he was a disappointment to Baba because he was not more courageous. Amir’s bravery would have made Baba proud, which is a full-circle element.

Amir's revulsion at the Talib's massacre of Hazaras is another full-circle. By protesting the inhumanity and cruelty of the many Hazara massacres that have occurred in his country, he is also standing up for and standing side-by-side with his now deceased half-brother Hassan.

Another full-circle moment occurs when Amir learns that the Talib is Assef, who was always a cruel sadist even as a boy. Amir thinks,

What was the old saying about the bad penny? My past was like that, always turning up.

Assef tells Amir that the two “have some unfinished business ... .” They are finally going to have the fight that Assef had wanted years ago when they were boys. Assef pulls out the brass knuckles, which is reminiscent of the scene years earlier, and Amir realizes that he has come full-circle. He thinks,

What was funny was that for the first time since the winter of 1975 I felt at peace.

He has finally stood up to Assef. Finally, the slingshot is another full-circle element. Years before, when Assef slipped on the brass knuckles, Hassan had pulled out the slingshot and threatened to shoot Assef in the eye. In Chapter 22, Sohrab does exactly that.

1. When Amir meets the Taliban official to rescue Sohrab, he discovers that he is facing his childhood nemesis, Assef. Assef's evil character comes full circle and returns to haunts Amir's adult life. Assef was responsible for ruining both Hassan and Amir's childhood, and he has been sexually molesting Sohrab as a Taliban official. His return to the plot of the story would be considered a full-circle moment.

2. Another full-circle moment is Amir's defense of Sohrab, who is an extension of Hassan. In order for Amir to find redemption and atone for his past sins, he must defend Sohrab, which is something he did not do as an adolescent. As an adolescent, Amir stood idly behind a wall and watched Assef rape Hassan. Sohrab's character is an extension of Hassan, and Amir finally has another opportunity to do the right thing.

3. During the brutal fight, Sohrab aims his slingshot, which is loaded with a shiny metal ball from the table, directly at Assef's eye. Sohrab's ability to expertly wield a slingshot is another full circle moment in the novel, which recalls Hassan's talent. As an adolescent, Hassan prevented Assef from harming Amir by aiming his slingshot at his eye and threatening him. During Amir's fight later in the novel, Sohrab does the same thing but ends up firing the projectile into Assef's eye to end the fight.

The first "full-circle" ending that is reached occurs with Amir's return to Afghanistan - he has returned home.  Details reminding him of the way it used to be here bombard him from all directions.  When Amir rings the bell of the big house in Wazir Akbar Khan", he hears no buzz; there is "still no electricity" in the area, just like it was in the old days.  Amir passes an old hand-pump water well in the yard, just like the one he remembers at Kaka Homayoun's house in Jalalabad, where as a child he used to throw pebbles in to "listen for the plink".  Once he is in the house, he sees a coffee table by the sofa, "the base...X-shaped, walnut-sized brass balls studding the ring where the metallic legs crossed".  Amir recalls that he had seen a table exactly like that at a crowded tea shop in Peshawar, many years ago.

Another "full-circle" event occurs when Amir recognizes that the degenerate, sadistic man he has come to see is none other than his old nemesis, Assef.  Assef had been a bully of epic proportions as a youth, leading a gang against the Hazara Hassan and sodomizing him in an alley as Amir, undetected, looked on helplessly.  As an adult, Assef's evil nature has reached fruition, as he has joined the Taliban and taken the lead in outright mass murder in the name of ethnic cleansing.  Now Amir is given a second chance to stand up to Assef, and although his steps are tentative, he is firm in declaring his intention not to abandon Hassan again, through Hassan's son, Sohrab.

A third storyline comes "full-circle" when Amir finally finds Sohrab, Hassan's son.  The reunion with his old friend through the little boy is almost tangible, as when Amir takes Sohrab's hand and the child's fingers "(lace) themselves with (his)...(Amir sees) Sohrab in (the) Polaroid again, the way his arm (is) wrapped around Hassan's leg, his head resting against his father's hip".  When Amir finds Sohrab, he receives a second chance to do right by his old friend.  Amir did not have the courage to defend Hassan as a child, but as an adult he has the opportunity to redeem himself by saving the son (Chapter 22).

One of the elements that comes full circle is that Assef is once again in control of a person of Hazara descent.  Just as he was in control of raping Hassan in the alley, he is in control of Sohrab, Hassan's son.  In the same twisted and sexually perverse manner, Assef demonstrates control through degradation.  Another element that is shown to come in a complete circle would be that Amir is confronted with an opportunity to take action.  He failed to take action in the alley with his best friend.  He now is confronted with the reality of taking action to help out his best friend's son.  He does what he should have done back then and he fights Assef to defend the rights of someone who is being victimized by the bully.

The results of the fight also come full circle.  Just as Hassan was brutalized by Assef and left without much of hope, Amir is similarly brutalized at the hands of the bully now Taliban government official.  Interestingly enough, Amir emerges from the fight with an injury like Hassan's harelip, indicating that some level of circle has been reached.  Amir is now no different than Hassan.  Along with this, Sohrab uses the slingshot to finish off Assef in much the same way his father used his slingshot to save the boys from the bully in the past.  The son is able to help Amir escape, just as his father helped him escape.  In this, the element of coming "full circle" is evident.