Good and evil

1. Hassan is first described as having a 'perfectly round face' and 'giggling, laughing'. This shows him as a beautiful character and suggests his innocence.
2. Assef is portrayed as the 'embodiment of evil' throughout the book, e.g. when he compares himself to hitler 'he was a man with vision.. that's my vision'. This allows Assef to appear evil.
3. The rape of Hassan by Assef is an example of evil, as it taints both Amir's life, 'the rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had said something' and Hassan's 'always remind you of what I'm about to do'. This event leads to other evil things happening too..
4. Amir not stopping Hassan's rape is an example a kind of 'evil' as it ruins both their lives and their friendship, forever. Forcing Amir to find 'a way to be good again', showing he is not 'good' in his eyes because of what he did.
5. An example of good is when Amir plants 'a fistful of crumpled money under a mattress', this echoes the reason that Hassan and Ali left, when Amir planted the watch under Hassan's bed, which was a kind of 'evil'. Now he is slightly redeeming that action by doing a good thing.
6. Assef seems almost 'demonic' when he talks about ruthlessly, 'stoning adulterers' and 'raping children' and seems almost proud of it. Amir talks about trying not to 'conjure him' making Assef appear to have some kind of supernatural strength and therefore seeming demonic.
7. An example of goodness is when Amir finally stands up for what's right, when he challenges Assef, 'massacring hazaras? all in the name of Islam?' This shows he has finally conquered his fears as he is finally taking Baba's instinctive goodness, showing he isn't actually a complete coward.
8. Amir finally achieves 'redemption' when he saves Sohrab from the sexually assaulting grasp of Assef, Amir says he feels 'healed at last'.
9. Amir does a good thing when he takes Sohrab back to America to live with him, he is in a sense making up for not saving Hassan in the alleyway, by saving his son from the troubles of Afghanistan, 'Sohrab. We're going to America'.
10. Baba builds an orphanage in Afghanistan which is another example of someone doing something really good for others.