Maya's Fourth Reaction

           This reaction may sound harsh, but I cannot find a way to sugar-coat this. Reading the scene where they are all sitting down discussing what happened with Amir’s birthday money was both disheartening and frustrating. Amir has this sort of “Hamlet complex” where he has this mentality that justifies endless self pitying because x, y and z happened. Hamlet, in my opinion, spends the majority of the play wallowing; I can understand grieving after death, but he was on a whole other level. It felt as though he needed people to tell him, “Oh, poor you. You are definitely the only one being affected by this”. I feel that Amir is the same way. Since he has problems with his father, everyone else has to be at the butt of it or pitying him. 

          Yes, Amir is young, but so is Hassan. However, Hassan is Amir’s age and is essentially living in conditions slightly above what would be considered poverty, working as a servant, and is consistently harassed by the general population of his country just for having a different background. No child should ever have to feel outcasted and made to feel like they are less because of their ethnicity. Hassan was even raped; he was completely stripped of his innocence and whatever scraps of a normal childhood he had were yanked away from him in that moment. All the while, Amir is making faces at the pile of birthday presents in his room.

           I read up to page two hundred and was still unable to shake these thoughts. Honestly, I would love to read the story from Hassan’s perspective. At this point, I am burned out by the current “rich kid with daddy problems” plot. I think that the book through Hassan’s point of view would be a much more dynamic story, even if that sounds like the typical cliché of cheering for the underdog. The author could explore what it is like for him to have such a love for stories even though he is illiterate. It would be nice to know some of Hassan’s inner thoughts on his parents, Amir and his family, and just the world in general. 

          What was saddest about the entire situation, though, was the fact that Hassan just sat there and took it. He did not say a word, he simply accepted that this was happening and allowed it to continue even after he was forgiven for the alleged crime. One could argue that Amir was doing this to “stop his suffering” or whatever it was that he said the lie was for and that it was in good heart. If Amir really wanted to stop Hassan’s suffering, he would have stood up for him in front of Assef both times, in front of the soldiers, and maybe just generally reciprocate. If Amir loves Hassan as much as he said he did while sitting in Baba’s office, accomplishing those things should not be hard.