There Is A Way To Be Good Again

Submitted By passmitc9914
Words: 3341
Pages: 14

“There is a way to be good again.” (2) I do not think Amir was ever a good person and even after his efforts to be good again still isn’t a good one because he continuously betrays his best friend, doesn’t know how to deal with his problems, and only cares about himself.

Throughout the book while Amir is still living in Afghanistan as a kid, he is constantly betraying his best friend in many different ways. The most obvious example of this is when Amir finds Hassan up against Assef and his friends after he runs down the kite and Amir stands there and does nothing. “I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan –the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run.” (77) And in the end Amir chose to run while he could of saved his friend from getting raped. A good person in that situation would of ran down that alley and done whatever they could to help their friend. Especially after he had just saved you from those same people. The only argument that could be made in this situation is that Amir was scared and didn’t know what to do but anything would of been better than running away. If he didn’t believe that he could do anything he could of at least found an adult to help him. And to top it all off, when he eventually meets back up with Hassan he acts like he has no idea what happened even though he’s pretty sure Hassan saw him standing there. "For you a thousand times over!" (67) This an example of how close Hassan felt with Amir and how he should of felt back towards Hassan and a good person and very close friend would definitely return the favor to their friend and stand up for them which Amir clearly never did until it was too late and Hassan was dead.

One thing Amir never learned when he was a child is how to deal with his problems in the correct way. Instead of confronting his problems and finding ways to mend them like a good person would do, he always put them off onto someone else. “I went downstairs, crossed the yard, and entered Ali and Hassan's living quarters by the loquat tree. I lifted Hassan's mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it.” (104) Instead of talking it out with Hassan about how bad he felt, he set Hassan and his dad, Ali up to get kicked out of the house so he wouldn’t have to face his guilt and cowardice everytime he saw Hassan. “I flinched, like I'd been slapped. My heart sank and I almost blurted out the truth. Then I understood: This was Hassan's final sacrifice for me.” (105) Amir got what he wanted and Hassan and Ali left so Amir wouldn’t have to face his problems and could just bury them deep inside himself but of course all he could think about still is how guilty he feels for the way he treated Hassan. And when he was finally ready to confront his problems, Hassan had passed and he made his best effort by adopting Sohrab but this still doesn’t make up for everything he put Hassan through before Ali and him left.

Amir is also not a good person because he is very selfish and does not think about the repercussions his actions can have on others lives. "Baba, have you ever thought about getting new servants?" (89) This shows how he is only interested in what would make him feel better which is to never have to be reminded about the incident he let Hassan go through but doesn’t even think about what Ali and Hassan would do on their own. A good person is also someone who is constantly thinking about others which Amir hadn’t even thought about in the slightest. Baba even yells at Amir and says how disgusted he is that Amir would make such comments and says they are family and what else would they possibly do out there on their own.

I do not think Amir was ever, and never made up for it to be good again because of how many times he betrayed his best friend who is also his