Amir’s father, Baba, has strong beliefs surrounding strength and masculinity. Throughout the novel, there is a strong sense that Baba is assisting Amir to come of age and become a man. Baba’s outlook on masculinity reveals his resentment for vulnerability. During a Buzkashi tournament (Afghanistan’s national sport known for its danger and brutality involves horse-mounted players that attempt to place a goat or calf carcass in a goal), Amir is distraught after witnessing the graphic and horrific death of a rider: I began to cry. I cried all the way home. I remember how Baba’s hands clenched around the steering wheel. Clenched and unclenched. Mostly, I will never forget Baba’s valiant efforts to conceal the disgusted look on his face as he drove …show more content…
After Amir writes his very first story, he wants his father to read it: I probably stood there for under a minute, but, to this day, it was one of the longest minutes of my life. Seconds plodded by, each separated from the next by an eternity. Air grew heavy, damp, and almost solid. I was breathing bricks. Baba went staring me down, and didn’t offer to read. (34) Through the use of hyperbole and the personification of the air Amir’s anticipation is tangible. However, Baba continues to deny Amir attention and passes Amir’s story to his close friend, Rahim Khan. As literature and poetry stray from the standard interests of a man, Baba disapproves of Amir’s unconventional passions and resents him as a result. In his childhood, Baba does not show support, attention or love to Amir. Ultimately, this leaves Amir believing he needs to improve himself, or redeem himself to meet his father’s expectations. In conclusion, after witnessing Hassan’s rape, Amir does not know how to express his guilt or come to terms with his mistake because of his father and the cultural perception of masculinity that he …show more content…
The first line in the novel introduces the idea of virtue and Amir’s distance from his pure and youthful innocence: “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975” (1). On the first page of the novel the narrator introduces his guilt and apparent self- hatred. The diction of “what I am” instead of who I am, has connotations of dehumanization and evil, as if Amir transforms into a person that lacks humanizing qualities and morals. The pathetic fallacy introduces an ominous tone and is emblematic of Hassan’s rape and the feelings that follow it. This quotation connotes the idea that upon committing sin, as many characters including Amir believe he does by not saving Hassan, one transforms into a different person. In terms of religion, Muslim sinners redeem themselves through repentance to God and carrying out the physical acts of good deed. Only then, can such sinners salvage their goodness and save themselves from evil. Throughout the novel, the phrase “There is a way to be good again” (2) is continuously repeated to encapsulate Amir’s desperation for redemption and his perception that he is not “good”. Rahim Khan first says this to Amir on the telephone to persuade him to come to Pakistan, however Amir repeats the phrase as if to remind himself that he is not virtuous, that
Clearly, Amir hears how his father compares the two, and unlike Hassan who manages to meet Baba’s expectations, Amir grows bitter towards Hassan. He is unable to fight off his envy which later causes him to sacrifice his best friend’s innocence: “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (82), and this is all because he realizes “his shame is complicated by his own realization that in part he doesn’t help his friend precisely because he is jealous of him” (Corbett, 2006). From here, Amir develops strong feelings of guilt that induces him to perform even more destructive acts, such as having Hassan and his father evicted from the house. Amir not only loses a close friend, but now he has to continue to live with remorse as he dwells on these memories.
In the novel the Maltese Falcon, the main theme in the play is the masculinity attributes of the piece. In this particular work, there are key characters that from their basis, one comprehends how this author views what masculinity should look like. Masculinity comes to symbolize both strong heroic operate mannerism while expounding on the costs incurred through achievement of this theme in the Maltese Falcon (Huston et al., 45).
The novel tells the story of, Amir. Amir is portrayed as the protagonist; the novel revolves around his recollection of past events 26 years ago as a young boy in Afghanistan. Amir is adventures and brave. Hassan is Amir’s closets friend and servant to his house and is portrayed as a subservient male, often supporting and accepting blame for Amir’s actions. Assef, Wali and Kamal are the “ bad guys” within the novel; Wali and Kamal hold down Hassan and Assef rapes him purely for ethnicity differences, as Hassan is a Hazara. Afghanistan boys are supposed to be athletic and true to Islam .The leaving of Soraya Hassan mother with another man gives the notion that women lack morality leaving behind there children .The Taliban laws are followed closely within Afghanistan and women are treated without any rights, beatings, stoning and execution become the reality for women who violate the laws. Culturally Afghanistan women are portrayed to be subservient to there husband only live and breath to provide children, cook food and clean their
He begins his story in pre-civil war Afghanistan. He and his Hazara servant Hassan spend many hours per day together. One of the most cherished times spent together was when Amir would read stories to Hassan, under a pomegranate tree. Amir had a love for literature, a trait similar to his mother, who died while giving birth to him. However, this troubles his father ("Bâbâ," Persian for father), who tries to make Amir more like himself, active and courageous. Baba puts Amir on a soccer team and tries to teach him to defend himself, but fails with every attempt.
