How does the pomegranate tree represent Amir and Hassan's innocence?

The pomegranate tree is an important symbol in The Kite Runner and one that evolves over the course of the novel.
At first, the tree represents the friendship between Hassan and Amir, and I suppose you could also say it represents their innocence because it brings them back to a time when they were friends without thinking consciously about the way their ethnic and class differences separate them. The boys have carved a phrase into their favorite pomegranate tree: Amir and Hassan, the Sultans of Kabul. This saying represents a childish fantasy that the two will rule the world. The harsh reality is that Amir was born into a higher social class and belongs to the majority ethnic group, while Hassan is a low-class minority who must remain uneducated and must remain a servant his whole life. We start to see the tension between the two (though mostly on Amir's side) in a scene under the pomegranate tree. The boys like to lounge under the tree, eat its fruit, and read stories; Amir reads the stories to Hassan because Hassan is illiterate. On one occasion, Hassan asks what the word "imbecile" means. Amir takes advantage of an opportunity to feel superior and replies, "Let’s see. Imbecile. It means smart, intelligent. I’ll use it in a sentence for you. When it comes to words, Hassan is an imbecile." Hassan is innocent and trusting and never imagines that Amir would trick him or make him feel stupid.
Later, after Hassan is assaulted by Assef in the alley, another scene occurs under the pomegranate tree that brings the tension to the surface. Amir witnessed the incident but did not intervene, which allows Hassan to be abused; Amir's guilt tears him apart. In an attempt to assuage his own guilt, Amir throws pomegranates at Hassan and implores him to throw them back. Amir wants to be punished for his actions (or lack of action), but Hassan will not comply. Instead, he crushes a pomegranate on his own head and asks Amir if he feels better now. This is a pivotal moment in the breakdown of their friendship, and the scene also reveals Amir's capacity for causing Hassan pain.
After this incident, Amir frames Hassan for theft because he cannot live with his guilt anymore and wants Hassan and Ali to leave the house. Even though Baba forgives Hassan for his supposed sin, Ali and Hassan leave the house. Ali says that it is "impossible" for them to serve Baba and Amir any longer. Baba and Amir eventually flee the violence in Afghanistan and start life over in California. About twenty years later, Amir returns to see his father's friend Rahim Khan in Pakistan and learns that Hassan was killed by the Taliban. Amir is tasked with saving Hassan's son from an orphanage (and the Taliban). The pomegranate tree is referenced twice more in the novel once Amir goes back to Pakistan and Afghanistan. First, he reads a letter from Hassan that mentions that he takes his son Sohrab to the pomegranate tree and that the tree no longer bears fruit. This represents the death of Amir and Hassan's friendship, but it also means that Hassan remembers their relationship fondly; he carries on traditions from his childhood with his own son. His actions remind us of Hassan's inherently innocent character. Finally, Amir returns to the house and visits the tree himself. He sees that, as Hassan indicated, the tree no longer produces pomegranates. However, he can still see the carving, though it is faded. Amir cleans up the carving to make it a bit more visible, which represents his efforts to repair his relationship with Hassan even though Hassan himself is dead: he can only do so by taking in Sohrab and raising him as his own son.
The pomegranate tree begins as a symbol of innocence and friendship but evolves over the course of the novel. It represents the vicissitudes of Hassan and Amir's friendship, which, by the end, cannot be physically restored to the point it was when they first carved "the Sultans of Kabul" into its bark, but it remains a testament to their love for one another.

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