Okay, I'll throw out a few thoughts....


Carrying a memory of the past that the bearer would like to have done differently is a common experience, from what I have seen in people. It's universally human. Not many people have 'A way to be good again' as was mentioned in the book, but I think that most people would find themselves considering their whole life experience all over again when offered such an opportunity.

Amir says that he became what he is today at the age of 12. I disagree. (Without including any spoilers.) I think that how he FELT about himself was defined in 1975, but who he WAS was a result of the culture and upbringing that he had.

As we see evidence of in chap. 2, he was emotionally alone even though he had a clearly privileged household. His mother is dead, and his father seems to spend little time with him. That would make ANY child develop a complex that will affect his/her behavior. Hassan, his servant/playmate must have seemed much more privileged to him; or at least I would think so.

Hassan and his father put up with a lot of abuse because of their ethnicity. It makes me think of pre-1960's America and the situation with ethnic minorities here. Though I will admit that the concept of being so banal while talking to a child, as the soldier was, steps beyond disgusting to me. In this country, people have done such because they could get away with it... I guess that this is a trait that is not limited to one particular culture.