Amir and Hassan: a Glimpse of Their Complex Relationship

In the novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the introductory chapters establish the main character, Amir and his friend, Hassan’s complicated relationship. Their relationship is made up of the activities they share, their treatment of each other, their words, and actions, which causes a very strange relationship.  Through these aspects of their relationship, Amir takes advantage of Hassan, which is especially evident in the activities they share.  Amir and Hassan partake in very strange activities, such as reflecting the sun with a mirror to annoy people and shooting walnuts at their neighbour’s one-eyed German shepherd (Hosseini  3-4), which often gets them in trouble. When reprimanded, Amir does not ever take responsibility, and instead allows Hassan to take the blame for him, “But [Hassan] never told on [Amir]…[that it] was always [Amir’s] idea” (4). Hassan loves Amir, and would do anything Amir asked. He would never betray Amir, and Amir takes advantage of that. Their relationship is also portrayed by their treatment of one other.  Amir tends to be rather rude to Hassan, making fun of him, and teasing him regularly.  One occurrence of this is when Amir makes fun of Hassan for not knowing the definition of the word ‘imbecile’. Amir proceeds to call Hassan an imbecile, lying to Hassan, and telling him it means smart and intelligent (31).  Even their words and actions have a significant role in displaying their complicated relationship.  The first words of an individual are very important; they are a sign of deep affection. This theme of first words comes up in the novel: “[Amir’s] was Baba. [Hassan’s] was Amir” (12). Amir looks up to his father, and Hassan looks up to Amir, leaving them with a very one-sided relationship. Every day, Amir would get ready for school, while Hassan would do chores for Amir (29). Hassan’s family are servants to Amir’s family, and that is exactly the way Amir treats them. Amir thinks of Hassan as nothing more than a servant, and the odd time acts like a friend, whereas Hassan lives to please Amir, wanting him to be his friend. All in all, Amir and Hassan’s relationship is very complicated, as introduced in the commencement of the novel.  Their relationship is one-sided.  Hassan wants to be Amir’s friend, doing everything he can to make that happen, but Amir treats Hassan very poorly, teasing and making fun of Hassan, just because he can. This exceedingly strange relationship between the two will probably be the root of many problems in the chapters to come.