. “Swervning effortlessly around potholes in the middle of the broken road, Farrid was a man in his element.” (Hoseini 255) Farrid knows and has memorized the roads just as Amir knows and can recite several different poems.