Friendship Between Amir and Hassan

Friendship between Amir and Hassan

Friends, we all have them. Some of them are nice, some are not. Some you love, some are

acquaintances. Really, what is a true friend? In novel 'The Kite Runner' we are faced with a friendship

between Hassan and Amir. On one half, Hassan is your ideal friend. He shows true friend traits

throughout the story. Amir is very different. Shows little aspects of a true friend and does what is best

for himself. There can be very many different approaches on the friendship between the two boys and

many questions can be asked on the topic. How could things may have been different? The truth is the

friendship between the two boys is very one sided.

The main reason for the boys complicated friendship is that Amir is Pashtun, and Hassan is

Hazara. The Afghan society places Hassan lower then Amir. Hassan is Amir's servant. The fact that

Hassan is a low class citizen prevents Amir from becoming Hassan's true friend. Amir is consistently

trying to prove that Hassan is a lower human being then he is. An example of this is when Amir says

"Well, everyone in my school knows what it means," "Lets see. 'Imbecile.' It means smart, intelligent.

I'll use it in a sentence for you. 'When it comes to the words, Hassan is an imbecile.'" (Hosseini 29). A

friend doesn't speak down to another, and make them feel not worthy or stupid. Amir loves to feel like

he is in a position of power. Teasing Hassan makes him feel better about himself. He cannot get the one

thing he wants in life, and that is the acceptance of Baba. Baba seems to favour Hassan which causes

Amir to try and establish that he is better.