We caught up with Amir to discuss what life was like back in Afghanistan and what he’s currently doing now as he’s living in San Francisco. What was life like back in Afghanistan when you were a child? Pretty normal I guess. My father was extremely wealthy so we lived in a super nice house. It had multiple rooms as well as many floors. I attended school which was a great opportunity for me, most kids either stopped attending school or didn’t even go to school at all. I grew up with one of my best friends, his name was Hassan. He was the son of one of my father’s friends/ servants that would live in the bottom floor of our house. This was a lot better than what they would’ve been provided. Sorry that was off topic, I just miss going up to
Amir’s wealthy status in the city of Kabul allows him to have excessive hubris, which eventually initiates his tragic downfall.
Amir begins to feel redemption when he goes to Pakistan and Rahim Khan has letters from Hassan to Amir. In the letters, Hassan begins talking about his wife and
Thesis: The war overseas, but there are millions of veterans still fighting the war at home.
Amir, from The Kite Runner, is no stranger to this viewpoint of America, with conscious acknowledgment of using the country as a way to forget his past sins and form a new life. One can argue that Amir needs his experience returning to Kabul to rescue Sohrab as a way to engrain appreciation for his lifestyle in America. This return is the only way for Amir to be cleansed of his sins, as stated in The Kite Runner, “‘Come. There is a way to be good again,’ Rahim Khan said on the phone just before hanging up. Said it in passing, almost as an afterthought” (Hosseini 192).
And i would have told, except that a part of me was glad. Glad that this would all be over soon” (105). Amir didnt want to tell the truth about him standing and watching what happened in the alley. He knows what he did was wrong and he knows he has to fix it but instead of doing to right thing he did the wrong thing by lieing. Amir knew that he made a bad decision about not telling the truth about what happened in the alley with his best friend, so in attempt to forget about it this is what he wants to do, “America was a place to bury my memories” (129). It makes Amir uncomfortable for him to even think about Hassan. He would do anything to forget about it and leave like it never happened. When Amir and Sorya, Amirs wife, were talking, Sorya was about to cry then Amir said this, “ I envied her. Her secret was out spoken. I opened my mouth and almost told her how i’d betrayed hassan, lied, driven him out, and destroyed a forty-year long relationship between Baba and Ali. but I didn't” (165). This shows that he was about to open up to someone about his problems which would have been good. If he did open up Sorya could have given him advice on how to deal with
In Afghanistan, Amir lived in a community of people that had a high level of social class, the Pashtun. They were given right over the Hazaras, or the lower ranking people of their community. However, this social class difference was no problem for Amir and his best friend Hassan. Hassan was a Hazara, and everyone except Amir treated him like the city scum. This began to change however, as he
To some people, it is only noise but to me, it was a whole new world. I can still remember the first time I heard a round whiz past my ear, the cars passing by, or SSG Blue yelling at me to get down. At that moment, I realized that I was not training anymore. I was made aware that everything and everyone were out to kill me. I kept telling myself, “I shouldn’t be here.” Mentally, I can hear my mother in the background crying just as the day she did when she found out I joined the military. My life was not the same nor will it ever be the same. In my first combat tour I learned the importance of life, how to mentally prepare myself for the worst outcomes, and I learned how to be a great leader.
Amir meets Assef, who is now a taliban leader and beats him up wearing brass knuckles. Again, physically Amir is hurting but mentally he is healed because now he doesn’t feel guilty for not stopping Hassan’s rape. Amir feels he was punished for his wrong doing. He feels like it was owed to him and isn’t angry for it happening. Something he deserved after leaving Hassan during his rape.
Twenty four hours and a two plane rides were the only obstacles standing in my way…. Oh, and about three-dozen insurgents.
Within the first six months he had only gone home twice; throughout the six months he had also sent money to help with momma and Jane. But at the end of the fifth month, he was told he would be deployed at the of the next month to Afghanistan.
When he gets, Baba’s friend, Rahim Khan’s call and hears, “Come. There is a way to be good again”(192), he decides to go to Pakistan without any hesitation. Amir has a vital need to be good again and guesses Rahim Khan knows about his past, so he wants to see Rahim Khan to try to begin his redemption. After hearing the stories about Hassan and his son Sohrab, he determines to go back to Afghanistan and saves Sohrab alone. With the strong will to be good, Amir is no longer a coward. Although there are so many difficulties, he eventually saves Sohrab and takes him to America. Furthermore, Amir tries to atone his previous sin. After he saves Sohrab, he spares no effort to make Sohrab happy and earn his trust. “I struggled out of bed and crossed the space between us. ‘I won’t ever get tired of you, Sohrab’… ‘That’s a promise. You’re my nephew’ ”(324). To express the love that he didn’t give to Hassan, Amir becomes another man: He is unselfish and generous. He considers Sohrab as the most important person in his life and tries his best to love Sohrab. In the end, when he sees a steady smile spread across Sohrab’s face while flying kites in America, Amir finishes his
When I was seventeen I nervously traveled about 350 miles from my sleepy little home town of Freedom, Wyoming to the relatively enormous city of Boise, Idaho to go to the Military Entrance Processing Station. This wasn 't the first time I had been this far from home by myself, but it was the first time I was making adult decisions without my parents involvement. When it came time for me to choose my job in the army the counselors presented me with a long list that I qualified for. I got tired of scrolling and reading so I chose the first job that I actually understood. I returned home and excitedly told my parents that I would be an infantry soldier. My dad 's response to this might be considered a little less than heart warming “You dumb ass. Why didn 't you choose
I have been blessed to have led a highly fulfilling career over the past 22 years. The Air Force’s standards of conduct and performance have helped me mature into an adult while creating lasting memories along the way. I have had the opportunity to make significant contributions to my country that offer a sense of pride and personal achievement. My current duties allow me to directly contribute to the Air Force and Joint arena on an almost daily basis. Joining the Air Force helped me to realize I had undertaken a task bigger than myself.
He lived in Kabul, Afghanistan with his father, Baba, and two servants of the Hazaran minority, Ali and his son Hassan, who also happens to be Amir’s best friend.