Amir’s father, Baba, sees the cowardice that Amir possesses and the constant need he has for his father’s approval. As the story progresses, Amir witnesses an act of evil in the aftermath of the kite running festival. He sees Hassan, his only friend, being raped by Assef, the town bully. Overwhelmed with horror and fear, Amir flees the scene, leaving his faithful friend behind. As a young boy, he seeks redemption for having abandoned his friend by seeking out physical pain as punishment. Amir narrates, “I hit him with another pomegranate, in the shoulder this time...‘Hit me back, goddamn you!’ I wished he would. I wished he'd give me the punishment I craved, so maybe I'd finally sleep at night. Maybe then things could return to how they used to be between us”(Hosseini, pg 92). Amir longs for forgiveness and to share the bond they once had. This incident serves as a lesson to Amir that redemption requires much more than encouraging Hassan to throw a pomegranate at his chest. While Hassan is a loyal friend, who might have recognized Amir’s attempt at redemption, Hassan refuses to participate. This failure at redemption leads to Amir distancing himself from Hassan, and the two continue to grow farther apart. The theme of redemption re-appears when Amir receives a phone call from his old friend, Rahim Khan. As Rahim finishes his conversation with Amir, he says, “Come. There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini, pg ). Without the prodding from Rahim, Amir may have never overcome the regret of his cowardly mistake. Even though he has grown and matured into adulthood, he realizes that his past is still a heavy burden. It is not until Amir returns to Afghanistan that he succeeds in finally securing atonement. After hearing the news of Hassan’s death and the fate of…
Amir’s complex relationship with his father is a significant factor in his life. Baba, Amir’s father, does not understand his son, he complains to his best friend and business partner Rahim Khan about his confusion with Amir. “He’s always buried in those books or shuffling around the house like he’s lost in some dream…I wasn’t like that” Baba cannot understand why Amir does not have the same interests as he does. When Amir over heard this conversation between Baba and Rahim, it was like “Baba sounded frustrated, almost angry”. Baba is disappointed that Amir is not a replica of him; he wants a son to take over the business and keep his name intact, which is why Baba does not try to make a bond with his own son. “If I hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe he’s my son”. Baba is very distant from Amir because he feels that there is no real connection between himself and Amir. Amir’s Childhood was very tough on him because he was brought up without a mother, and blames himself for her death, as she died giving birth to him. Amir also lacks a proper relationship with his father in his early years. Amir makes it clear that he longs to become like Baba and for him and Baba to have that special bond and connection that fathers and sons are meant to have. Baba is an honourable man at heart; he is just unable to understand his son’s interests and neglects him because of it. Amir’s relationship with Baba is very hard on him and makes him feel like he needs to prove something to Baba, which is one thing he has always tried to do his whole life.…
During his childhood, the son faces exposure from two very different parents. One of which believes in the preservation of life and moral values, whereas the mother believes in self-destruction and inconsideration towards everyone. Overall, the father has the most profound impact upon the son. Through their southward journey, the father and son share several successful and horrible experiences together. Throughout occasions such as narrowly escaping death from cannibals and plundering an underground bunker, the father and son have grown a strong, loving bond. Unfortunately, this developing relationship does not last forever, due to the father’s terminal illness. After his inevitable death, a stranger graciously offers salvation to the lost son. This salvation comes in the form of a loving, holy community that graciously takes the son in as their own. The 8-year-old boy, manages the unthinkable – survival. The son owes his survival entirely to his father. In a post-apocalyptic world where resources are few and far between, protecting the son from all levels of threats, so that the son can one day become self-sufficient, is nothing short of…
Amir and Hassan’s relationship was extremely similar to Baba and Ali’s. Amir and Hassan were the closest things to brothers or best friends that each other had, in just the same way that Baba and Ali were, but Hassan and Ali were never called friends of Amir or Baba. The relationship between Ali and Hassan was loyal and friendly from one side, but betraying and deceitful from the other. They are so different in the ways they behave with each other, because Amir is jealous of Hassan, but Hassan never wants to hurt anyone, especially Amir. Because of his jealousy towards Hassan for being loved by Baba, Amir inflects small cruelties onto him. No, I had not already guessed the true relationship between Hassan and Amir, but when I learned of it, I was surprised, but it made sense.…
Because Amir is feeling distanced from his father, he is driven to betraying his best friend Hassan, by leaving him to be assaulted in an alley. Amir doesn’t have a very good relationship with his father. He is very different from him, and his father, Baba, doesn’t like this. Amir is almost the complete opposite of Baba, and because of this, Baba is sometimes not as fatherly a…
1) The weak relationship between Amir and Baba as well as the events influenced by this relationship, demonstrates the necessity of a fatherly figure in one’s life…
