Summary and Analysis
Chapter 14
Summary
The preface to Chapter 14 is "June 2001." Amir has just completed his phone call with Rahim Khan, and Amir tells Soraya he must go to Pakistan. The final words Rahim Khan says to Amir are "There is a way to be good again." And with those words, Amir has his proof that Rahim Khan knows everything about Amir's past — the rape, the lies, the framing. After Amir decides to go to Pakistan, he spends the day thinking of Hassan, his past, and the mistakes he has made. That night, Amir dreams of Hassan saying, "For you, a thousand times over!"
Analysis
This short chapter serves as a transition from the past into the near present — six months prior to the opening chapter of the novel. The mysterious phone call from Rahim Khan compels Amir to return to the Middle East after all these years. Many of the mysteries and suspense of the first chapter are now completely understood, yet not everything is clear. Readers who are not paying close attention might equate Chapter 14 with Chapter 1, not realizing that Chapter 1 actually takes place six months after Chapter 14. Although the setting for Chapter 1 is not explicitly clear, it appears to be in the United States, but that is not yet entirely certain.
The significance of the narrative timeline for The Kite Runner as a whole is actually made clear in this chapter because about half the novel is spent leading up to June 2001, yet the second half of the novel covers only nine months. Undoubtedly, something extremely important is going to happen when Amir returns to Pakistan and, most likely, Afghanistan.