reiterates the fact that children who were abused are ‘silent’; this is clear in Kamal and Hassan’s case. It is also the case with Amir who is unable to voice his account of the childhood trauma he witnessed to anyone and instead allows a cathartic process of treatment to begin. Kamal who is now a mute ‘doesn’t talk anymore’ due to his ordeal and is consequently ‘invisible’ as he is unable to voice his ordeal. Instead, he ‘just stares’ into the abyss and deals with his pain in silence. Hosseini’s novel demonstrates how young children are not only the victims of abuse but so are the parents such as Kamal’s father who is unable to actually express his torment and pain at acknowledging his son was abused.

The abuse that male children suffer at the hands