Suicide and Cancer

The suicide of Kamal’s father made really see how different Amir and Baba’s relationship is from the average father and son. Kamal killed himself seconds after his son passed and he seemed to do so without even thinking about it. To him, there was no life without his son or wife so he shot himself, understandably. However, I am almost 100% positive that if the same had happened to Baba, he would have continued on as if nothing had changed. I think this is because to him Amir has be dead since his birth. He still cannot get over the fact that Amir “killed” his mother in the birthing process and so he feels this grudge against his own son. In all honesty, I am not even sure if Baba would shed a tear or even have watery eyes if Amir died.

            The author also chose to have Amir describe his hands versus that of his father in a way that I found to be extremely intriguing. Amir said that his hands were “clean and soft” while his father’s were “rough and dirty”. I know that this was meant quite literally, but seeing as that Amir watched Hassan get rapped his hands are the dirty ones. While Baba has done his fair share of awful things they do not even come close to amounting to Amir’s transgressions.

            This reading also allowed me to fully come to terms with how selfish of a person Amir is. When his father is diagnosed with cancer, his concern is not over how much longer his father will be able to live. Instead, he is more highly concerned with the fact that once his father passes he will be an orphan. He even asks Baba “what will happen to me?”  You would think that since Amir tried his entire life to please Baba and gain his undivided attention, he would be more concerned for Baba than he would be about himself. However, that belief is clearly wrong because Amir has a level of selfishness unlike any other. 

- Talia Akerman