A Father's Protection

It is the responsibility of parents to raise their children in a way that guides their children to live good and successful lives. Most children rely on their parents more than anyone else throughout their lives and expect their parents to be there for them without fail. In the novels The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, one can get a glimpse of imperfect father-son relationships as well as the struggles fathers face in raising their sons. The fathers in each novel learn the hard way in that they are not always correct about their sons even if they have good intentions. Hosseini and Edwards demonstrate that most fathers only want what is best for their sons, thus they will do whatever it takes to protect their sons from any harm. This is shown when Baba and David want their sons to have successful careers as opposed to pursuing a career they love as well as keeping a life-changing secret from their sons.
In The Kite Runner and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter both Baba and David are hopeful that their sons will have successful careers as opposed to supporting them in doing something they love. While their intentions are good, Baba and David’s actions do not come across as protective and caring towards Amir and Paul, but instead are hurtful. Firstly, Amir has always had a great passion for reading and writing, but his father, Baba, has never been supportive of those passions. Ever since a young age, Baba has always looked down on Amir’s love for reading and writing stating that there is something missing in Amir because of it. As a wealthy man, Baba wants Amir to carry the family name in an honourable way. Consequently, Baba hopes that Amir will be wealthy as well. Amir finally decides to tell his father what he wishes to study in university and unfortunately does not get the reaction he would like from Baba,
“I think I’ll major in English”, I said. I winced inside, waiting for his reply... He took a deep breath and