Amir marries Soraya

Amir marries Soraya Taheri in a traditional Afghan wedding in Fremont, California, in the months following his father Baba's death from cancer. The marriage, initiated by a dying Baba's formal khastegari (courtship) and accepted by General Iqbal Taheri, unites Amir with the woman he has admired since their first meeting at the San Jose flea market. Soraya's past—she had run away with a man in Virginia—is disclosed to Amir before the wedding, and he accepts it, recognizing his own hidden guilt. The wedding, funded by Baba's life savings of $35,000, is a large Afghan celebration that includes the nika (swearing ceremony), the Ayena Masshaf (mirror ritual), and the traditional song ahesta boro. After the ceremony, Soraya moves into Baba's apartment to care for him, and he dies peacefully a month later. The marriage marks a new beginning for Amir in America, yet his buried past—his betrayal of Hassan—remains unspoken, casting a shadow over his new life.

Courtship and Proposal

Amir first sees Soraya Taheri at the San Jose flea market in July 1984, where she is helping her father, General Iqbal Taheri, at their booth. He is immediately captivated by her appearance—her velvety coal black hair, thick eyebrows that touch in the middle like the arched wings of a flying bird, and a gracefully hooked nose that reminds him of a princess from old Persia. He learns from Baba that Soraya has a past: she had been involved with a man in Virginia, and no suitors have knocked on the general's door since. Despite this, Amir's attraction grows, and he begins to invent excuses to stroll past the Taheris' stand. Over the following months, he exchanges brief words with Soraya, learning that she is studying at Ohlone Junior College and wants to become a teacher. Their conversations are cautious, constrained by Afghan social codes that forbid a single young man from chatting with an unwed woman. Soraya's mother, Jamila Taheri, notices Amir's interest and encourages the connection, but General Taheri intercepts a story Amir gives to Soraya and throws it in the trash, reminding Amir that he is "among peers in this flea market" and that "everyone here is a storyteller." The courtship stalls until Baba's cancer diagnosis in 1985. As Baba's health declines, Amir asks him to perform the khastegari—to formally ask General Taheri for his daughter's hand. Baba, though weak, agrees and calls the general that same night, arranging a visit for the next morning. Baba, dressed in his brown suit with rolled-up sleeves and his shoelaces tied by Amir, hobbles up the Taheris' driveway for "one last fatherly duty." The general accepts, and Soraya, in a phone call, confesses her past to Amir, who tells her it does not change his desire to marry her.

The Wedding Ceremony

The lafz, or "giving word" ceremony, takes place the next evening at the Taheris' home in Fremont. Amir wears a navy blue suit he bought the previous day. The living room is packed with about two dozen guests seated along the walls. Baba, breathing raggedly and wiping sweat from his brow, delivers a formal speech asking for Soraya's hand, and General Taheri accepts, welcoming Amir as a son. Soraya appears at the end of the hallway in a wine-colored traditional Afghan dress with long sleeves and gold trimmings, kisses Baba's hands, and sits beside Amir. The engagement period is skipped because Baba does not have months to live. The wedding itself, the awroussi, is held at a large Afghan banquet hall in Fremont. Baba spends $35,000—nearly the balance of his life savings—on the ceremony, including matching wedding bands, a diamond ring, Amir's tuxedo, and a traditional green suit for the nika. The nika is performed with Soraya and Amir dressed in green, the color of Islam and new beginnings. Soraya's uncle, Sharif, recites a poem he wrote on hotel stationery. The couple walks toward the stage through a sea of applauding guests, with a cousin holding a Koran over their heads. The wedding song, ahesta boro, plays from the speakers. During the Ayena Masshaf ritual, a mirror is placed before them and a veil thrown over their heads, allowing them to gaze at each other's reflection in private. Amir whispers to Soraya for the first time that he loves her, and a blush blooms on her cheeks. The celebration includes traditional attan dancing, and Amir wishes Rahim Khan were there. He also wonders if Hassan has married and whose face he saw in the mirror under the veil.

Life After the Wedding

Soraya suggests that she and Amir move in with Baba, and she dedicates herself to caring for him—making his toast and tea, helping him in and out of bed, giving him pain pills, washing his clothes, reading him the newspaper, and turning him on his side every hour when he becomes bedridden. One day, Amir catches Soraya sliding his leather-bound notebook—the one Rahim Khan gave him for his thirteenth birthday—under Baba's blanket; Baba had asked her to read Amir's stories. A month after the wedding, Baba dies peacefully in his sleep. At the mosque in Hayward, men file into the men's section, and Amir sits by the door, the customary position for the family of the deceased. He listens to mourners speak of Baba's kindness—how he helped build a house, lent money, found a job—and realizes how much of his own identity has been defined by his father. After the funeral, Amir and Soraya move into a one-bedroom apartment in Fremont, a few blocks from the Taheris. Soraya's parents buy them a brown leather couch and a set of Mikasa dishes as housewarming gifts. General Taheri gives Amir an IBM typewriter with a note: "I hope you discover many tales on these keys." Amir sells Baba's VW bus and never returns to the flea market. He drives to Baba's gravesite every Friday, sometimes finding fresh freesias left by Soraya. Amir enrolls at San Jose State University as an English major and takes a security job at a furniture warehouse, where he begins his first novel. Soraya joins him at San Jose State the following year and enrolls in the teaching track, to her father's chagrin. In the summer of 1988, Amir finishes his first novel, a father-son story set in Kabul, and finds an agent. The novel is published in 1989, and Amir becomes a minor celebrity in the Afghan community. That same year, he and Soraya begin trying to have a child, but after a year of unsuccessful attempts, they undergo fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization, which ultimately fail. Soraya's mother suggests adoption, but General Taheri opposes it, arguing that "blood is a powerful thing" and that adopted children may want to find their natural parents. Amir agrees with the general, privately believing that his own past sins—his betrayal of Hassan—may be the reason he is denied fatherhood. The couple uses the advance from Amir's second novel to place a down payment on a two-bedroom Victorian house in San Francisco's Bernal Heights. Despite the happiness of their marriage, the emptiness of Soraya's womb seeps into their relationship, and Amir's buried guilt remains unspoken, a shadow over their new life together.