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analysis of Amir

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analysis of Amir
Amir is a coward who does not stand out for his friend when he faces challenges by others; in his mind, he thinks Pashtun is always better than Harzara. Amir and Hassan are childhood friends. They always play together. The way that Amir interacts with Hassan is different from how he interacts with Assef. Despite the fact that Amir plays with Hassan very often, he does not treat Hassan as a friend. Amir thinks he is better than Hassan. Amir says: “ My favorite part of reading to Hassan was when we came across a big word that he didn’t know” (29). Amir teases Hassan when he does not know a word. In Amir’s mind, Amir thinks that they are not the same because he is well educated. However, Amir is afraid of Assef: “ I looked in his crazy eyes and saw that he meant it” (42). When Amir is trying to hurt him, he cannot do anything and in the end Hassan protects him once again. Amir treats Hassan and Assef differently because Hassan is a Hazara and Assef is a Pashtun. Being a Pashtun and Sunni makes Amir thinks maybe sacrificing a Hazara to achieve his goal is a fair thing to do. In order to protect the kite for Amir, Hassan is raped by Assef. At that time, Amir is in the corner and he sees everything. However, he chooses to run and ignore everything. Amir says: “ I ran because I was coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt”(77). Amir tries to persuade himself to believe that this is the reason he runs away. However, the real reason is that Hassan is a Hazara, Amir does not want to stand out for him. Amir thinks, “ He was just a hazara, wasn’t he”(77)? Amir thinks it is ok to sacrifice Hassan to win Baba’s
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