Why does soraya want to be a teacher

But it's going so well! Soraya even asks about Amir's writing and he promises to bring her a story sometime. She asks Amir to stay; he politely refuses. Amir keeps thinking about Soraya. And going over to the Taheri booth at the flea market.

One fine flea market Saturday, Amir and Soraya are talking at the Taheri booth. Soraya tells Amir how she wants to become a teacher. She also tells Amir a story about how she taught one of the Taheri family servants to read. Now she wants to be a teacher. The conversation is going well. Amir reaches into his pocket and hands her one of his stories just as he promised. Just then, the General shows up.

He gives Amir a little talking-to and takes the story from Soraya. He puts it in the garbage and reminds Amir — quite subtly for a military man — that Amir should check himself before he wrecks himself. Later that very week, Baba gets a cold. It seems harmless, but then Amir catches Baba hacking up blood. Not a good sign. They go to a county hospital since Baba doesn't have health insurance.

The doctor finds a spot on Baba's lung, and sends Baba to a pulmonary clinic. Amir prays. At first, they meet with a Russian pulmonologist. Baba isn't happy since, well, Russia did a lot of bad things to Afghanistan. Actually, the doctor was born in Michigan, but that's not enough for Baba.

They switch doctors. The new doctor gives Baba his prognosis. The cancer will be fatal. Baba doesn't want Amir to tell anyone about his illness. When Khanum Taheri, the General's wife, is present, she invites Amir to sit, chat, and share some tea. One day, Soraya tells Amir that she wants to be a teacher and shares with him a story about the time she helped a servant learn to read, reminding Amir how he ridiculed Hassan.

Amir shares with Soraya a story that he had written, but just as she is receiving it, the General returns, takes the story, and throws it in the trash. Amir has no time to mourn his loss, however, for Baba becomes sick, which leads to weeks of impatience, waiting, and frustration.

Baba refuses to be seen by a doctor with Russian ancestry, and also refuses chemotherapy. Amir starts to protest, but Baba reprimands him and later forbids him from mentioning his cancer to anyone.

After months of gradual weight loss and declining activity, Baba has convulsions and is hospitalized. Baba then refuses radiation treatment. After Baba is released from the hospital, Amir asks his father to visit the General and ask for his daughter's hand in marriage, and Baba agrees to do this.

After the General accepts, Soraya shares with Amir that when she was younger and living in Virginia, she ran away with an Afghan man who was into drugs, and she lived with him for about a month. Amir is tempted to admit his past but is unable to do so.

He recognizes that he is in no position to "chastise someone for their past" and realizes that he is jealous of Soraya because her secret is no longer secret but out in the open.

Although not immediately apparent, Amir's relationship with Soraya parallels his relationship with Hassan and illustrates the differences between American and Afghanistan cultures. Amir is not able to be friends with the Hazara because of the differences in social class; likewise, he should not be addressing Soraya because of their different genders.

General Taheri accepts, and after Baba tells Amir over the phone he puts Soraya on the line. When she was eighteen, she ran away with an Afghan man. They lived together for nearly a month before General Taheri found her and took her home. While she was gone, Jamila had a stroke. Amir admits it bothers him a little, but he still wants to marry her.

Because Baba is so sick, they plan to have the wedding quickly. Of the wedding, Amir remembers sitting on a sofa with Soraya. It is the first time he tells her he loves her, and they are together for the first time that night.

Shortly after, Baba dies. Many Afghans whom Baba helped come to the funeral. As he listens to them pay their respects, Amir realizes how Baba defined who he is. General Taheri does not work. He feels it is below him and keeps the family on welfare. He also does not allow Jamila, who was once a great singer, to sing in public. Soraya tells Amir that, on the night her father brought her home after she ran away, he arrived with a gun, and once she was home he made her cut off her hair.

Amir is different from every Afghan guy she has met. In the summer of , Amir finishes his first novel. He gets it published, and then he and Soraya start trying to have a baby. But the inability to have a child still lingers between them. The different events of this section all revolve around one focus: Amir becoming a man. He marries and makes love for the first time. He loses Baba and becomes fully responsible for himself.

He also completes and publishes his first novel, establishing his career as a writer. In all of these events, Amir experiences a profound mix of joy and pain. Embracing independence and adulthood also requires him letting go of his childhood dependence on Baba. When Amir pleads with Baba to try chemotherapy, Amir asks what he is supposed to do without Baba. Baba replies that this is what he has been trying to teach Amir his whole life. To Amir, it is clear for the first time why Baba has always treated him the way he has.

He was preparing Amir to take care of himself and to know right from wrong. In other words, he was teaching Amir to be a man.