What Is Amir's Relationship In The Kite Runner

Afghanistan is Amir’s home country and its history is a fundamental in Amir’s development throughout the book. In Amir’s relationship with his father, he struggles with pleasing him or meeting his standards. Baba also shows no concern with Amir, especially with feeble things such as Amir’s passion for writing, where Baba “gave a thin smile that conveyed little more than feigned interest” (38). While most of this comes from Amir’s cowardliness attitude, it also noted that Afghanistan has impacted Baba as well. In a country that has suffered so much invasion and structured an idea of independence, Baba grew to have beliefs in having the ability to stand up and defend for one’s self. This mentality made Baba disappointed throughout Amir’s life and his actions. Baba’s disappointment is also drawn out from societal norms. In the Middle East, there were sanctions between a man and woman, and how each sex should …show more content…
Hassan is a Hazara, which is considered an inferior ethnicity to the Afghans due to their religious minority as Shiite Muslims and their physical appearance. Because Hassan was his servant and an “inferior” to him, Amir could not truly consider Hassan his “friend”. He was peer pressured by the overwhelming ideology, especially by people like Assef who stated, “‘How can you talk to him, play with him, let him touch you? … How can you call him your ‘friend’?’” (48). Hassan was also a scapegoat for Amir while already being the “token” scapegoat of the “inferior” Hazaras. Because of Hassan’s futile position as an inferior ethnicity, Amir took Hassan as his sacrifice to protect himself. He pushed Hassan along towards the brutality of Assef, who like many, hated the Hazaras, and became so overwhelmed by his guilt that he framed Hassan of theft. Afflicted by Amir’s cowardliness and distance from Hassan, their relationship eventually fell under Afghanistan’s