Amir Act 1 Scene 11 Analysis

 Amir's deservingly harsh words to Assef exhibit Amir's determination to fight against prejudice through

Amir resents his choice to be a coward when Hassan is raped. His guilt is immediate and it gnaws at him. A few days after Hassan was assaulted, Amir already feels guilt and resentment inside him. “’I [Amir]

“ Assef unbuttoned his winter coat,took it off,folded it slowly.--- I opened my mouth, almost said something .Almost.The rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had.But I didn’t. I just watched.” When witnessing first hand Hasan get rape Amir decides to ultimately be a bystander. Amir comes from the ethnic group of Pashtun and Hassan comes from the ethnic group of Hazara they are both viewed and treated very differently due to their economical stance.Being from two different social classes Amir decides to be a bystander due to the fact that he fears getting hurt, he wants to get Baba’s approval and the way he wants to be viewed by others.

The jealousy that he has from Emily’s past is still worried him. Amir thought that Emily thinks of him less manly than her ex-boyfriend because of his color. This scene signifies how a man of color see themselves even if they are already successful in life. The importance of being realistic and conceded can give positive impact to Amir life.

4. We begin to understand early in the novel that Amir is constantly vying for Baba's attention and often feels like an outsider in his father's life, as seen in the following passage: "He'd close the door, leave me to wonder why it was always grown-ups time with him. I'd sit by the door, knees drawn to my chest. Sometimes I sat there for an hour, sometimes two, listening to their laughter, their chatter." Discuss Amir's relationship with Baba.

One day Asseff rapes Hassan as an act of power, and Amir witnesses the actions but acts in a cowardly matter and simply avoids the matter by ignoring it. Amir then proceeds to cut off the relationships between himself and Hassan, “I actually aspired to cowardice, but the real reason I was running, was that Asseff was right. Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba. Was it a fair price? The answer floated to my conscious mind before I could thwart it: He was just a Hazara. Wasn’t he?” Amir did it because the traditional and historical beliefs were more important than friendship. This action displays how being born in a different social class can outweigh all feelings of love and friendship with one of a different social group.

Conversely, Amir grows up to be a man who achieves holistic atonement. As a child in Kabul, he overheard his father tell Rahim Khan, “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything” (Hosseini 22); however Amir

Amir along with other muslims are living with the fear of being missed portrayed for a person who looks like him, for the actions they wouldn't dare to think of. Muslims today are in fear of not living another day because they may be accused of other individuals actions. In the play Amir mentions “The next terrorist attack is probably gonna come from some guy who more or less looks like me. (Akhtar, 1185). By saying this Amir is cautious because he might be the one to blame for the next terrorist

This is shown when Amir describes Hassan or other “normal people” in his life. Despite their ethnic differences, Amir and Hassan “fed from the same breasts”, took their “first steps on the same lawn”, and it’s learned later in the novel that they are half brothers (11). Countless hours of their childhood consisted of them playing pretend, flying kites, reading stories, and just talking with one another. This definitely falls in the parameters of friendship, but Amir “never thought of Hassan and [him] as friends” (25). In moments of chaos, Amir finds Hassan expendable in order to protect himself and his desires. When Hassan refused to give up a kite that Amir desperately wanted, Hassan was attacked and raped while Amir hid. Although Hassan was taking the beating for him, Amir thought that “he was just a Hazara” so there is no need to go out into harm’s way (77). This way of thinking can be traced back to the large majority of the people surrounding Amir viewed Hazaras as subhuman. Amir described a boy named Omar as “a pretty good guy” but refers to Hassan as “your hazara” and insults his “tight little eyes” (68). This perception of Omar being a good guy despite his degrading comments towards Hassan shows how much Pashtuns had influenced Amir. A Marxist, however, would say that Amir supported the dominant ideology thus keeping the bourgeoisie at the top.

