Brotherly Bonds

Having seen this movie before, it's remotely embarrassing that I forgot that Amir finds out that Hassan was his brother. I don't know how I didn't remember that. It hit me just as hard as it did the first time. Unfortunately, I was reading that part in the cafeteria when I started crying. I'm sure there were many funny looks being given to me, but I was too embarrassed to look around and see who saw me.

Even though the reader doesn't know that Hassan and Amir were brothers until now, it definitely changes things in the story. The reader feels bad that Amir did that to his best friend and everything...but as soon as it becomes his brother, the guilt becomes a million times harder to deal with. I was upset and I have nothing to do with the problem.

"How could I have been so blind? The signs had been there for me to see all along; they came flying back at me now: Baba hiring Dr. Kumar to fix Hassan's harelip. Baba never missing Hassan's birthday. I remembered the day we were planting tulips when I had asked Baba if he'd ever consider getting new servants. Hassan's not going anywhere, he'd barked. He's staying right here with us, where he belongs. This is his home and we are his family. He had wept, wept, when Ali announced he and Hassan were leaving us." (237)

It takes Amir's actions to a whole new personal level, because now when I read it, I think about my brothers and how I would feel if this happened with them. Everyone with siblings can relate to the fact that one dominates another, just like Amir always dominated Hassan. I feel like that with my little brother Aidan. We went to Florida on the March Break and I just never gave him a chance. Every time he spoke, I got mad that he sounded like a know-it-all. Every time he tried to be funny, I wouldn't laugh. Every time he tried to join in on my jokes, I never let him. Thinking about it now, if I never got a chance to apologize for that, or if all of my actions were the reason he wasgone, I could never handle that.