On the surface, it seems like Hosseini is again commenting on how religion can get focused on the wrong things (see 13.60 above). During this television program, though, Amir is sitting next to Sohrab in their hotel room. Amir recently told Sohrab that he and Hassan were half-brothers. This confession must have brought up all sorts of guilt: his betrayal of Hassan and the fact he never really told his father what happened to Hassan and how he abandoned Hassan. Sohrab's rescue, in a way, is Amir's attempt to be good again, his penance for leaving Hassan in the alley and sending Ali and Hassan away. Does Sohrab's rescue redeem Amir? Does Amir believe in the same hell as the cleric on the TV program?

Raymond Andrews questions Amir about his faith in the context of adoption: it's easier for Amir to adopt Sohrab if he's a practicing Muslim. But Andrews' question also illuminates Amir's faith and spiritual practice. Amir answers "Yes" to Andrews' question even though he can't remember the last time he prayed. And even then the prayers came to him in fragments. If we can wade past the surface discussion of adoption here, and Amir's practical motivations (adopting Sohrab), what does his answer say about his faith? Perhaps that he has carried it with him almost unconsciously since childhood. His affirmation springs forth from an unconscious the way his faith aids him in times of need: his father's diagnosis, Sohrab's suicide attempt, and Sohrab's later silence.