The family relationship Sulieman and Najwa have in the novel displays strong signs of love and compassion, though is not the only bond that displays such deep roots. The mother and son relationship these characters have bring forward a vital sense of concern and care for one another. Many instances in the novel show that although their relationship is distorted at times, due to Najwa becoming ‘ill’ when her husband goes on his…
Pg 12-13, description of Amir’s father, displays his true love to his father and the fact that he looks up to his father and thinks of him as a hero…
19). This brings readers to another topic that breeds sympathy for Amir. The young Pashtun boy grew up in a big confusing world without the help of his biological mother. Amir grew up not having a mother and knowing little about her. In the evolutionary perspective, every child needs their mother to help them in emotional and physical development. Considering the fact that Amir grew up neglected by his father, Amir never received this crucial experience. Lastly, another factor that contributed to why readers would feel bad for Amir is because of the way the author portrayed the setting. Amir was a very emotional boy and was looked down upon by his father when he would cry. This forced him to go to a private place and shed his tears so he wouldn’t be seen. Amir never had a mother to be there for him. Readers sympathize with Amir because they can understand what an emotional toll being motherless must have taken on Amir, not only as a young boy, which continues to affect him as an…
This came about when Baba’s darkest secret was revealed by Rahim Khan. The secret was that Baba had slept with Ali’s wife Sanaubar and impregnated her, making Hassan his child. Amir went through a series of mixed emotions at this revelation. Initially the news made Amir furious. He thought of his father as a hypocrite due to all of the lessons he had thought him in his past. Baba once told Amir, ‘There is only one sin – ‘and that is theft…When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth.’ (Pg.225) Due to this lesson, Amir couldn’t help but think that Baba’s theft was the worst kind of stealing, since “the things he’d stolen had been sacred: from me the right to know I had a brother, from Hassan his identity, and from Ali his honor.” (Pg.225). As Amir reflected on his father’s deception and betrayal, he started to see himself in a similar way. Amir realized that his father was more like him than he ever knew and this is when their relationship made the final shift. He saw how much they were one and the same. His feelings towards his father finally changed. “Baba and I were more alike than I’d ever known. We had both betrayed the people who would have given their lives for us.”(Pg.226). Amir finally realizes that Baba was a man who also made mistakes and lived with regret. He recognized that the negative behaviors he had witnessed from his father, came from the struggles he had while trying to deal with the guilt and failures of the past. In the same way Amir had also suffered from the terrible things he had done. The big difference is at the end of the day Baba was a better man than Amir was, but Amir knew he had time to change this. From here on, Amir took on the task of redeeming both his and Baba’s mistakes. He agreed to go on the search for Hassan’s orphaned son Sohrab and to take care of him and raise him like he was his…
Amir, who lived in Afghanistan with his father Baba and two servants Ali and Ali's son Hassan, grows up playing with Hassan and doing everything with him but struggles calling him a friend. Hassan was a Hazara and Amir a Pashtun which in history Hazara's and Pashtun's did not get along. "The curious thing was, I never thought of Hassan and me as friends either. Not in the usual…
Firstly, throughout the whole novel, the story is always linked with the relationship between Amir and Hassan who is the servant of Amir. Hassan is a person who has brave and positive character, but Amir’s character stand on the opposite side of Hassan, which is cowardice. Amir shows the feeling that he is jealous of Hassan…
Set against the backdrop of the gradual rise of the Taliban, the novel follows the life of it’s the narrator, Amir, who faces a personal crisis when he witnesses an act of violence done to his loyal friend and servant, Hassan, which he fails to prevent. The guilt of his inaction overwhelms Amir and he eventually forces Hassan and his father Ali to cease their servitude, much to the dismay of…
Amir, is the central character and is shaped both in character and intellect by power. He is privileged and wealthy, but also steeped in jealousy and cowardice. He is selfish and guilty of abhorrent behaviors. The one positive strength Amir has is his friendship with Hassan. Considered best friends this is a friendship that is generally one-sided with Hassan showing the loyalty and trust. There is an ongoing conflict for this friendship because Amir shares paternal heritage with Hassan. Hassan was born into servitude and thus Baba, the boys’ father, cannot lay claim to Hassan’s heritage. The Afghan traditions and culture pose a conflict for Baba regarding Hassan. Hassan for his part is loyal, forgiving, and an all-around pleasant person to be with. The two boys are drawn to each other naturally. Hassan is the family servant and never wavers in his loyalty to the family even with the knowledge that he should be considered part of it. At the same time, Baba struggles with his own morals and the rigid Afghani traditions. He is proud and determined but also emotionally detached from Amir. Amir feels the detachment deeply and constantly strives to receive Baba’s affection.…
The purpose of this text enable us to understand what the narrator made us think,reflect and considerate towards his painful and haunted life-journey. The narrator made us think by using many themes or key words such as satisfaction, betrayal,salvation and redemption to engage but also reflect the audience regret. A great example of this is when Amir has proved himself enough to redeem himself from his betrayal to Hassan. “…