Chapter 4

In this chapter, we learn that Ali was an orphan brought up by Baba's father. The two men grew up together like Amir and Hassan, but Amir never hears Baba refer to him as a friend.
As they grew up, Hassan acted as Amir's servent. Despite this, they spent most of their time together, with Amir reading stories to Hassan who was illiterate. Their favourite story was 'Rostam and Sohrab'. Amir reads a story he wrote to Hassan and Hassan encourages Amir to write more.
Baba refuses to read Amir's story, but Rahim Khan reads it and praises Amir for his talent. When Hassan points out a possible hole in the plot (about the onions), Amir gets angry at him.
As Amir tells the story of Ali being his fathers servant, he draws a comparison with his own relationship with Hassan. He provides an explanation of the difference between himself and his father and Ali and Hassan basing it on their different religons. The division between their religions, Amir and Baba being Sunni Muslims, and Hassan and Ali being Shi'a Muslims, makes it hard for them to be true friends.
The films that Amir and Hassan go to see at the cinema are mostly Western movies, which is the first mention of Western culture in young Amir's life and connects us with the older Amir telling us his story from the USA. The motif of Western movies also reflects on Amir's story, with the clear factors such as good guys and bad guys and justice winning out. The actors in the films such as John Wayne can be seen as similar to Baba in Amir's eyes as he looks up to them and sees them both as larger than life figures.
We are given descriptions of Kabul which describes many smells, colours and noises of the city. These not only create a vivid setting for Amir's story and allow the reader to picture it, they also provide a comparison for the reader when we hear about the changed Kabul later in the novel. These settings can be used to reflect mood, plot and character or act as a metaphor themselves within the text.
When Amir reads to Hassan, it could seem an act of compassion and reminicient of his mother being a teacher, however Amir never actually teaches Hassan to read, retaining his power over the servant. He uses this power to tease Hassan and cruely teaches him the wrong meanings to words, for example when Hassan asks what 'imbecile' means, Amir replies 'Imbecile. It means smart, intelligent.'
Amir reads to Hassan in a cemetry under a pomegranate tree. The cemetry represents a place of death, but also, because it's disuses, represents a place beyond both death and life. It can be seen as a hideout, or a place the rest of the world cannot reach them. The pomegranate tree could be symbolic of life and also the sweetness of the bond between Amir and Hassan as they share the fruit before Amir reads to Hassan. The tree and the cemetry are both symbols which return throughout the novel.
Stories are a central motif in the novel. Most of the novel is Amir telling us a story, rather than a third-party narrator. Within this story, we see Amir reading Hassan stories. First he just reads them out, then he begins to ammend them, and before long he is writing his own stories. This shows the reader that there is a bond between Amir and his dead mother due to the fact that she was a teacher of literature. It alos gives him a chance to express his thoughts which otherwise wouldn't have been expressed. In his first storyhe tells a tale that Rahim Khan descibes as 'ironic' but has also a sad and disturbing ending. This provides Hassan with an outlet for his own emotions and a mirror by which the reader can examine them. In response to Amir's story, Hassan finds a plot hole, showing Hassan's ability to see complex things clearly, highlighting Amir's muddled and emotional thinking. Amir's 'mean-streak' shows itself again as he asks himself, 'What does he know, that illiterate Hazara? He'll never be anything but a cook.'