As was mentioned in the previous post, Wali and Kamal are friends with Assef and help him rape Hassan after the kite-fighting tournament. Throughout the novel, Amir describes Wali and Kamal as loyal followers and disciples of Assef. Both characters offer little dialogue throughout the story but are always around Assef during their childhood. Assef is the leader of their group, and they revere him for his masculine, fearless personality. Earlier in the novel, Wali, Kamal, and Assef run into Amir and Hassan. Assef then threatens to beat up Amir and Hassan, but Hassan loads his slingshot in self-defense. Both Wali and Kamal are stunned when Assef backs down to Hassan. This is a critical moment because Assef will eventually seek revenge for Hassan's actions.
In Chapter 7, Wali, Kamal, and Assef corner Hassan while he is retrieving the blue kite. Assef implies that he is going to harm Hassan, and Kamal attempts to mimic Assef's intimidating nature but cannot. Amir mentions,
"He wasn't afraid of Hassan, not really. He was afraid because he had no idea what Assef had in mind" (Hosseini, 54).
When Assef asks them if they are willing to rape Hassan, both Wali and Kamal refuse. Wali mentions that his father says that it is sinful, and Kamal looks away. Unfortunately, they help Assef rape Hassan by holding him down. Overall, Wali and Kamal are two timid boys who admire and fear Assef throughout the story.
Wali and Kamal are the two boys who hang out with Assef, the chief tormenter of Hassan. Wali and Kamal are merely followers, described as "obeying friends," afraid of Assef, who is older and taller than the other boys. Wali and Kamal "cackled in unison" when Assef made fun of Amir and Hassan, and they never utter a word during their first confrontation with Amir and Hassan. When Assef puts on his brass knuckles, prompting Hassan to load his slingshot in defense, a "look of astonishment" came to the faces of Wali and Kamal. When Hassan threatened to shoot out Assef's eye,
Wali and Kamal watched this exchange with something akin to fascination. Someone had challenged their god. Humiliated him.
When Assef retreated, "his disciples followed."
The two boys are later forced to participate in the sodomy of Hassan, although Wali believes it "is sinful." Nevertheless, they hold Hassan down while Assef rapes him. Amir meets up with Kamal again when they share the same fuel tanker on their way out of Afghanistan. In an ironic twist, Kamal has also been raped by four men and left a "withered" remnant of himself.
What happens between Assef/Wali/Kamal and Amir and Hassan?
Assef, Wali, and Kamal run into Amir and Hassan at the beginning of the novel, and Assef threatens to harm both boys. However, Hassan is carrying his sling-shot with him and defends himself and Amir by threatening to shoot Assef's eye out. Amir and Hassan leave the scene unharmed, but Assef promises to get revenge. Following the kite-fighting tournament, Hassan is cornered by the three boys after he retrieves the...
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blue kite. Amir searches for Hassan, and witnesses Assef raping his friend as Wali and Kamal hold him down. Even though Amir has an opportunity to intervene and stop Assef, he does not come to Hassan's aid and chooses to hide behind a brick wall. Unfortunately, this moment is the turning point in Amir's life. His inaction and unwillingness to help Hassan haunt him for the rest of his life until he is able to redeem himself by saving Sohrab.
What happens between Assef/Wali/Kamal and Amir/Hassan? What does Assef threaten?
If you are referring to Assef's threat to Hassan, your answer lies in Chapter Five. The first mention of Assef, Wali, and Kamal occurs in that chapter. Amir tells us that Assef is the son of an Afghan father and a German mother. Blond, blue-eyed, and tall for his age, Assef is described as the terror of the "Wazir Akbar Khan section of Kabul." With his stainless-steel brass knuckles, Assef savages anyone who dares to thwart his schemes. He is a sociopath, and he delights in hurting others. In the story, Wali and Kamal are Assef's faithful sidekicks. Assef is like a 'god' to his boy henchmen.
As the story continues, we discover that Assef is a bigot who thinks that only Pashtuns have a right to exist in Afghanistan; he considers Hazaras like Hassan unworthy of citizenship. When he gets ready to beat up Amir for being friends with Hassan, Hassan readies his slingshot in Amir's defense. Because Hassan is a good shot, Assef decides to pull back from gratifying his immediate desires. However, he threatens Hassan and Amir, promising future repercussions for their actions. For Amir, Assef ominously announces that, someday, they will face each other one-on-one. For Hassan, Assef promises that they are not finished with each other. This sinister proclamation foreshadows Hassan's rape at Assef's hands in Chapter Seven.
In Chapter Seven, Hassan is ambushed by Assef, Wali, and Kamal when he goes to retrieve the kite on Amir's behalf. When Hassan refuses to hand the kite over to Assef, all three boys corner Hassan and overpower him. While Kamal and Wali hold Hassan down, Assef rapes Hassan mercilessly. With this despicable act, Assef brings to pass his earlier threat from Chapter Five.