Sunni vs Shia

Amir wishes to be like his father. However, Amir does not know if he can be the kind of man his father wants. Baba, Amir's father, is a ruthless and unforgiving man who has been morally shaped to fit the warrior type by the Sunni Muslims. Baba did all the things people said he could not do. Though he had no training as an architect, he designed and built an orphanage. Though people said he had no business sense, he became one of the most successful businessmen in the city. Though nobody thought he would marry well because he wasn’t from a prominent family, he married Amir’s mother, Sofia Akrami, a beautiful, intelligent woman who came from a royal bloodline. Amir tries to please Baba by being more like him but rarely feels he is successful. What Amir is good at is poetry and reading. But he worries his father does not see these as manly pursuits. When he and Baba went to see a match of buzkashi, a rider was trampled after falling from his horse. Amir cried, and Baba could barely hide his disdain for the boy. I believe that Amir follows more along the lines of a Shia Muslim who is more mellow than the Sunni Muslim. This is why Amir disappoints his father who is a more aggressive man; Amir is a boy who wants to befriend others, no matter what group they come from. This will probably not sit well with Baba and they will soon need to come to terms with each other. I do not think it will go well though.