Annotation

"Ali feeds the animal a cube of sugar—another custom, to make death sweeter."
The cube of sugar Amir describes is one easily paralleled to the kite or rather allowing Amir to have the kite. Hassan, is beaten and raped because he refuses to give the olden Pashtun boys the kite Amir won through kite running. This refutal acts as the cube of sugar because knowing that he still continues to have it makes the rape a little less horrid and brutal. Also, the irony placed here trying to make "death sweeter" is important to notice because it is interesting to think that death, can be enlightened through a small thing (a cube of sugar). This irony can be seen through Hassan's brave act because the small thing Hassan is getting out of being raped is being allowed to keep the kite and many would argue that this small consolation to being raped it not worth it.