Silence is like pressing the off button on life (Hosseini 361). In the novel Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Amir is an exceptional model of how ignoring life can then lead to a different conclusion. The event of her friend's rape, and later revealed half-brother, affects her life towards the end of the story. Throughout the novel, numerous differences emerge such as customs, everyday objects, and punishments that are not the same as in the United States. This book provides a verbal perspective on how the two different locations (the United States and Afghanistan) are not even close to being similar at any point in their residents' lives. Kite Runner offers privileged citizens of the United States situations that some may not even consider acceptable environments and living conditions. The customs serve to significantly explain why in many cases Afghanistan and America are not on the same page. For example, Afghanistan recognizes men's right to more than one wife because Baba's second cousin Homayoun's family consisted of two wives (82). American men are supposed to be married to only one woman, otherwise it is considered polygamy. If an American man was married to more than one woman at that time, this would be unacceptable and the punishment would most likely be prison. In the story Amir describes the traditional family dinner which consists of eating on the floor, sharing the meal on a common plate in groups (85). However, most Americans dine with their family at the dining room table and have their own individual plates of food. A life-changing moment for Amir was when he asked his father to ask General Taheri for his daughter's hand in marriage (161). Typically in America, fathers do not need to agree on a marriage for it to take place. In other words, Amir would have asked General Taheri personally, otherwise he would not have cared about his father's opinion and would have simply asked the question to Soraya, General Taheri's daughter. Customs are what distinguishes each from the other, but it can also cause discrepancies if they are unrelated and offend each other. The fact that the two places think unconstructively of each other is made evident in various fragments of the novel..