Ambreen Mirza 6
McEwan and Hosseini both show the different ways their characters explore betrayal in ‘The Kite Runner’ and ‘Atonement’. This is shaped through the people around them and the historical events that determines what happens in the novels.
Argument1
Hosseini and McEwan portray insecurity in both their protagonists, when Baba gives Amir no attention and when Briony gets no attention from her older sister Cecilia. In ‘The Kite Runner’ Baba thinks that Amir “can’t look out for himself” and Baba contemplates whether Amir is really his son or not. The phrase ‘can’t’ really emphasises on the fact that he can never be strong enough to help himself and he won’t be able to do anything. This is evident when Baba gives Amir no attention and Amir highlights that, “Baba and I lived in the same house but in different spheres”. The word ‘spheres’ exaggerates on the fact that they lived in one house but in two separate worlds, or two different planets. Price (2015) believes that Amir only feels this way because he assumes that he is the reason his mother died and that’s what alienates him from his father. Having nothing in common or anything to talk about. Also, the juxtaposition that has been used of ‘same’ and ‘different’ shows that Baba and Amir both have the same genes but are completely different from each other. Which is why Baba having no intentions or words to discuss with Amir as they are the complete opposite.
Another way how Amir shows he is insecure is through his relationship with Hassan. So, Amir would convince himself and repetitively say “I would tell myself I hadn’t felt envious of Hassan. Not at all.” The phrases he uses ‘hadn’t’ and ‘not’ suggest that he is trying to convince himself that he isn’t jealous of Hassan but he is because he knows that Hassan is the much stronger and better than him even though he is illiterate and a Hazara. Which is why the two words creating greater conflict. Adding to that Amir is the narrator at this point and is at a higher position in the cultural society than Hassan but he still feels like he is less than Hassan. He feels like this because whatever he does he cannot out run Hassan, especially when it comes to the solution to his short stories he writes. Hassan already has an alternative but Amir just feels more insecure and threatened by Hassan when Hassan is the one who worships Amir. At some point in the novel, Amir knew at some point maybe Hassan is the “price he had to pay, the lamb he had to slay in order to win over Baba.” The use of the religious imagery used here evokes that the ‘lamb’ has religious references where the lamb Is the sign of innocence, who is Hassan at this point. Hassan doesn’t know what coming his way and what he will have to go through.
This is taken further as Amir’s insecurity gradually builds more and more during each chapter, and he is near to blurting it out how he feels and thinks of Hassan “he’s not my friend, he’s my servant”, which heavily looks at the historical and political side of where Hazaras are oppressed and Pashtuns are Kings. According to society Hazaras aren’t even worth living which is why Hassan and Ali are kept as their slaves in Baba’s and Amir’s house. O’KELLY, K (2009) states the key themes of suffering, betrayal and innocence, which is reflected through Amir. He is the one who constantly gets the flashbacks and events coming back to him. “I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the past twenty-six years.” The fact is that he doesn’t use the word ‘stare’ because he remembers the guilt he is trying to cover up. Instead Amir uses the verb ‘peeking’ too create a larger impact on the readers to show that he regrets every minute, he gets episodes rewinding in his head when Hassan got raped which eats him up each time. Amir is entirely insecure of Hassan. But the truth is that Hassan is more superior and Amir is inferior to his surroundings.
Looking at the society of Afghanistan, the Pashtuns hugely dislike the Hazaras and everything about Hassan’s cast. Unfortunately, Hassan is already surrounded by Pashtuns who already dislike him because of his caste. It’s said that Hazaras are lower class but instead looking at Pashtuns, one Pashtun (Amir) betrays his best friend and the other Pashtun (Assef) rapes Hassan without a valid reason. Which is hideous and if getting higher status and authority is through rape and betrayal then Hassan and Ali should be happy that they aren’t similar to them but actually much different and unique. Overall, Amir is the boy “who can’t stand up for himself which then makes him into man who can’t stand up to anything.” The emphasises on the phrases ‘boy’ and ‘man’ which reveals that no matter how old and masculine Amir becomes he will remain the weak, guilty boy who peeks through this mistake.
