How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Jadeh Maywand had turned into a giant sand castle. The buildings that hadn't entirely collapsed barely stood, with caved in roofs and walls pierced with rockets shells. Entire blocks had been obliterated to rubble. I saw a bullet-pocked sign half buried at an angle in a heap of debris. It read DRINK COCA CO––. I saw children playing in the ruins of a windowless building amid jagged stumps of brick and stone. Bicycle riders and mule-drawn carts swerved around kids, stray dogs, and piles of debris. A haze of dust hovered over the city and, across the river, a single plume of smoke rose to the sky. (20.15)
Jadeh Maywand is a big avenue in Kabul where kite shops used to sell their wares. Now, after years of fighting, it's been turned into rubble. Really, into dust ("a giant sand castle"). But something else here caught our attention. Yep, the bullet-pocked sign. Earlier in the book, Amir mentions all kinds of American influences in Kabul: movies, cars, bikes, jeans, and cowboy hats. Now, when he returns, he finds – SYMBOL ALERT! – a half-legible Coca Cola sign. American influence is in the process of disappearing.
Quote #8
We found the new orphanage in the northern part of Karteh-Seh, along the banks of the dried-up Kabul River. It was a flat, barracks-style building with splintered walls and windows boarded with planks of wood. Farid had told me on the way there that Karteh-Seh had been one of the most war-ravaged neighborhoods in Kabul, and, as we stepped out of the truck, the evidence was overwhelming. The cratered streets were flanked by little more than ruins of shelled buildings and abandoned homes. We passed the rusted skeleton of an overturned car, a TV set with no screen half-buried in rubble, a wall with the words ZENDA BAD TALIBAN! (Long live the Taliban!) sprayed in black. (20.68)
War's influence is everywhere. Even the orphanage has turned into a "barracks-style building." Nobody's living in the homes in Karteh-Seh either. Perhaps most telling, though, is the smashed TV near the wall with "Long live the Taliban!" spray-painted on it. In the book, TVs are markers of prosperity and American influence. Amir promises Hassan he'll buy him a TV when they grow up; Amir also tells Sohrab American TVs have 500 channels. But here's a TV, smashed, and near graffiti promoting a totalitarian regime.
Quote #9
I saw a dead body near the restaurant. There had been a hanging. A young man dangled from the end of a rope tied to a beam, his face puffy and blue, the clothes he'd worn on the last day of his life shredded, bloody. Hardly anyone seemed to notice him. (21.2)
This is a smart move by Hosseini. Now that he's accustomed his readers to the devastation of war in the previous chapter, he casually introduces a shocking image. We think most readers will pause here and say, "Gosh, this is really awful," and then move on because that's what Hosseini does. Hosseini knows his readers, like the Afghani citizens, are getting used to horror.