Monday, November 12, 2007

Kite Runner #8

Amir’s confrontation with Assef in Wazir Akbar Khan marks an important turning point in the novel. Why does the author have Amir, Assef, and Sohrab all come together in this way? What is the significance of the scar that Amir develops as a result of the confrontation? Why is it important in Amir’s journey toward forgiveness and acceptance?

7 comments:

Safa said...

Amirs confrontation with Assef is important because it reminds amir of the coward he is, it shows him how unfaithful of a freind he is because he did not help his freind in his time of need. this also reminds amir of how true of a freind hassan is since he saved him once before from assef. the author joins assef, amir and sohrab together in order to show amir how time repeats itself. amir was saved from assef many times by hassan and now after hassan is dead amir still finds himself protected by sohrab, hassans son. the lip injury causes amirs lip to split in half giving him the exact hairlip hassan had. this helps in amirs journey toward forgiveness by making him relate more to his brother even by little things like the harelip. another reason could be so that every time amir looks in the mirror he remembers his brother and works harder for forgiveness.

Denise Persaud said...

Amir, Assef and Sohrab all come together in a violent way that is similar to when Amir, Assef and Hassan did. Hassan was a true friend who had a good heart and always saved Amir from Assef. Hassan's genuine characteristic followed down to his son, Sohrab which saved Amir once again from Assef. It's kind of like a cycle that Amir is always getting saved because he is too much of a coward to stand up for anyone else much less, himself.
After the fight between Assef and Amir, Amir suffers an injury to the lip where his lip is cut in half justs like the way Hassan used to have a distinct harelip. Now, everytime Amir sees his reflection, he is reminded of his half brother and how he did him wrong and how he must fight for forgiveness. Amir wants to bring Sohrab back to America because he feels responsible and liable since Sohrab is technically his nephew and it is one step closer to forgiveness and acceptance for all the wrong things he had done to Hassan.

martha said...

WOW! I think Safa and Denise pretty much summed up the questions very well!
But my response to the turning point in the novel when Amir confronts Assef is it becomes sort of like a payback for Assef and what he did to Hassan when they were younger. Hassan was able to stand up for himself and Amir. Now, Hassan's son, Sohrab had the chance to do what his father was unable to finish. As Safa and Denise mentioned Amir still needed the assistance of someone in order to defeat Assef. Just like when he was younger it would be Hassan to the rescue this time however, it was Sohrab!
I believe the author put Amir, Assef, and Sohrab all come together in this way because as Safa and Densie already menioned its sort of like a cycle. It is like the saying "what goes around comes around." This allows the readers to see how Assef did not change since they were younger and how Amir is in a similiar situation and Sohrab symbolizes his father.
The significance of the scar that Amir develops as a result of the confrontation is a resemblance of the harelip that Hassan had, which will remind him of his half-brother. It is important in Amir's journey toward forgiveness because of the guilt he feels from not helping Hassan when they were younger and acceptance because Hassan is his half-brother and now Amir feels responsible to accept Sohrab into his own famuily.

Dave DeLuca said...

I think that the author really set this up so that amir could confront basically everything that had changed his life many years before this day. Him confronting assef is really a pay back for what happened to hassan and how it changed amirs life. Also sorhab has a chance to stand up for his past and what happened to his father, amir still needed some help to defeat assef just like when hassan helped him when they were younger.

Puttin amir assef and sohrab in one place at the same time was done because its all the bad n good things that have changed amirs life. assef made amir chase hassan away and sohrab brought amir back to his old town searching for the boy. assef hasnt changed the way he is, he is the same bully that he used to be.

the scar that amir has on his lip, is a symbol of the scar hassan had on his lip after his surgery. that scar will remind amir of hassan. amir is starting to change he wants to forgive himself over all these years and make things better, and standing up for himself and taking sohrab changes things in his past.

Drilona said...

As it is mentioned before by other students, the author brings together at this point of the book amir, assef, and sohrab because he wants to relate this time of the story to the past (beginning of the book.) when hassan and amir were friends. Every time amir was in trouble, Hassan used to stand up for him. A long time has passed since than and still amir gets protected by one of Hassan’s family members, sohrab. as Denise mentioned it’s like a cycle, first Hassan and now sohrab.
I think that the lip injury that amir got after the fight with assef kind of brings him closer to the memory of his half brother. every time he sees his reflection he thinks of Hassan all the wrong he has done to him.
Now the only thing he can do is to help sohrab and provide him a secure place to live, since both of his parents are dad. Since he did not do any good to Hassan, only showed sings of jealousy towards him, he feels responsible and guilty at the same time.
Since Hassan didnt have, the chance to be part of the, amir thinks that it is time to give that privilege to sohrab.

Oleg said...

The author chose Amir, Sohrab and Assef to come together, because Hassan is not alive anymore so Sohrab takes his place now. Amir's scar after his fight wth Assef is significatnt, because Hassan also had a scar on his lip after the surgery, maybe it will remind him everytime he looks in the mirror of Hassan and that he actually did something in the end to save Sohrab from Assef. Forgiveness and acceptance are impotant, because Amir saved Sohrab, and this is his makeup for not being a good brother to Hassan. Also Sohrab accepts Amir as his friend in the end when they flight a kite in California.

Oleg said...
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