Insecurity is a crucial part in both novels and it is also shown in ‘Atonement’ when Briony’s insecurity leads on to her betraying her sister Cecilia. This is caused because there becomes a divide between her and sister and she eventually have nobody by her side which she doesn’t want and begins to feel “foolish, appearing to know about the emotions” this crucially shows the struggle she is going through. The phrase ‘foolish’ really shows how she needs to do something about the situation and begins to investigate. She witnesses her sister “dive into the water fountain.” Water connotes purity, clarity and innocence which is viewed through Cecilia’s character. But instead Briony thinks that there is something going on between her sister Cecilia and their servant Robbie. She senses some sexual tension between the two. Which is the causal for her being so adamant to know about the ambiguous relationship she is seeing from her window. It could be said that she was trying to save her beloved sister from self- destruction by not being with someone who can cause her harm and therefore, Briony betrays Robbie and “reads the letter that’s given to her.” At first it could be said she was trying to save her sister, but this has shown how insecure Briony really is, that makes her want to open up the letter and read it. She secretly reads the letter without anyone knowing. KERMODE (2001) states that Robbie’s fate turns just as monstrous as his plans with Cecilia are. These patterns of fate begin to involve straight after the water fountain episode. Before he can even start a medical career. This has ended up happening because of Briony and her misjudgement on the water fountain scene.
It is evident to the readers think that Briony is an innocent girl who awaits her fate and future to change into something much bright. Eventually her fate does change but into serving soldiers and becoming a nurse “learning to be a nurse is a narrowing” her being a ‘nurse’ proposes that Briony’s options are getting smaller, weaker and undoable. Which is why she dedicates her like in serving soldiers and civilians because she has no choice, the guilt takes over her life. This crucial change is massive for Briony because she is used to living in luxury and for her to change means her giving up on her identity. Mcrum( 2005) suggests that Briony may have lost everything including her status, sister and family. But her career as a successful and wealthy writer suggests that she hasn’t really changed in terms of social class and is still seen as an ‘upper- middle class woman.’ Talking about class, Cecilia knows that her parents will laugh at her if they find out about her relationship with Robbie. As it will be seen as a big disgrace to the family as lower and higher class for their family has no comparison. This is an overall comparison between the two novels as the wealthy ones feel insecure of their servants and what they have. Both protagonists Amir and Briony are observers. As Amir observes Hassan’s every move including the time when he betrays his friend getting raped and abused. Including Briony who observes Robbie and assuming he some kind of person. Which some similar ways the authors have written their novel, by portraying that both their protagonists are insecure of the people around them and what they have. But in this case, both protagonists are insecure of the people who have nothing, who would have absolutely no identity. But these protagonists play a massive role in the both novels. Argument2
Another way how Hosseini and McEwan represent betrayal is through innocence naturally occurring to each protagonist in both the novels. Amir at first just envies Hassan however, is still extremely innocent within the society as he doesn’t know what to expect like Hassan’s rape. “The day of the tournament…I never slept before the tournament I’d roll from side to side.” He rolls ‘side to side’ showing that Amir’s excitement gets the most of him but instead it could be insomnia because he is young and alienated because of his relationship with his father. Even after the horrific event that later on occurs Amir goes through sleepless nights. This foreshadows how Amir will be having difficulties in later on life when the guilt starts to eat him up more internally and the dark forces pushing against him and his brain that will torment him due to his sins he commits. Waugman, Richard M (2013) states that when betrayal is seen there is a violation on confidence. That’s when they pierce the veil of our innocent resilience. This describes Hassan’s and Amir’s relationship because they are two boys who are truthful to each other until Amir violates Hassan’s confidence and betrays him, making him look like a liar and a thief in front of his father. Taking this further, Hassan maintains his position as a Hazara into serving the Pashtun family. Even though he is suffering internally of the events that occur in his life and suffers loss of innocence through the events like his rape and beating suffered from Amir when he gets “hit with a pomegranate.” The use of the word ‘pomegranate’ emphasises how innocent the two young boys are as they fight with fruits. Which clearly shows they don’t have a violent mindset of fighting with real weapons, that really indicates the innocent side of the two boys. But looking closely Hassan doesn’t hit any fruit back which shows that he isn’t violent at all. But instead he stays away and listens to what Amir has to say. During armed conflicts like the Taliban’s taking over Afghanistan the largest victim pool were innocent, crimeless children. These children lost their mindset even before they reached an appropriate age of understanding life. The children of Afghanistan are innocent until people like Assef want to take advantage of the innocent and “make them dirty.” said by Sohrab Dirty meaning that they get raped and assume they are worth nothing. Sun Engel Rassmussen (2017) explains how the number of deaths of children increased in Afghanistan. The number of deaths of children grew especially fast, primarily due to the Taliban’s use of homemade bombs. Which is why they are seen as innocent as they don’t know what happening to them and that is clearly highlighted in The Kite Runner when Hassan gets raped but goes along with life, without telling anyone.
