Technique/Setting

"The city was bursting with sounds; the shouts of vendors rang in my ears mingled with the blare of Hindi music, the sputtering of rickshaws, and the jingling of bells of horse-drawn carts. Rich scents, both pleasant and not so pleasant, drifted to me through the passenger window, the spicy aroma of pakora and the nihari..."(pg 196).

This is one of the many descriptions in which the narrator use sensual imagery to describe a city. Although he is using a technique, it is ultimately applied to the setting making it an overlapping category. The more important idea, however, is why this technique is used. This is for several reasons. 1. The narrator wants a description of each city so that the reader can compare them to the other cities. For example, by showing the pleasurable sounds and smells of Peshaw, it ultimately contrasts the scene of when Amir arrives in Kabul. 2. The imagery also evokes the senses because this is Amir's return to the Middle East. These are the first surroundings a native is going to remember to his country. Which ultimately suggests that no matter how long Amir has lived in America, he still has roots in these countries. The descriptions are not so much for the reader to create an idea in their mind, but rather for the narrator to express the contrasts between a well off Middle Eastern City compared to the Kabul of his childhood and now. And to lastly show connections to his past.