Motifs

Rape 

Physically

"Just like I pretended I hadn't seen the dark stain in the seat of his pants. Or those tiny drops that fell from between his legs and stained the snow black."   From chapter 7.

Mentally

"But sometimes I'm glad they’re not...they’re not here any more."

"Why?" I touched his arm. He drew back.

"Because" he said, gasping and hitching between sobs, "because I don't want them to see me … I'm so dirty." He sucked in his breath and let it out in a long, wheezy cry. "I'm so dirty and full of sin."   From chapter 24.

Death

"Hassan had loved me once, loved me in a way that no one ever had or ever would again. He was gone now, but a little part of him lived on. It was in Kabul."   From chapter 18.

Guilt

"We had both betrayed the people who would have given their lives for us. And with that came this realization: that Rahim Khan had summoned me here to atone not just for my sins but for Baba's too."  From chapter 18. There is a way to be good again.