Innocence in childhood is significant because as a child you are not hit by society and reality. Sometimes a child may lose his/her innocence because of the people around them. This is evidently shown in ‘Atonement’ when Briony gets alienated by her family and witnesses Cecilia and Robbie “near the water fountain, its air of ugly threat, and at the end they both go their separate ways”. The ‘water’ emphasises the characters innocence, and when they go their ‘separate ways’ foreshadows what happens in the novel. As they both face problems and massive dilemmas that are too complicated to be mended. This is when Briony’s naïve mind tells her something is wrong. Believing that there was an increase of sexual tension between Robbie and Cecilia or if Cecilia was too naïve to realise she was getting captivated in Robbie as he is seen as a ‘sex maniac.’ Assuming that he might hurt her sister. Briony believed that Robbie was too good to be true which is why she suspects him into trapping her sister Cecilia and claims he is the ‘maniac’ that shows he is nothing but a fanatic that will begin to create a drift between the two sisters. Which briony hugely fears. Therefore, Briony wants to do something in return and begins to observe Robbie but ends up ruining everything for herself and her sister unknowingly. It could also be said that she mistakenly observes Robbie and Cecilia making love in the library, “she had interrupted an attack, a hand-to-hand fight.” What she sees is an ‘attack’ but she sees wrong, it’s something she doesn’t understand because she’s too innocent to realise that her sister is in love with Robbie. Its her chance to help her sister and get her out of the darkness but once again she doesn’t know her sister is deeply in love with the man who she thinks is the maniac. The verb ’interrupted’ indicates how she’s interrupted throughout the novel and how she remains the same Briony, living in guilt. But Amir on the other hand burry’s his guilt and carries on with his life but the fact that it eats him up every day knowing he won’t be able to live with it. Briony is clueless of the adult world which she finds too complicated to understand. This then has a clear link to the fountain scene because from a distance she thinks that her sister is getting threatened and Briony is determined to “never forget Robbie and his disgusting mind.” Briony’s use of the word ‘disgusting’ is repetitively used to highlight to the readers that Robbie is a filthy man who tries to take advantage of Cecilia without her even knowing that they both are deeply in love. James Wood (2002) describes the author Ian McEwan. How he is a ‘storyteller that includes momentum, suspense and charge. He is the master of the undetonated bomb and the slow- acting detail: the fizzing fact that slowly dissolves in the novel.” This shows that McEwan writes in such a way that captures the readers to think that a young girl telling us the story is right and the others are wrong. This is shown in the momentum and suspense we get integrated together from the water fountain scene that took place but we see this through Briony’s point of view. The reader will automatically conform with Briony as she is Cecilia’s sister and the readers know that she knows her sister the most. However, Briony is too young and innocent to know what is actually happening around her, and instead of minding her own business she tries to fit in where she has no space.
World War two is significant part in this novel, because the novel opens up just after the second world war in 1946. Which hugely demonstrates what happens with Robbie as he unwillingly gets called in to join in 1940, where he spends a good 5 years in the military. He has no choice but to do what is asked of him as he gets accused of rape because of Briony and her assumptions. She points fingers at Robbie but she is the one who loses everything, including what she feared her sister.
There is a vast difference between both protagonists because Briony misjudges what she sees and it’s her innocent nature to think that a stranger will be threatening her sister and its understandable why she’d think that because she is looking out for her sister. But overall its still a fact that Briony is a young and crimeless girl who just wants to save her sister from the devil. Which massively expresses her innocence. That’s why without giving it a second thought, she assumes the worst and gets rid of him. However, Amir can also be seen as innocent but at some points it’s like he’s lost the innocence because he lies to his Baba about Hassan stealing his watch and then hides that he sees Hassan getting abused and raped by Assef. He doesn’t stand up for his best friend, which shows if he can watch his best friend getting raped he has lost all the innocence in his eyes because he witnesses a filthy scene. Others would say there is a comparison between both the novels because Briony’s is young and so is Amir. Amir knew he couldn’t stand up to Assef and he knew he wouldn’t be able to do it this time.
