Hassan’s will to do virtually anything for Amir highlight the imbalance of loyalty in their friendship. Hassan’s constant acts of kindness show us that Hassan is very loyal to Amir but Amir is very selfish. Hassan will do anything Amir asks him to do, “For you a thousand times over”. This quote is right after the kite running tournament, Amir asks Hassan to run the kite for him. It tells us that Hassan would do anything for Amir, using the word “a thousand” rather than just saying “for you”. It also shows us that later in the plot Hassan will keep his habits, as he shows no sign of stopping. It develops the theme of friendship a friend is someone who will help you do anything you ask of them. Amir is very selfish and only does things for his benefit; he never once went out of his way to help Amir when they were kids. “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. In the end, I ran.” This quote is when Hassan is about to be raped. Amir has a choice he can step in and help Hassan and accept the consequences for his friend or let him be raped. Amir selfishly chooses to let him be raped. This shows us that Amir only wants to do what’s right for himself. In this case Amir is treating Hassan like a lamb to sacrifice. He is willing to let Hassan go through anything so that he can keep the kite. This event leads him later on to look for redemption. This quote develops the theme of redemption to show that you cannot run from your past you must face it or have it forever pull you down. Amir and Hassan are good friends but there is an imbalance of loyalty and selflessness. Hassan is clearly devoted to Amir. He will do anything for him and his first words were even Amir’s name. Amir is not loyal to Hassan. He treats him like a friend but when Hassan needs help Amir chooses himself over Hassan. Amir thinks that Hassan does not matter and that he is a lamb that he can sacrifice to get what he wants. Hassan willingly goes to get the kite for Amir. When it came to Amir to return the favor Amir could not even say one word to help his friend Hassam from losing his innocence for the rest of his adult life. Even after the rape, Hassan suspects that Amir watched but he still puts out breakfast for him in the mornings. Amir and Hassan are both friends but Hassan is very loyal and selfless and willingly helps Amir, but Amir is very selfish and does not care what happens to Hassan as longs as he gets what he wants.
Towards the end of the novel when Amir goes back to Afghanistan from his life in America, which in itself is already the discussed sense of selflessness. However, it doesn’t end there, he goes back to save Sohrab, Hassan’s son. While Amir might have been doing this solely because of the guilt he still has with the rape incident with Hassan when he was a child, it still shows his heroic actions, even though he is trying to redeem himself for not saving Hassan as a child, but instead saving his son years later. These actions thus far set up Amir to be seen as a heroic figure in the novel, but as the novel progresses even further he heroic symbolism becomes more and more backed up and confirmed. When on his search for Sohrab, Amir gets almost beat to death for trying to take him. If not for Sohrab, returning the favor and saving both Amir and himself from freedom, Amir would have most likely been beat to death. Amir then soon after arises as a hero in saving Sohrab and bringing him back to his life in the United States. This makes Amir a symbolism of that of a heroic character throughout the novel. However, while the argument that Amir owed Hassan the favor of saving his son, it is still seen as a heroic deed by Amir. This shows that in life, no matter what happens, the ideals of heroism still stand under any circumstances, especially the ones in which were played in to Amir’s case. While this may not be enough to label Amir, as a hero in the novel, there can be other acts in which can help Amir’s case as a hero.
As a commendable hero, one must possess a degree of intellectual ability. As a bloodline of Hazara, he was denied an education and therefore is illiterate. However, Hassan is still willing to learn and does so by listening to Amir’s stories and expanding his vocabulary. Of all of Amir’s stories, Hassan was able to pick out the ‘plot hole’ in one of Amir’s story with the King’s tears turning in pearls, commenting that the King could have smelled onions instead of killing his wife. This distinctive intelligence of his cannot be taught at schools and proves that a hero doesn’t necessarily require an education.
Hassan is continuously discriminated due to his Hazara ancestry. Still, he maintained his self worth and dignity when he exhibited his capacity to forgive Amir and his mother, Sanaubar. Despite the childhood rape in Kabul and the education system, Hassan learns to write a letter to Amir, which he receives, from Rahim Khan on the return to Pakistan. In the letter it concluded with “you will find a special friend waiting for you” which shows that Amir’s treacherous acts are forgiven and reassures that they are still friends. Hassan’s mother, Sanaubar ran away with a clan of singers and dancers in which Afghans regard it was the most “dishonorable” thing that an Afghan would do and yet Hassan finds it in his heart to forgive her. This clearly demonstrates that a hero can be tolerant and forgiving towards a person no matter how guilty or dishourable one may be.
Over the course of the novel, Hassan portrays amounts of heroic qualities throughout the story. However the argument of Hassan being an even truer hero can be justified as more than valid. The reader witnesses Hassan's praiseworthy acts of heroism when his friendship with Amir is challenged. Amir is seen as being the true hero since he is portrayed as the main character and putting his life at risk at the end so that he could redeem himself because of all the guilt he had been facing for so many years. Having said that people tend to have feelings of sorrow for Amir and see his action of redemption as being an act of heroism. Where as in Hassan’s case, he is actually the true hero since he had such courage to stand up for his friend at such a young age. While going back and saving Sohrab didn’t undo the past that Amir had with Hassan’s childhood, it showed the love that Amir still had for Hassan through the thick of what he had to go through from an early stage of his life, which can make him a hero not only to himself, but also a hero to Sohrab and in a strange way to Hassan as well as the flaws.
