Sohrab’s smile and Amir’s scar represent a connect to Hassan as well as a childhood innocence. After Hassan left, Amir never made any progress in his own development because he was being held back by his guilt. Following his arrival in America, Sohrab stops talking and smiling until Amir wins the kite fighting contest in the park. It was “a smile. Lopsided. Hardly there. But there” (Hosseini 400). The lopsided smile parallels Hassan’s smile with the cleft palate and Amir’s smile with the scar he has. Hassan was able to get rid of hs cleft palate when he was transitioning into adulthood. However, Amir and Sohrab still have the characteristic of the lopsided smile, symbolizing how they’ve only lived their lives as a child. The act of Amir kite
