Motifs

Rape

"It's just a Hazara," Assef said. But Kamal kept looking away.

"Fine," Assef snapped. "All I want you weaklings to do is hold him down. Can you manage that?"..... Assef knelt behind Hassan

(chapter 7 pange 75  )

 

Guilt

"Then Baba rolled his head toward me. "I wish Hassan had been with us today," he said. A pair of steel hands closed around my windpipe at the sound of Hassan's name."( P.141, chapter 11)

Death

“Hassan has loved me once, loved me in a way that no one ever has or ever would again. He was gone now, but a little part of him loved on.it was on Kabul.”

(Chapter 18 page 237)

Motifs write up

 

Amir was simply unable to breathe at the thought of Hassan and what he had done to him before. In the midst of happy time for Amir, he is actually reminded of what he had done to Hassan and the guilt literally takes the air away from him. Amir thinks he has full of guilt to Hassan and he is very sorry about it. On the other hand, The guilt that Amir carries with his for not helping or taking a stand to help Hassan, stays with him for a life time. No act of redemption is large enough to mask the guilt that he feels from that day. No matter how hard he tries to forget about the rape, it always manages to come back and haunt him. 

Rape, death and guilt are the three significant motifs from my perspective. There are three rape scenes in this novel. They locate at significant moments in the story, allowing the plots changing smoothly. The first rape scene is Hassan get raped by Aseff. This scene caused the move out of Hassan, because Amir doesn’t have the courage to face Hassan since he left Hassan in danger. The second rape scene happens when Amir and Baba flee from Kabul. Baba saved the woman who is going to get abused by a soldier. It is a very different comparison from what Amir did when Hassan get raped. Baba decides to stand out for the justice and weakness. The third rape is Sohrab’s rape. Amir saved Sohrab from Assef, compare to what Amir did to Hassan. He tries the best to stop the abuses. These rape scenes significant the turning points in Amir’s life, also the experiences on the way of his redemption.

 Amir starts to realize that all people who close to him are leaving him because of death. Baba’s and Rahim Khan‘s death are very heavy to Amir. Baba is his only family after fled and the only person he can counted for. Rahim Khan is a loyal reader of Amir’s book. He is the closest friend to Amir since Hassan left him. These two people’s death significant Amir has to carry on all the destiny and responsibilities by himself.

 Hassan’s death makes Amir to know the harm that he did to Hassan will never be redeemed. He will be live with this guilt for the rest of his life. Amir was too naive; he betrayed the devotions of Hassan. Guilt is the result of regret, we always regret for what we did wrong but keep missing the right person or the happiness in our life. Regret and guilt don’t do anything good, for me, I choose to forget. These things are like the drags to me. I can’t move on with carrying them with them. Sometimes you just have to drop them off. Because, emotions are useless.