I despise Amir

                So far, I have come to realize that I despise the narrator, Amir; I strongly dislike him. It is true that he is just a teenager, but that is not an excuse for the way he behaves, the things he has done, and the things he has refrained from doing.

                I think Amir deserves all the heart wrenching guilt he has been feeling. Who watches their best friend, the person you grew up with, the person that you live with, the person who will do anything for you get raped and not do anything about it? At first, I understood Amir. If Hassan was going to get in a fight, then I can live with the fact that he knows he will get beat up. However, as soon as I realized it was a sexual assault and Amir just stood there, I lost all my respect for him. Even now, if I saw Amir as an adult, I would still not respect him. I do not think I could forgive someone for doing that.

                Therefore, it is easy to comprehend why Amir is very hesitant about telling others what he saw. Nevertheless, no matter how hard it is for him, he should have still done it. He had many occasions to do so, especially when Ali asked him man to man if he knew what was wrong with Hassan. Amir knew Hassan was suffering, he knew he was in pain, crying when he would go to sleep, but he did nothing to make him feel better. When he threw up in the car, it was because of how guilty he felt, because of how sick he was with himself.  Then, when Hassan feels better and actually wants to spend time with Amir, Amir shrugs him off. Amir lets Hassan believe that he has done something wrong and that he is to blame for why they are not talking. Only a coward would let that happen, someone scared of taking responsibility. After, I found it pathetic how Amir tries to make Hassan hate him by throwing pomegranates at him. Hassan is the bigger person.

                Having to watch Hassan serve Assef was probably the worst thing Amir has ever seen, but imagine how Hassan feels instead? That’s who you should feel sorry for, not Amir. Although Amir tells himself that he did it for Hassan, altruism does not exist. He made it seem like Hassan stole the money and the watch so he would not have to face guilt every day. Hassan lied and admitted to being a thief in order to protect someone who never protected him. Amir is a coward and he just lost the one person who actually cared deeply about him.