something happens, or is seen, or is heard that we may know, but the characters do not, or that appears opposite of what is expected.

Some examples of irony include:

1.) It is ironic when Amir tells us that Baba paid to have plastic surgery done on Hassan's harelip and now he can smile. Yet, something will happen the next winter that makes Hassan stop smiling.

2.) It is ironic that Amir's greatest moment in his search for acceptance from his father - winning the tournament - in the end is his worst hour for what he allowed to happen to Hassan.

3.) Hassan is forced to serve drinks at Amir's birthday party to the very boys who raped him.

4.) It is ironic that Amir who forces Ali to take Hassan and leave will only make his guilt even greater by inflicting such horrible pain on two of the people he loves the most in his life. The worst of the guilt is that Hassan has once again sacrificed to protect Amir.

5.) It is ironic that Amir and his father meet up with Kamal and his father in the basement just before the Pakistan border. Kamal who participated in Hassan's rape, has gone silent, because he, too, was raped.

6.) It is ironic that the only way Amir can survive the long ride into Pakistan in the fume-filled gas tank is by remembering how he had flown kites with Hassan. This very activity is what led to the guilt he must relive daily.

7.) Baba's statement that what happens in a single day can change the course of a whole lifetime is ironic, because that is exactly true for Amir after he watched while Hassan was raped by Assef.

8.) The way life is once again pulling at Amir while he experiences his marriage and his father's death is ironic. He deals with life in death and death in life. It fulfills the way of things: when one generation passes on, another grows up to take its place.

9.) It is ironic what happens to both Rahim and Baba. They had been very close friends and business partners for many years and

Rahim dies the same way Baba did.

10.) It is ironic that Assef in his arrogance made it possible for Amir and Sohrab to leave unmolested by the guards. He is so sure that he will be the victor over both Sohrab and Amir that he orders his guards to allow them to pass even before he is hit by the brass ball in Sohrab's slingshot.

11.) It is also ironic that Sohrab uses the brass ball from the very table in Assef's office. It is almost as if he has used Assef's own weapon against him.

12.) It is ironic that Sohrab bests Assef with a slingshot just as his father had done years before in protecting Amir from a younger

Assef. This time, unlike the first, Assef feels the shattering blow that Hassan never had to use.

13.) It is ironic when Amir breaks his promise about keeping Sohrab out of an orphanage, because he once again has betrayed his own flesh and blood.

14.) Ironically, it is the kites that draw Sohrab out of silence and his desire to escape into the folds of sleep. His father lived many of his most wonderful moments in life flying kites.