I believe Amir is so determined to impress his father due to the lack of a mother-life figure in the family. As it is shown throughout the novel Amir has no mother. Losing that mother figure, he has been significantly been affected and would like to receive unconditional over from his father. This shows that he is just trying to impress his father.

Amir is scared to be a Muslim in that country. This is one of the reasons why he abandons his faith. It has started to scare him. He thinks that the Quran states and encourages things like wife beating and the treatment of women is not appropriate. Emily tells Amir that the words do get twisted in any manner as the person pleases but it cannot make it true. His nephew Abe/Hussein has also changed his name for a similar reason. It is because people judge on the basis of which race and ethnicity you belong to. Amir was judged by a waiter, who he did not even know only because of his religion. People are scared of Islam but Islam is not the enemy. A religion is a personal choice and someone’s faith only.

He soon meets the innocent man who valued him and wanted to defend him in court named Imam Fareed. Imam shows and tells him the truth of America behind closed doors and how America views the Muslim religion after 9/11. Amir still did not believe him and tried to fight back. Not even rehabilitation completely fix him. He didn’t want to know the truth. He wanted to ignore the truth, his religion and forget himself. This scene explains the struggle between the truth of America and Amir’s humanity. America is a country contained with lies and hatred toward the opposite race. As a man who rejected his religion, he thought America would accept him, but at the end, America rejected him and there was no one to save him. Behind those closed doors lies the truth to what’s really going on in America. The truth of America lies in scene 4 when Amir sees Abe and Emily again. Amir learns what America did to his relationship and his nephew but stills ignores the facts. In the end, Amir finally realize the truth after his wife and nephew left him behind with the painting of Velazquez. The art is based upon Velazquez assistant, who was a slave until his freedom. Emily painted him as the slave. Amir kept the painting to himself as a sign of restraint to

Amir is a young Afghani boy that possesses few differences from any other boys his age. He looks like, acts like, and lives like a young boy, but he has the advantage of living with a wealthy father. Jealousy is a flaw of his, and is one of the reasons he wallows in his own self pity for the majority of the novel. Hosseini does a remarkable job of making this character real and understandable. Amir is not a hero in any factor, but he does find a

Throughout the novel, Amir endeavors to be approved by his father, Baba, who is admired by people in Kabul. Unfortunately, Baba believes that Amir, unlike him, is very unmanly “and [that he] never fights back. He just... drops his head ” (Hosseini 24). Since Baba wishes for a son who would stand up for himself, he can’t help but observe that Amir’s friend Hassan, as the guy who “steps in and fends the [bullies] off” (Hosseini 24) is his idea of the ideal son. Though aware of his father’s expectations, Amir is unable to change himself and instead envies Hassan and the fact that Baba treats him like his own son by“[patting]Hassan on the back. [and even putting] his arm around his shoulder [like a fatherly figure]”(Hosseini 15). Despite the manifestation of this hatred in Amir, he continues to recognize the bond that he shares with Hassan, “ brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast” (Hosseini 11) which is because both their mothers died during birth. The confusing emotions he feels for Hassan has Amir face a situation in which he acts inappropriately and allows the guilt to manifest upon him. After winning a very important kite tournament for the first time and “seeing Baba on that roof, proud of [him] at last” (Hosseini 71) Amir begins to search for Hassan who had gone to run his kite earlier. Finally, Amir finds him in a dark alley and as he “peeks around the corner” (Hosseini 75) he witnesses a sight that eradicated not only his relationship with Hassan but also Baba’s brotherly relationship with Ali, Hassan’s father. Peeking through the corner of the alley, like a bystander, he watches his one and only friend getting raped. The guilt that came upon him was for two reason; one, his lack of courage to stand up to

Ali’s godliness as a father initiates the forces that redeem Amir throughout his journey, whereas Baba’s ungodliness creates the conflicts in the novel that require Amir to change. He is the greatest earthly father in the novel as he best honors God with his faith, love and actions, and he induces the greatest changes in Amir’s life because of his dedication to God. The humble yet determined Shiite faith of Ali permeates his character and demonstrates his