Lost & Misrepresented Voices of Afghanistan Chapter 2 Page 6

entire novel and begins through Amir’s flashbacks as to what has troubled him throughout his life. The opening paragraph of the novel states quite implicitly what is perturbing and plaguing him in adulthood:

I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty−six years (Hosseini, 2009, p. 1)

It is quite clear that the main protagonist Amir is suffering from a