THE POMEGRANATE TREE: BY: Micco Brisker
The Pomegranate tree is the most important symbol in
the novel because it represents the good and bad times, and the easy and
difficult times. The Pomegranate tree is where Amir and Hassan go during the
strongest point of their friendship, where Amir read the story of Rostam and
Sohrab to Hassan even though he already read it to him countless other times,
but he did not mind reading it again because he loved him and it was his
birthday. The Pomegranate tree was a place where Amir and Hassan felt at peace
and where they enjoyed playing the most. It was also a place for refuge, peace, and shade to Amir and Hassan. It as somewhere where they could be in a halcyon mindset without being concerned with issues in their lives at the time. The happiness that the Pomegranate
symbolizes would be sharply contrasted by the dark and gloomy time that haunts
Amir and Hassan the rest of their lives. The Pomegranate tree not only
represented happiness but also darkness as well which is evident when Amir and
Hassan go back up to it after Hassan was raped. Amir only wanted to go up to
the Pomegranate tree so he could release some of the stress and guilt he felt
by watching Hassan get raped without helping at all. Amir repeatedly hurls
pomegranates at Hassan expecting Hassan to hit him back but he does not instead
he grabs a pomegranate and smashes it on his own face to please Amir, but it does not ameliorate the situation at all. The Pomegranate tree also represents strength and fortitude, although it is nearly dead, it is still standing among the rubbish as a result from the war where Amir and Hassan grew up in Kabul. The simple fact that the Pomegranate tree is in the middle of a disorderly cemetery shows that it represents strength and vitality as it is the only living thing in the cemetery.