Amir's Relationship With Isaac

Amir’s relationship with Isaac is defined by the anti-Jewish prejudice on Amir’s side and anti-Muslim prejudice on Isaac's. Both of these characters are hated and feared, or expect to be hated and feared, because of their skin pigmentation and beliefs about their faith/religion. The way both of these characters were brought up reveals the formation of their prejudices which leads to their conflicts. Amir and Isaac present their arguments on religion and race throughout the play to pinpoint their attitude toward these two distinct religious beliefs and racial identity.
Amir’s background and his belief system play a key role in this perspective on the Jews and Westerners. Early in the play, Amir clarifies to his nephew why he won’t take the case of the Imam through describing his experience of being brainwashed by his mother to hate his Jewish school …show more content…
Since Isaac represents the view of a progressive American, his prejudices against Amir’s identity questions the fundamentalism of progressive Americans towards Islam and South Asians. To elaborate, Amir’s response towards 9/11 triggers Isaac to reveal the attitude that he has been hiding throughout the conversation about Amir’s identity and his religion. Calling Amir a “Jihadist” not only shows how Isaac hated Amir, but it also portrays how Isaac has been influenced by post 9/11 westerners thoughts on South Asians and Islam. Associating a successful lawyer like Amir with terrorism shows no matter how liberal and progressive the mindset of Westerns become, it is still influenced by horrific experience of 9/11 that comes from a South Asian Muslim group. Not only religion, overlooking Amir’s professional career, Isaac states that Amir “finally got the master's wife” which leads us to perceive his attitude towards Amir’s background