Argument3
The betrayal of both Amir and Briony is impacted by society, class and the traditional values it brings in ‘The Kite Runner’ and ‘Atonement.’ Which exaggerates the fact that it isn’t nature and inheritance but instead it’s nuture and the environment affecting the two protagonists. It could be said that Amir is influenced by his father, teachers and the society around him. Including his life and his journey in Afghanistan. At one point in the novel Amir asks his teacher about a book but when his teacher sees the phrase ‘Shia’ it made him, “wrinkle his nose like as if it was some kind of disease.” Seeing a Shia (Hazara) as a ‘disease’ makes a huge impact on Amir, as he is young and think that he doesn’t want to catch the disease and that way he will begin to distance himself from Hassan. So when he is around his father’s friends he treats Hassan like a ‘servant.’ However, when Amir is not with his family and friends he tends to forget about his class and sees Hassan as one of his own. After such incidents occurring in Afghanistan. Amir and Baba make a decision of leaving the country and moving to America. Where they are both seen as normal people, it was much different as Baba had no authority or power over any of the civilians in America. But for Amir America was “different, it was a river roaring along unmindful of the past, let my sins drown to the bottom” the use of the alliteration and personification of ‘river roaring’ really emphasises the fact that the river was a clean slate for him, a time to bury his sins and carry on in a new country and new self. Edward Hower (2003) explains how for Afghans its important to keep alive their ancient standards of honour and pride. So therefore, Amir grows to manhood while he settles into America and a happy marriage life.
Prejudice was something that was already very high off in Afghanistan. Towards the people there and the ones living in separate regions of Kabul. Especially the Hazaras. When Assef the Pashtun says to Hassan “I knew your mother, I knew her really good” which is extremely vile and hideous to say to a young boy who doesn’t know his mother because she died. Assef used repetition of ‘I knew’ to clearly highlight how much off her he really knew. Assef also says “I took her from behind by that creek over there” emphasising how society was so misogynistic and someone like Assef can take advantage of women like Hassan’s mother and then in future take advantage of the young children. This really indicates that Hassan’s social class ends up being his own down fall because he cannot do anything as he is a servant to the Pashtuns. Revealing that Hazaras are not seen as human beings but are treated like filthy animals who get thrown around any and everywhere like Hassan and his mother.
Amir soon discovers that Pashtuns have a long history of oppression towards the Hazaras. The Pashtuns had killed the Hazaras ‘driven from their lands, burned their houses and sold their women’ which shows why there is great enmity between the two casts.
Once again for Briony and her family, class, law and society are extremely crucial because the house they live in is a place of class and law. The way Robbie’s class brings him down as he is accused of being a “sex maniac” who is fatherless. He has nothing but his education in his life to help him survive the threats from society which he can rely on. But even then, he gets money for his education from Cecilia’s father. Even with a degree in literature, Robbie still serves the Tallis family with food and water. Education has a critical effect in both novels because both Robbie and Hassan get granted an education, which makes them more threatening to the naïve Amir and Briony. Then both Amir and Briony must give up on their upper-class status to gain their redemption. Briony gave up on her luxury life and status. So, she “had no will, abandoned herself to rules, obedience and a constant fear of disapproval, (Toibin,2007).” Briony had no identity beyond her badge, this really reinforces that part when Briony thought Robbie was a nobody but now Briony has turned into a nobody. Toibin (2007) states that until the end of part 3 the novel is written by Briony as its evident with her initials B.T and the date 1999, we now as readers know that the novel has been influenced by Briony’s perspective as she yearned to atone in London after accusing Robbie of doing something he hadn’t done but left Briony “outrageous when she saw him” and she knew she was “hours away from committing her sin”, by assuming that Robbie tried to rape Lola her cousin. Which is why she can only repent by forgetting about her “luxurious life” and think about herself fulfilling her duties as a nurse. Both McEwan and Hosseini make use of their key contextual
moments to show their significance it creates between characters that reveals the different way of betrayal. Most crucially through the historical events that shows why a certain character is like that whether its Briony and the luxurious life she living or Amir who has a respectful name and life , living in luxury and a high social class.