Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Image and Context of Afghan sheep ritual
As Amir remembers an Afghan celebration in which a sheep must be sacrificed, he talks about seeing the sheep's eyes moments before its death. "I don't know why I watch this yearly ritual in our backyard; my nightmares persist long after the bloodstains on the grass have faded. But I always watch, I watch because of that look of acceptance in the animal's eyes. Absurdly, I imagine the animal understands. I imagine the animal sees that its imminent demise is for a higher purpose." Why do you think Amir recalls this memory when he witnesses Hassan's tragedy in the alleyway? Amir recollects the memory again toward the end of the novel when he sees Sohrab in the home of the Taliban. Discuss the image in the context of the novel.
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This part of the novel is really sad. However, it is important to the novel and to the characters Hassan and Sorhab. The ritual relates to them because for Hassan: he understood that he was a Hazara, accepted his destiny to serve others and live beneath them, and in the end, it was okay, and for Sorhab: he understood that he was just a Hazara, people could rape him and think it was just like going for a walk in the park, mock him and feel that it was more like a circus act, and leave him orphaned and no one would care. The ritual of the sheep is about accecpting a fate you may not have planned for yourself, but it is something that will happen whether you want it to or not. It is not deserved or okay, but someone bigger than you will have to come and save you is there is any chance of you surviving.
I know all about the sheep ritual, because it just so happens to be not only any Afghan ritual but a Muslim ritual really. It is understood any accepted that sheep are to be sacrificed so that the poor and hungry can feed and live a better life through this charity. Well, in Hassan's case his sacrifice was not for the poor but for Amir, his servent, friend, and brother. I guess he felt angry that it was him who caused Assef to threaten to punish Amir and Hassan for Hassan trying to shoot him with a slingshot. Hassan was mad about it and sacrificed himself so that Amir would never have to get the brutal beating or whatever Assef had in mind for him. Amir sees this sacrificed sheep all over again as he witnesses Sohrab in the arms of the Taliban aka Assef. Assef reminds Amir that he was never punished and continues to humiliate Sohrab. This is why Amir sees the sheep all over again. Only this time, Sohrab is the sheep and Hassan's blood has once again sacrificed himself for Amir. Amir now realizes what it really was that he saw in the alley and what the ritual of the sheep means to him. His image of the sheep will always stay within the confines of Hassan's tragedy.
"Sohrab's eyes flicked to me. They were slaughter sheep's eyes" (page 285).
I felt the deepest sympathy for Sorhab when the author was describing the scene between Assef and Amir. The way he described it, I felt as if I were Amir looking into Sorhab's eyes. When Amir sees Sorhab's eyes, I think he relates back to the sheep, because like the sheep, Sorhab has given up so much of himself unwillingly, for the sacrifice of others, which is how Amir describes the sheep. I took it as the sheep does not know what is going to happen to him, but getting killed to feed the hungry, in the end he will have a better life.
Both Sorhab and Hassan gave up a lot of themselves for the sacrifice of others. Hassan sacrificed a lot of himself for Amir and not just because he was their "servant" or "Hazara" boy, but because in the end he is the better person and someday something wonderful will happen in return with him, which I think was his son Sorhab. Sorhab lost his childhood and innocence to Assef, not by choice or willingly but I think because he felt as if he was protecting the sake of all the other sheltered kids, and also I believe he is like the sheep, there is just nothing you can do sometimes to save yourself, you just have to sacrifice and leave your life in “higher” hands, per say. When he stands up to Assef in honor of Amir, it was just such a powerful chapter, when I think about it I still get emotional (and I am not an emotional person). To me, this was one of the turning points in the book.
In the story Hassan has accepted his life as a peasant. Even when he lived with Rahim and the Taliban took over he was knew that it was the begining of dark days for him and his wife. Even as a child he knew his position on the social ladder and he still lived a happy life (somewhat). The sheep has also accepted that it is going to die and there is not anything that it can do. When the sheep is being killed it is for religious intent. Well, that sheep has been chosen to die for a greater good. I take it that Hassan lived the life he did becasue he was serving for a great good. Not Amir, but he was living an honorable life, and i meant that bad things should come then he met the challenge head on.
The part about the sheep ritual, I understood perfectly. This ritual is looked upon as discusting and just weird but it just isn't understood correctly. This sheep is being sacrificed instead of a human. It is to the Muslim beliefs that God sent a message to one of his messangers to kill his youngest son to prove his beliefs. This messanger could not kill his son and for that reason begged God to forgive him and let him kill a sheep instead. God allowed this to happen and for that reason on that one sacred day of the year we sacrifice a sheep to continue with that tradition. The meat from that sheep is passed around to the families and to the poor who have nothing to eat. I just felt like this needed to be cleared up so that everyone understood this tradition.
I feel like Sohrab and Hassan both reminded Amir of the sheep because of the sadness in their eyes knowing that there was no help on the way. They had no choice in what was happening to them and they knew that there was nothing they could do. These images just made me mad because of the fact that I just can not imagine somebody being so nice and then getting such bad things back at them. The world just was not fair for Hassan and all the other Hazaras.
It is sometimes difficult to interpret the meaning of simple occurances that should have no bearing on an individual, like the sacrifice of the sheep. This event is common in Afghanistan and is looked at as very sacred, so why is it that it had such an impact on Amir? Amir was correct in saying that the animal realized the sacrifice that it is making and is content with that. This relates to Hassan's case as well in the sense that Hassan was making a sacrifice, as well, and was somewhat content with that because he knew that it would save a friend. This same way of thinking was present in Sohrab during the feud with Assef and Amir. Meaning that Sohrab knew that he needed to sacrifice himself for the safety of others.
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