Why does Amir call his birthday gifts 'blood money'?

• A. Baba bought them with blood money from a donor.
• B. They were tainted by Hassan's blood and linked to Hassan's rape and Baba's win.
• C. The gifts physically contained a bloodstain.
• D. He disliked all gifts.

Answer: (B)

The main idea being tested is how money and gifts can carry a moral weight when they are tied to someone else’s suffering. Amir uses the phrase "blood money" to express that the gifts he receives are tainted by the harm done to Hassan and by the social dynamics surrounding Baba’s pride.

In the story, the gifts come to symbolize a happiness purchased within a world where Hassan, a Hazara and a servant, is treated as expendable. Hassan’s rape is the traumatic event that reveals the inequality and cruelty woven into the family’s position, and Baba’s reaction—his pride in the kite tournament—helps set up the circumstances that allow that harm to occur. Because the wealth and gifts are connected to those events, Amir feels they are stained by blood—the money represents that cost. So calling them blood money captures Amir’s sense of guilt and the sense that his family’s success has been secured at Hassan’s expense.

The other options don’t fit because the gifts aren’t described as coming from a donor’s money, there isn’t a literal bloodstain on the gifts, and it’s not about Amir’s personal dislike of gifts. The idea is the moral contamination linked to Hassan’s suffering and Baba’s moment of pride that makes those gifts feel like they carry blood with them.