New Life in America

America is a place where Amir is able to start over. Kabul is filled with memories that not only fill him with guilt but make him unable to be happy. America seems to a place that is accustomed to the type of person that Amir is, cowardly, selfish, but polite. Baba on the other hand has a very hard time adjusting to the American life. People are not use to his abrupt manner or his forceful ways. In the market, he has bought fruit from the same couple every week for two years, but when he is unable to pay them cash and must hand them a check, they ask to see his ID. This drives him crazy, he throws their produce on the ground and screams at them. “What kind of country is this? Where no one can be trusted?!” Baba yelled at the couple before Amir had to drag him away. In Kabul, Baba was surrounded by his ancestry, his culture, and his friends. He was rich and lived an easy and cushioned life. In America, he is poor and no one knew or cared to know who he was. He mourned for his old house and his life back home. Amir was glad to be any place that had no memories of Hassan. A place that was so vast and no body knew him. All his sins faded away and he his life was opened to hundreds of possibilities. In America being a creative writer was not something to be ashamed of, but in Kabul it was laughable. As Amir became softer and grew from his life in America, his father began to weaken and fade. His hair was thinning, he began to lose weight, and he was easily tried. Baba worked long and grueling hours at the gas station, while Amir spent his life at school studying to do what he loved.

I think it is for this reason that Baba’s immune system began to fail. I think in the stress free environment of Amir’s childhood Baba would have not resorted to constant smoking. Baba developed lung cancer because the new country and life style brought him pain and suffering. Amir found love in America and a good education. Amir found safety and was able to hide in his cowardness in America. In America Amir got a fresh start and Baba found his end.