Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Friendship and Betrayal
Discuss the difference between Baba and Ali and between Amir and Hassan. Are Baba's and Amir's betrayals and similarities in their relationships of their servants (if you consider Baba's act a betrayal) similar or different? Do you think that such betrayals are inevitable in the master/servant relationship, or do you feel that they are due to flaws in Baba's and Amir's characters, or are they the outcome of circumstances and characters?
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6 comments:
It makes me sad to know that there are still "master/servant" relationships around. I feel that people should live their lives for their own purpose, and not just to wait on someone who is too lazy to get up and do the dishes themself for a change. Anyway...I found it ironic that Amir and Baba were both in the same position at some point in their lives: they both had "friends" who would rather die than lose their loyalty and honor, and instead of honoring and respecting that gift, they betrayed the two people who loved them most, because in the end, Amir and Baba both knew that Ali and Hassan would still be there for them. I think they treated them this way because they felt that it was okay, and also because niether of them (Amir or Baba) were very happy in their own lives. You hurt the people you love most because you know in the end, they will always forgive you.
To me Baba and ALi were much closer than Hassan and Amir. Yeah we did hear a lot more about Hassan and Amir but what Ali and Baba had was inevitable. They were servent and master but they also pulled through that and I did not feel at all as though Ali was Baba's servent. The way that the two acted towards each other made me feel as if ALi was just another family member who liked to help around the house. I guess I felt this way because Baba and ALi never really competed for anything.
What Baba and AMir did is really different in terms of the situation. AMir witnessed Hassan's rape and didn't say anything but it was Baba who slept with ALi's wife and never told him. But underneath it all I feel as if Ali kind of knew that it was not really his son. I feel that ALi knew that Hassan was Baba's son. In the book when Ali and Hassan are getting ready to leave Afghanistan, Ali clutches Hassan to him as if Baba was going to take him. This automatically gave me the impression that Ali knew that Baba was Hassan's son. This is also the reason that I think I didn't feel that Servent/Master feeling between them. If ALi did in fact know that Baba was Hassan's son, there is not a doubt in my mind that he would feel as if it was his duty to serve Baba. If it wasn't for Baba, ALi would have never been able to have a child and Baba gave him that wish so he only returned the favor. Baba never made a mistake and what he did he did it for something good if in indeed it was to help ALi. On the other hand, Amir did a horrible thing not telling anyone what he saw and also treating Hassan the way that he did.
"Ali drew Hassan to him, curled his arm around his son's shoulder. It was a protective gesture and I knew whom Ali was protecting him from" (page 106).
I agree that Ali and Baba seemed to be true friends when Amir was never really shure if he considered Hassan a friend. This crippled their friendship so that they could never be as close as Ali and Baba. Betrayal is on the whole the same; they both did things to their servants that was completely not necessary. In reality both Amir and Baba could have prevented both events. The only diffrence was Amir's actions or lake there of affected Hassan directly, when what Baba did directly affected ALi's wife and indirectly affected Ali. I think that the flaws in both Amir's and Baba's characters are the cause because these actions were not nessacary in a servant/master relationship.
To me there was a major difference in the sins the Baba and Amir committed, but they were both severe enough to kill a friendship.
Betrayal against a servent is different then betrayal against your master. Maybe Baba and Amir thought that they could take advantage of these people and that was the flaws in their character.
Baba took Ali's wife to bed and in doing so he poisioned a friendship. I got the impression that Ali knew Hassan wasn't his son but because of Ali's loyalty to Baba he stayed and let Baba have a chance to be with both his sons.
Amir was so consumed by his father's approval that he condimmed someone who was suppose to be his life-long friend to a tramatic lifechanging experience. Amir witnessed Hassan's rape and by doing nothing Amir corrupted what he didn't even call a friendship.
Both Baba and Amir's selfishness lead to the end of two relationships between life-long friends and brothers.
I feel like Baba and Ali's relationships started out the same exact way. They were really great friends at the beginning but the men that thought they were better than their servant friends decided to betray them. Baba betrayed Ali by getting his wife pregnant and Amir betrayed Hassan by not helping him in any way possible. THe whole time they were friends Baba and Amir looked down on their "friends". They always thought they were much better.
Ali G is correct in the sense that Amir and Babba's sins are extremely different. The fact that Amir saw his close "friend" being raped and chose not to help seems far worse than that of Babba's act of lust towards another man's wife. But one has to remember the age difference between the two perpetrators.Amir was only a young boy, while Baba was a grown adult, which makes the circumstances different, but not the act of betrayal.
I don't believe that Amir or Baba committed these betrayals because they felt no guilt towards their servants. Both Amir and Baba saw Ali and Hassan as people and close friends, therefore, I believe that they acted the way they did, because of their character flaws and nothing more.
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