Assef’s cruel actions lead to further complications within the two boy’s friendship as Amir is unable to express his grief for what he had witnessed instead he:

waited for him to say something, but we just stood there in silence, in the fading light. I was grateful for the early−evening shadows that fell on Hassan’s face and concealed mine. I was glad I didn’t have to return his gaze. Did he know I knew? (Hosseini, 2009, p. 83)

Amir depicts the ‘early−evening shadows’ that conceal his face and leave him almost in the dark as well as conceal his hidden fears and the truth that he had in fact witnessed his abuse and stood and did nothing to help him. Amir deems himself as a coward due to his constant berating by his father who