Quote:
Originally Posted by talloulou
At this point in the story I think Amir recognizes that Hassan is happier than he is. He knows Hassan's father is very loving while his seems, to him, aloof. And he also hints that Hassan is quite intelligent. So this is all quite upsetting for Amir. He is the one with the position of power, money, goes to school, ect. Yet he is the one who feels unhappy. He feels good when his schooling makes it obvious that he's more educated than Hassan yet there's something about Hassan that lets Amir know despite education Hassan might actually be the smarter of the two. And Hassan is happy and not much bothered by his station in life. So Amir is a jealous friend.
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So far, Talloulou has echoed my own thoughts about the book and it's characters. There is one bit though, I'd like to add to Tall's observation in this bit...
At this point of the story, Amir also recognizes that not only is Hassan happier then him, but that Hassan is also stronger emotionally then he is himself. Hassan is Amir's protector when other children pick on him.
Hassan, although a 'lower class' then Amir and his father, is in Amir's perspective what Baba wants in a son in that manner. Which is part of the reason why you get the sense of Amir's jealousy and need to be secretively cruel towards Hassan through Hassan's lack of formal education.
Of course, Amir immediately regrets doing such things to Hassan.
My overall feeling so far at this portion of the book, is that Amir is struggling trying to find that balance between what his society deems his relationship should be with Hassan, even though their relationship is more like brothers and there's that 'sibling rivalry' on Amir's part.