Sharon's Response to Natalie's Reaction

Just like Natalie, I learned a great deal about Afghanistan after reading the book. I disliked the Hazara discrimination, but at the same time, I thought Hosseini was a skillful writer by how he incorporated all these elements into the daily life of a child. Amir would come home from school, factually thinking that Hassan is beneath him. Though he knows it’s due to religion and ethnicity, Amir at that age doesn’t actually understand the meaning behind it and constantly treats Hassan terribly because he knows he can get away with it. Like Natalie, I was also immensely impacted by that scene. The fact that Hassan can’t defend himself from the boy who raped him because he knows no one would listen or support him because of his status and ethnicity is too cruel, especially on a child so young.

The comment that Natalie makes about the situation between Rahim and Amir about Sohrab was something I also thought about while reading. I was initially frustrated at Amir because he’d always been saying how much he regretted what had happened, yet when given a chance to rectify things, he backed away. Actually, what frustrated me the most was not only that he refused to do it, but that when he eventually did, it was because he found out Hassan was his half-brother, as Natalie said, and he thought he would get rid of Sohrab afterwards. In the end, the trip to Kabul was about redeeming himself and not because he cared about Sohrab at all. Yet I feel that towards the end, Amir begins to feel at peace and with this feeling comes maturity; he begins to stop thinking about himself all the time and is finally able to concentrate on helping Sohrab develop the way he should have before.