Afghanistan Kite Runner - Essay Example

A note of characters: Amir is a Pashtun boy from a wealthy family in Afghanistan. Amir’s mother died during his birth. His father is a powerful and wealthy businessman, and he is often critical to Amir. Amir adores and respects his father and calls him Baba. Ali and Hassan: Ali is Hassan’s father. He is a servant of Amir’s father. Both Ali and Hassan are servants in the Amir’s family. Amir’s father loves both boys but considers Hassan to be braver than Amir. Rahim Khan is Baba’s closest friend. He supports and encourages Amir’s interest in writing and treat’s Amir as a close friend. Amir considers him as a fatherly figure that can understand him. Assef is a hypocritical and violent old boy. He is from a wealthy family in Afghanistan, just like Amir. He ridicules Amir for mingling with people from an inferior race, hazara (Hassan). According to Assef, Hassan is from an inferior race whose members belong only to the Hazarajat and should not socialize with the upper-class families. The kite tournament is a traditional competition in Afghanistan. In this tournament, the winner is the person who cuts all the kites. People who run to trace the cut kites are referred to as Kite runners. The person who gets the last cut kite can be considered the luckiest of all. Observation Background story: One day Assef and his friends saw Hassan and Amir walking on the street. Assef threw a stone from the back of the two boys to interrupt their movement, with the intention of stopping them. Assef asked his friends, “If I paid you to be my friends, would you really be my friends or servants? So I guess Amir has no friends.” Amir responded with a frightened voice, “We are not bothering you.” Assef replied, “Wrong, you are bothering me. Afghanistan belongs to the Pashtuns. We are really Afghans. Not this flat-nosed Hazara. His society contaminates our motherland. They dirty our blood. If stupid people like you and your father did not accommodate these folks, we would have gotten rid of them.” Hassan moved ahead and raised his hands with a slingshot begging Assef to leave them alone. Assef reacted by calling him names and stating that Hassan is a motherless Hazara. Angered by Assef reactions, Hassan insisted that Assef should leave them alone. In response to Hassan restatement Assef said, “Maybe you did not notice, but there are three of us and two of you.” Filled with furry, Hassan said with no fear, “and maybe you did not notice that I am the one holding the slingshot.” Assef said to his colleagues “We will deal with these faggots later.” Main story: On the competitions day, Amir won the local kite tournament, and his father felt proud of him. Hassan ran for the last cut kite, a great trophy, and thanked Amir. After finding the kite, Hassan encountered Assef in an alleyway. Amir was looking for Hassan because usually Hassan always knew where the kite was. When Amir found Hassan, he saw Assef and two more boys chilling with him. Assef asked Amir where Hassan, the Hazara, was. Assef added that Amir never looked brave that day. Assef said to Hassan, “but I am in the mood to forgive. Nothing is free in this world. You are a lucky Hazara. Today it will just cost you that kite. Fair enough. “Hassan refused and said that Amir Agha had won the tournament, and he ran after the kite for Amir and therefore it was his. Assef said, “Loyal Hazara. Loyal dog. Before sacrificing yourself for Amir, think about this, Hazara. Would he do the same for you? Have you wondered why he only plays with you when no one else is around? It is only because according to him, you are nothing but a useless pet. Something Amir can play when he is bored. Something he can buzz when he is angry.” Hassan said, “Amir Agha and I are friends.” “You fool. Enough for this. Give me the kite.”Assef said angrily. Hassan refused again with no hesitation. “As you wish, keep it; it will always keep you posted of what I am about to do to you.” Hassan was beaten and raped. And Amir saw the whole process but did not intervene. Two times, Amir, and Hassan met Aseef; Hassan always stood for Amir. But Amir made different choice. After that, Amir started to keep distance from Hassan, they no longer remained as close as before. He felt uncomfortable and guilty, which prevented him from staying with Hassan. Description of problem Amir’s father is his only family since his mother had died. He admires Baba, but also scared of him because Baba is often very strict to him. Amir stays quiet most often, and has only few friends. Amir is very sensitive. He always wants to stay with his father alone, just the two of them, because he loves his father so much to a point of not wanting to share. All in all, the most challenging person for Amir is Hassan. His father loves both of them, and considers Hassan braver than Amir. Even though Hassan treats Amir not only as his best friend, but also as a brother, Amir always wants to prove himself higher than Hassan when they are together. Anything that relates to how Baba sees Amir, makes Amir anxious and wants to be “perfect”. When Amir witnessed the incident where Hassan was beaten and raped, he did not intervene. He knew that by intervening, the kite would be lost, and Baba would be less proud of him. Also, he could only keep silent because if he told anyone, his cowardice will destroy Baba’s love and hope for him again (such a disappointment happened once, and it is written under family context). But after this event, his gilt made him do something even worse. (that will be written under history) Biological Underpinnings Amir grows up in a very wealthy family. He eats healthy foods and has outdoor activities quite often. There is no obvious physical and neurological problem seen in him. Family Context Background 1: One day Amir went back home after school. He heard about the conversation between Baba and Rahim Khan. They were talking about the coming Soviet war in Afghanistan. Rahim felt it was lucky that Amir was too young to be involved. Then Baba said, “Trust me, he will not be getting into any scuffles. Sometimes I see him play with the neighborhood boys, they push him around and snatch his toys, but he never fights back. Never.” Rahim Khan asked, “So he is not violent?” “You know what goes on when the other kids mock him? Hassan steps in and fends them off. And when they return home, I usually ask him, ‘how did Hassan get that scar on his face?’ He says, ‘He fell down.’ There is something missing in that boy. A young man who won’t stand up for himself, becomes a man who cannot stand any challenge.” Amir went to his room. At that night, Rahim Khan entered into Amir’s room to say goodbye before going home. Amir was writing a story, and he said: “He hates me because I killed her.” Background 2: After Rahim had read the story, he left a comment “Bravo” on paper that let Hassan deliver to Amir. One day Hassan was serving breakfast for Amir and gave him the comment, Amir said after looking at it, “He likes it, my story.” Hassan responded, “Of course he likes it. You tell great stories.” Amir shouted. “Bravo! He wrote Bravo!” Hassan asked, “Bravo?” Amir asked Hassan, “You don’t know what bravo means?” Amir felt confidence when he found something Hassan did not know. Hassan shook his head. Amir said, “It’s Italian for genius.” Hassan asked, “What is the story about?” Amir responded by saying that the story was about a man who had found a magic cup. The man learned that if he cried into a cup, pearls would develop. According to Amir, the man was very poor. The story ends with the man sitting on a mountain of pearls with his dead wife in his arms. Hassan asked “So, he killed her?” Amir responded, “Yes, Hassan.” Hassan asked, “So that he’d cry and get rich.” Amir responded, “Yes, you are very quick.” Hassan turned back to his work without saying anything. Amir asked, “What?” Hassan replied, “Nothing, Amir Agha. Are you done with breakfast?” Amir, asked again “What?” Hassan said, “Well, will you permit me to ask a question about the story?” Amir replied, “Of course.” Hassan asked, “Why did the man have to kill his wife?” Amir explained, “Because each of his tears becomes a pearl.” Hassan asked, “Yes, but why couldn’t he just smell an onion?” In that family, even though all physical materials, including foods, cloths, and luxury cars are very well, Amir’s attachment with his parents is poor. Amir’s mother died during his birth. His father is a man who is confident, authoritarian, and masculine. For example, Baba won the kite tournament once and left an outstanding record for cutting 14 kites. He mentioned this over and over again, and believes Amir as his son should also win this tournament. On the contrary, Amir is shy and tremulous, especially when facing his father and other stronger people. So his father and he are not good fits. He wants his father to have a closer and more intimate relationship with him, but always fails because of the differences between them, especially Amir’s cowardice. He also found it uncomfortable and unconfident every time he believed he was higher than Hassan. Every time he looked through his bedroom window and watched how Hassan worked. He felt confused because he believed he should be better than his little servant. Moreover, when Baba said Hassan was good, Amir felt more conflicting. Larger Sociocultural Context Background: One day, Amir spotted his father drinking. Amir told his father that the mullahs at school argue that drinking is a sin act (Fredriksen, 2012). Additionally, they said that drinkers will pay when the Reckoning comes. His father responded by asking whether he would like to know the definition of sin. According to Amir’s father, theft is the mother of all sins. Amir was worried by his father’s sentiments. When his father realized that Amir was confused, he explained to him. He said,“When you kill a man, you steal his life. You deprive his wife the right to her husband, his children the right to a father. There is no action more despicable than stealing.” Baba’s understanding of sin was different from what Amir was taught. However, during this conversation, Amir learned that theft is the one Baba hated most. Amir’s family is a typical upper-class family in that social environment. In Afghanistan, many believe Hazara is a lower race, and the Pashtuns are the true Afghanistan. This idea can influence Amir to believe that Hassan is lower than him and does not deserve Baba’s care. Child Development and narrative history Lost his always mother when he was born. Becomes very close friend with Hassan. Heard that Baba believed that Hassan was better than him. He found himself stupid sometimes with Hassan. He found Hassan was very gifted in many things, including running for kites, doing housework, and so on. He did not intervene when Hassan was raped because of running kite for him. He learned that his father hated theft the most. He framed Hassan for stealing his birthday party present, a new watch, in order to push Him away. Analysis Amir experiences a lot of conflicting situations in his lives. His temperament, which refers to his innate behavioral style, is not a “good-fit” with his father’s parenting style. His poor attachment to his father makes him have a low degree of security. The relationship between him and his father always makes him anxious. His father’s expectations are not met with his demands. His father wants him to be a brave man while he is shy and doesn’t want to involve in any trouble. With a poor quality of attachment, according to Allan Schore, genes are get affected by the hormones stimulated by the relationship between a mother and an infant. In this regard, Amir’s psychological life could have changed because of lack of mother attachment. The endorphins and cortisol level is affected by attachment and regulates the genes. Parents’ and child’s psychological systems co-regulating each other when they interact with one another, which is helpful in establishing hope for the child. These interactions regulate children in a positive way. This would have made Amir more vulnerable to depression. In order to make his father happy and proud, he sacrifices Hassan. In reality, he always has a complicated emotion with Hassan. He needs Hassan as a servant and friend, but never considers himself the true Hassan’s friend because he believes he is higher than him. After seeing Hassan’s traumatic experience, Amir feels uncomfortable facing him. He probably experiences some depression symptoms, including being unhappy most of the times, sleeping badly, and poor self-esteem. He no longer invites Hassan to go out to their favorite place. The gilt makes Amir choose a more radical way of pursuing his own inner comfortable feelings. He framed Hassan up, saying his new watch had been stolen by Hassan. By doing this and pushing Hassan away from his home, he won the battle of struggling with the gilt and jealousness. Treatment recommendations Amir should be taken through a collaborative psychological counseling. Counseling will make him understand the importance of respecting other people. In addition, it will help him develop a strong self-esteem. As a result, his personal confidence will increase and be able to face life bravery. Reference: Top of Form Fredriksen, P. (2012). Sin: The early history of an idea. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Bottom of Form Read More