Baba is a very high standing man in Kabul, but seems to be extremely harsh to Amir when he was a child. He is a very large, tough man who was very well known in the town and as Amir stated in the novel, “Lore has it my father once wrestled a black bear in Baluchistan with his bare hands” (Hosseini 12). This small detail of Baba makes it known to the reader that Baba is a man of great courage and strength. Some may think that an honorable man is one with no flaws, but many disagree. Every human being makes mistakes, including Baba. When Amir grows up and goes back to visit Rahim Khan in Afghanistan, he finds out that his father lied to him his entire life about Hassan being his half-brother. He also finds out from Rahim Khan that all Baba had back then “was his honor, his name” (Hosseini 223). He did not tell Amir and Hassan that they were brothers because they had a different mother and that would have made their entire family be looked down upon in the town. He did it for their own good, and wanted for them both to grow up as honorable men, like himself. There is a difference in making mistakes and trying to do what’s best to fix them, rather than making the same mistakes over and over again, which is what Amir seemed to do in the novel. Amir was the exact opposite of his father, which made it very hard for them to have a
Hurricane’. “…My father was a force of nature, a towering Pashtun specimen with a thick beard, a wayward crop of curly brown hair as unruly as the man himself, hands that looked capable of uprooting a willow tree, and a black glare that would "drop the devil to his knees begging for mercy,"…” Within the novel, we see how masculinity and Baba are indistinguishably linked. Baba is what it means to be an Afghan man – we can see from the description that Amir gave is extremely overwhelming. ‘A towering Pashtun specimen with a thick beard’ and ‘Hands that looked capable of uprooting a willow tree’ shows
However, Amir’s happy day turns dark, when an hour later, he witnesses Hassan, his best friend, raped in an alley. He had “one final opportunity to decide who [he] was going to be”. 77. Instead of standing up for his friend and loyal servant, he runs like “a coward.” 77.
Self-deprecation is evident from the commencement as Amir begins with, “I became what I am today…” which signifies the lack of self-regard (Hosseini 1). A negative connotation with “who Amir is today” is fashioned from the first line of the novel, eventually progressing to utter contempt for the character himself. Amir elucidates upon his pathetic self-image by explaining how the summation of Baba’s life amounted to “one disappointing son and two suitcases” (Hosseini 124). The ability to separate oneself from one’s actions derives from the process of dehumanization. Guilt overwhelms Amir and the only way to alleviate the pain is to become apathetic to his own life. Comparatively, Lt. Cross separates himself from duties as “he would yell at his men to spread out the column, to keep their eyes open, but then he would slip away into daydreams” (O’Brian 1480). He even separates himself form present situations, thus allowing a separation of mind and body in numerous situations, one example being “Lt. Cross gazed at the tunnel. But he was not there. He was buried with Martha under the white sand at the Jersey shore” (O’Brian 1482). Both characters detach from situations imposed upon them, imagining different outcomes and attempting to abstain from drowning in
Amir now has the skills needed to continue his life in America as being independent and the man of the house. The future is bright for Amir, as one can see a fortified, relieved, and joyful version of him compared to the accustomed one in Kabul. Amir is able to purge his sin of silence and lying by using his newfound life to forget all that has occurred in Kabul. This new land of opportunity also brings Baba and Amir closer, for they need to look out for each other as a way to be successful and survive in the land of the free.
The other source of tension in Amir’s life is his relationship with Baba, his hard-driving and demanding father. Desperate to win his father’s affection and respect, Amir turns to the sport of kite flying, and at the age of 12, with the assistance of Hassan, he wins the annual tournament in Kabul. Amir’s victory soon is tarnished when he witnesses a vicious assault against his friend, who raced through the streets of Kabul to retrieve the last kite, Amir had sliced from the sky, and fails to come to his aid. Amir’s cowardness is compounded by a later act of betrayal that causes Ali and Hassan to leave their home, and he now faces the nightmare, bearing the burden of his poor choices for the rest of his life.
Almost every man has probably toxic masculinity in say way shape or form. This can be saying “you won’t” or “Man up” to get someone to do something. I have experienced this with my friends when we want each other to do something stupid. Although masculinity in moderate amounts can be good for a community. It can promote the growth of a civilization, it also may help a leader come out and take charge. Toxic masculinity is a whole other ball game. Toxic masculinity does not help a community in any way because it creates conflicts among men, that can stall progression. Many times this can cause a community or civilization to fail. This was demonstrated in the book Lord of the Flies. It especially shows through in times of great stress, or when
When Amir takes Baba to the doctors, the doctor suggests chemotherapy for Baba to prolong the cancer but Baba did not want any medication. Amir tells the reader, “He had the same resolved look on his face as the day he’d dropped the stack of food stamps on Mrs. Dobbins’s desk” (156). Baba did not want help even if his life was on the line. Baba also starts to take pride in Amir when he tells General Taheri, “Amir is going to ne a great writer,” Baba said. I did a double take at this” (139). Amir is starting to realize that his father who was untouchable and was a legend in Kabul was truly human. When Amir tells Baba that he wants to marry Soraya, Baba calls General Taheri to set up a meeting between the two men. As Amir dropped off Baba at the Taheri’s for the meeting, he says, “Baba was hobbling up the Taheri’s driveway for one last fatherly duty” (163). In this instance, Amir sees Baba as a true father. Amir feels Baba’s acceptance when Baba tells Amir on lafz, “It’s the happiest day of my life Amir” (166). Baba is telling Amir that through everything in his life from him marrying Sophia, to Amir winning the kite tournament, all the way to Amir graduating high school, Baba has never been prouder. After Baba’s death, Amir says, “As words from the Koran reverberated through the room, I thought of the old story of Baba wrestling a black bear in Baluchistan. Baba had
I’m telling you Rahim, there is something missing in that boy” (Hosseini, 23). Baba is complaining to Rahim and he doesn't understand why Amir lacks the courage to stand up for himself. He puzzles that Hassan is the one to step in and defend Amir. He also is very confused over the fact that Hazara is more courageous than his son. Baba knows that Amir is not violent and he wishes that he would just stand up for himself.
The most significant scene in the novel, the rape scene, has an allegorical dimension to it, it is an allegory to Afghanistan. After Hassan runs to
Despite Amir’s admiration for his father, Baba does not reciprocate his feelings. Therefore, Amir desires more than anything to have his dad’s affection. Amir’s yearning for his father’s love is so intense that he betrays his own brother in order to acquire it. After witnessing Hassan get raped, Amir runs away. Later, he thinks to himself, saying “I was afraid of getting hurt. That's what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan. That's what I made myself believe. I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef 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