As a child, Amir was constantly trying to impress his father, Baba, who looked up to Hassan more than he did Amir. This caused Amir to always be jealous of Hassan, and would constantly test Hassan's loyalty. This was one of the things that I hated about Amir. No matter how much Hassan did for him, he still tested him. Amir would rather his father love him and be proud of him for one day than help his best friend from getting raped.
In Amir’s case, Baba was disappointed not to be graced with the archetypal Afghan son of the 1970’s that was tall, strong, sportive, willing to carry on the family name, but perhaps more importantly being able to stand up in himself. Unfortunately, Baba did not look towards the merits in Amir’s creative talent, labelling him as a boy who he’d ‘never believe he’s my son’. An interesting
KR-J1: In “The Kite Runner”, by Khaled Hosseini, family was very important. It was a recurring topic that made its way in just about every chapter of this book. The family that was focused on was that of Amir, and his father who was known as Baba. Amir was a child that did not feel accepted by his father, and felt the need to impress him at any moment that was presented to him. Baba was a typical father that expected his son to be into athletic things such as soccer and such, and when Amir tried things of that nature, he felt bad because he was not as good as Baba had hoped.
The silent animosity between father and son ends when Amir joins and wins a kite-flying contest and ties his own father’s record in the number of kites he cut down. Later, the relationship between the two strengthens as they flee from war-torn Afghanistan and in the process Baba shows Amir how he stood up even to the point of risking even his own life in order to save an unknown woman from a Russian soldier’s vile intentions. As immigrants in the United States Baba once again shows Amir how he can make personal sacrifices for his son’s sake. Forced to live in a foreign country, Baba dies broken hearted but fully resigned to what Amir had made of himself – a writer happily married to a wonderful
In the beginning of the story, Brother recounts the day Doodle was born, saying that he was a disappointment as soon as he entered the world. The narrator was not satisfied with his brother, which resulted in the horrible things he thought about him. Brother said that “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable…” As a result, the narrator enjoyed torturing Doodle, threatening to abandon him multiple times. He even took Doodle to see the casket that was built for him, and forced him to touch it. The narrator basked in the control he had over his brother.
Amir was in the corner of the alley, not having enough courage to stand up for his friend that is soon brutally abused. From then on, he lived with his guilt for many years. His shame is complicated by his own realization that he partly doesn’t help his friend, precisely because he is jealous of him, as well as being a coward. Soon his own shame drives him nearly crazy and in desire to end his pain, he sets Hassan and his father up for a shame so great they have to leave the home, which will seemingly free Amir of his
Amir wants to win the kite tournament, and surely he does. Amir is very happy he was victorious and this is an excellent time in his life that is filled with joy and happiness. But later in the book gears start to turn as there is a turn of events. Amir goes to Afghanistan once Hassan, Amir’s child hood friend, gets killed by the Taliban 40 years later, to pick up a boy named Sohrab. While going to pick up the boy he meets a man, who has the boy, whose name is Assef, Amir’s nemesis.
There's racial discrimination toward them, Sanaubar leaving, Hassan's harelip, and the soldiers' taunting of Hassan. We soon learn, however, that Amir has anything but a charmed existence. Amir's mother died giving birth to him. It's clear he feels a great lack in his life, and he throws himself into poetry and writing, we think, partly as a tribute to her. In addition, Amir feels an enormous amount of responsibility for his mother's death – as if he not only caused it but, more sinisterly, was responsible for it.
Likewise, the hardships Tom had to endure as a child toughened his soul and sharpened his mind. Abandoned by his alcoholic father, Tom lived in “a miserable tworoom tenement” (Anderson 650) with his mom and siblings. The situation went from bad to worse when his mother passed away, leaving her little children uncared for. Tom, who was just 10 years old at that time, forced himself to overcome grief and to hold himself together for the sake of his siblings. He even shoved his father off in the funeral of his mother and worked arduously to fend for his family.
Willy sees Ben frequently after he died. When Ben was alive he provided Willy with an example of the qualities he wants to implant on his two boys, Ben is a perfect example of a good looking, charming man that easily became rich. Willy would repeatedly explain how Ben travelled into the jungle and came out rich, thinking that it was an easy thing to do. After Ben dies, he switched to the role of an inhibitor, agreeing and helping Willy with his daily decisions. Both alive and dead Ben reminds Willy of his regret for not following him to Alaska and hitting it big, ‘’Why didn’t I go to Alaska with my brother Ben that time!