Chapter 21

In chapter 21 of the novel, two examples of evil stand out to the reader. On
page 271 in the novel, Amir came across a corpse near a restaurant. It was just left there to rot with everyone not even bothering to give it a second thought or glance. This is an example of a bystander. According to week two’s lecture and Barbara Coloroso, a bystander or bystanders are the “supporting cast” of the evil. Amir, not having done anything for the corpse, was a bystander in this example and can be seen as having committed a kind of evil. On page 283, the reader reads about the stoning of the adulterers at the soccer game in Afghanistan. This is an example of evil, but how the people of Afghanistan saw it was that suffering comes from God, as we learned in week eight. Them being adulterers was sinful and must be punished by God. This does not mean that one should send them to God for their punishment, it simply means that one should leave it up to God to punish them, if they have indeed committed sins. The fact that they did not do that, took things into their own hands and publicly murdered the adulterers was sinful and evil.