2. The pomegranate tree is a symbol of the different stages of Hassan and Amir's friendship. "One summer day, I used one of Ali's kitchen knives to carve our names on it: "Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul.' Those words made it formal: the tree was ours" (26). This quote represents Amir and Hassan's relationship between them during their early childhood. They are extremely close and carving their names on the tree shows that they will be a part of each other's lives as long as they live. This is true because even though their friendship ends up deteriorating eventually and Amir moves to America, they still carry their memories of each other to their adulthood and think about one another constantly. "Then Hassan did pick up a pomegranate. He walked toward me. He opened it and crushed it against his own forehead. "There," he croaked, red dripping down his face like blood. "Are you satisfied? Do you feel better"(93)? When this happens, it marks Amir and Hassan starting to become distant, which also happens to be at the pomegranate tree. When Hassan crushes the pomegranate on his own forehead, it symbolizes their friendship starting to become crushed and them splitting apart. The juice from the pomegranate "dripping down Hassan's face like blood" relates to later on in the story when Amir discovers Hassan's death and thinks that Hassan's blood was on his hands. "A pair of crows sat on the low wall that enclosed the cemetery. Hassan had said in his letter that the pomegranate tree hadn't borne food in years. Looking at the wilted, leafless tree, I doubted it ever would again" (264). The pomegranate tree being dead represents Amir and Hassan's friendship being dead completely. Their friendship can't be restored anymore because Hassan is now dead and Amir will never be able to show him that he is sorry for what he did in the past and how he tried to make up for it, which is expressed when Amir says that he doubts the tree would ever…
