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Foreshadowing
Explanation and Analysis—Assef Khan:
As Amir describes his schoolmate Assef, he uses a simile and an allusion comparing the other boy to a Khan to highlight his dominance and sense of self-importance:
Born to a German mother and Afghan father, the blond, blue-eyed Assef towered over the other kids. His well-earned reputation for savagery preceded him on the streets. Flanked by his obeying friends, he walked the neighborhood like a Khan strolling through his land with his eager-to-please entourage.
An Afghan Khan was a tribal or military leader who held absolute power and authority in the area they ruled. Khans, who ruled from ancient times in Afghanistan to the beginnings of the 20th century, were the final arbiters of the law. They acted as both judges and rulers within their territories. By comparing Assef to a Khan surrounded by “obeying friends,” Amir shows the way Assef dominates his peers. The boys who Assef spends time with are more like an “eager-to-please” entourage than a group of friends. The allusion to Afghanistan’s history of rule by Khans shows Assef’s unchecked power over Amir, Hassan, and his other classmates. Amir presents this boy, with his “well-earned reputation for savagery,” not as an ordinary bully but as a tyrant within their small world. This comparison makes Assef's childish dominance feel larger and more dangerous than it truly is. It also foreshadows Assef’s extreme cruelty as an adult, which Amir encounters again when he returns to Afghanistan to rescue Sohrab from him.
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