Gained Respect For Baba

                The first thing that shocked me during this week’s reading was how quickly the author passed the time. From one page to the next, Amir was eighteen years old. Did this signify that his years without Hassan were not meaningful or important? Or that nothing interesting happened while he was gone? Whatever it is, Hassan missing in a way resembles that a piece of his life was missing as well and that is probably why he decides to not write about that period in his life.

                I found it funny how Amir had not changed at all, both physically and mentally, he is still weak. He cannot control his stomach and still believes that his dad hates him. After years, he has been unable to stand up to his father and tell him that they are not alike. He still believes that Baba is ashamed of having him as a son. In my opinion, he should just man up already and accept the fact that they are different people and confront his father.

                However, I gained much respect for Baba during this week’s reading, compared to all the respect I lost for Amir last week. At first, I was really disgusted by how the Russian was about to rape the innocent women. He thought of her as a possession and although Karim was ashamed, he did nothing to try and stop it. The husband did not do anything, but at least I understand where he is coming from. If the husband says anything, he will get shot, leave his son without a father and his wife will still get raped. He is trying to flee and start a new life, but you can sense that he is going through immense pain and it is taking all he has to not do anything. Nevertheless, Baba who has nothing to gain from speaking up, decides to protect the woman. He was about to give his life for a woman he has never seen and will probably never see again, for the mere reason that it is the right thing to do. I like to think that if I were stuck in that type of situation, I would do the same as Baba.

                Then, I started to despise Amir even more when he was getting angry at his father for protecting the woman. I understand that Baba is his father and he is scared about losing him, but Baba is doing the moral thing. Although, Baba ‘s personality contradicts when he almost kills Karim, I think Baba was in the right. He was forced to live in a basement and paid a lot of money. I would not have blamed him for killing Karim.