Cleft Lip

• What is one of Hassan's most defining physical features?

  Cleft lip
• What does Hassan's cleft lip symbolize in relation to his social status?

  It symbolizes the economic and social disparity between Hassan and Amir
• Who does not have the money to pay for Hassan's surgery?

  Ali
• Who ultimately pays for Hassan's surgery?

  Baba
• What does the cleft lip become a symbol of after the surgery?

  Baba's secret parental love for Hassan
• What happens to Amir at the novel's climax?

  Assef splits Amir's lip in two with his brass knuckles
• What does Amir's injury symbolize in relation to Hassan?

  Amir has become something like Hassan at last
• What character trait does Amir exhibit after receiving his injury?

  Bravery and willingness to stand up for someone else
• How does Amir find redemption through his injury?

  By becoming brave and willing to stand up for someone else
• What is one of Hassan's most representative features as a child?

  Cleft lip
• How does Amir refer to Hassan in his descriptions?


  He frequently mentions Hassan's cleft lip
• What does the split in Hassan's lip signify in terms of his social status?

  It signifies his poverty
• How does Hassan's cleft lip separate him from Amir?

  It indicates that Hassan and his family do not have the money to fix it
• What does Baba do for Hassan as a birthday gift?

  He pays a surgeon to repair Hassan's lip
• What does Baba's action of repairing Hassan's lip signify about his feelings towards Hassan?

  It signifies his secret fatherly love for Hassan
• Who splits Amir's lip and how does it happen?

  Assef splits Amir's lip while beating him
• What is the result of Amir getting his lip split by Assef?

  Amir is left with a permanent scar
• How does Amir's identity become merged with Hassan's?

  Amir learns to stand up for those he cares about, like Hassan did for him
• Who does Amir become a father figure to?

  Sohrab
• What does Amir's scar symbolize in relation to his character development?

  It serves as a sign of Amir's redemption
• Reminder of Baba's infidelity
• Hassan's cleft lip is a deformity that symbolically represents the social disparity between him and Amir. 
• Assef splits Amir's lip when he risks his life to save Sohrab. Symbolises the completion of Amir's "bildungsroman" arc and his redemption, he has shed his cowardice and become like Hassan.