Sorry - I said no response for Chapter 4!! But after re-reading the chapter I just had to know what your thoughts are on this...
Think about your understanding of "friendship". How would you assess Amir's friendship toward Hassan given the things he reveals in this chapter.
I would assess their relationship to being behind closed doors, Amir finds Hassan to be a friend but at the same time is a lesser person then him, and in a way Amir is mildly jealous of Hassan. Amir never really admits to Hassan that their friends and like he was saying about never playing with Hassan when the other boys came over.
ReplyDeleteAmir loves Hassan and being raised with him cares about him like a brother. But even with being raised with him he knows they are not equals and could never be because Hassan is Hazara. Hassan wakes up earlier than Amir to iron his clothes and make him breakfast before school and Amir has come to expect this from him. Amir also enjoyed the praise Hassan had given him on his story but when he came to doubt the logic of the story Amir deep down thinks about how Hassan is illiterate and will be nothing but a cook so how could he criticize his writing. So even with the love he has for Hassan he also knows he has superiority over him.
ReplyDeleteAmir and Hassan have been compainion/playmates since they were born. They passed many milestones together including having the same wet nurse. Amir does see that Hassan is like a brother and no other is a close to him or knows him like Hassan, he is still a servant and not a friend. "...In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi'a, and nothing was going to change that. Nothing."
ReplyDeleteThey are friends at heart, but at the same time Amir is a bit jelous of Hassan. He sometimes brings Hassan down but belittling him, and making him seem stupid. He is still a servant and not a friend. But I belive that Amir really does love Hassan
ReplyDeleteamir is jelous of hassan. and treats him like less of a person cause hassans dad is babas servent. amir see's hassan as a friend. but he knows in his head that hes a servant.
ReplyDeleteBaba's relationship with Amir isn't that of a proud father. He is a fierce man, all-work-and-no-play. He allows Amir to fear him. Amir tries too hard to be like his father when he knows deep down he has his mother's spirit and shares the same passion for poetry she had. In my opinion Amir has become much like his mother to keep her alive for him, since he only knows of her through stories he can imagine that the poetry is the key to feeling her closely watching over him and by holding the same books she once held he shares a secret bond with her.
ReplyDeleteBaba has hardened his heart, again in my opinion, I think this is to aviod comforting his son because it'd show weakness in himself. Death comes to all, we're born, we live, we die. Cold hard fact of life. Baba can feel sorrow I have no doubt, but he does so in his own way. He has years of life experience over Amir and Im sure he resents his son in some way. Baba does reach out to Amir with a trip out one-on-one, they're few and far between. I think this is the guilt that pushes himself to try and love his son the way his wife would have expected him to.
Both father and son are fighting a losing battle.
(I posted Chapter 3 response here by mistake!! here is my Chapter 4)
ReplyDeleteAmir mistreats Hassan as a friend when Hassan stands in the way of the spotlight. Amir cares for Hassan but needs to feel superior to him at the same time. I think this is because he feels there is a lack of respect given to him by Baba. He's only doing onto Hassan what he feels has been done onto himself. Also it could simply be because he knows that Hassan has his place in the world as his servant. Baba has this same relationship with Hassan's father Ali.
Amir uses literature to feel superior to Hassan who is ignorant to the teasing that Amir makes towards him when he doesn't know what a word means. It's because of this teasing that Amir is able to create his own story and with that success produced from a wrongful act, Karma comes around and Amir realizes that Hassan (the illiterate servant) has simplified the point of the story and given critism that stumps Amir.
ReplyDeleteIn Amir's private thoughts he battles with his "friendship" to Hassan based on the examples around him; Baba treats Ali like a trusted ally but never gives him the title of brother or friend. To Amir it may seem that this is just how the order of titles fall. Ali is Baba's servant, so Hassan is Amir's servant. To the neighborhood kids/bullies they are two very different cultural groups (Amir and Hassan) of people and Hassan shouldnt be considered an equal to Amir. Hassan is just happy being Amir's companion and would do anything for him. It's Amir who has fears and feels pressure when people critise him for befriending a servant, a dirty Hazara.
I would say Hassan and Amir are great friends, more like brothers then anything. They are always together and grew up very close. However i think Amir needs to feel better than Hassan and is mildly jealous of Hassan. When there are other children around Amir had mentioned he never played with Hassan. I think Amir questions their friendship because he sees that Ali is Babas servent therefore, Hassan is kind of like Amirs servent. Hassan looks at Amir in a different light. He sees Amir and a friend or even brother he would do anything for, and its not saying Amir wouldnt do anything for him. Amir just grew up knowing them as a Hazara, and people bully him and tell him its wrong because of that. So Amir just may be a bit confussed about their "friendship".
ReplyDelete