He is the narrator of the story who tells his how he grew up in Afghanistan
and the sins he had committed against his friend and half-brother, Hassan.
It is his journey to redemption that is the premise of this tale. We see
that he is basically a good boy and man, but that he made serious mistakes
in his quest for his father's love and attention. As a man, then, he is
called to expiate the sins and do good again. His success is one we
all would like to emulate, because he finds a way to do the right thing.
He is the best and kindest character in the story. He is Amir's best
friend and as Amir later learns, he is also his half-brother. He faces
discrimination every day, because he is a Hazara, a minority whom the
Pashtuns treat like slaves. The sins committed against him - being raped
by Assef while Amir does nothing to help him - are immediately forgiven,
because he loves Amir so much. Even when Amir frames him for theft, Hassan
never betrays him or stops loving him. In the end, he dies a martyr's
death, trying to protect his family from the Taliban, and he lives on
in the hearts of Amir and Sohrab as the hero they both want to be.
He is Amir and Hassan's father, but because it would be shameful to
admit Hassan, a Hazara , is his son, the secret remains hidden long after
his death. In Amir's mind, he is larger than life, the man who was supposed
to have wrestled a bear. But, in reality, he was a man tormented by his
secrets. He dies in America, never again going home to his beloved Afghanistan.
While he lives there, he lives poor and often dirty from his job. So,
the way he is forced to live and the fact that he can never go home again
may be his punishment for what he did to both Amir and Hassan. Amir knows,
however, that like him, his father is basically a good man who finds a
way to be good again.
His character is that of a loyal servant to Baba and a father figure
to both Hassan and Amir. He often suffers humiliation at the hands of
Pashtun boys like Assef, but he never bends his will to them and continues
to be a figure of goodness.
He is Hassan's son and the boy Amir faces the Taliban to free. Like
his father, he is raped by Assef and later betrayed by Amir. He even tries
to commit suicide after Amir breaks his promise not to put him in an orphanage.
However, Amir's willingness to help Sohrab face life again saves them
both.
He is the villain of the story, a Pashtun boy who bullies Amir and Hassan
and tries to humiliate Ali. He has a sociopathic nature even as a boy
and admires Hitler for what he had done in eliminating the Jews. He wants
to emulate this evil German by destroying all the Hazaras. He never forgets
an insult from anyone and is consumed with a need for revenge. He becomes
a Talib when the Taliban takes over Afghanistan, and he uses his power
to kill innocent Afghans, especially Hazaras. He kills Hassan when he
won't give up his home and he tries to kill Amir. It is only Sohrab's
slingshot that finally defeats this evil man.
Amir's wife, she, too, suffers from mistakes she made as a young woman,
but accepts her humiliation for running away with a man and becomes a
good, decent human being. She is denied motherhood, perhaps because that
is how she must expiate her own sins. However, she is rewarded when Sohrab
becomes her son and she and Amir finally have a complete family.
He is Baba's best friend and business partner and is a major figure
in Amir and Hassan's life. He seems to understand Amir's desperate need
for his father's approval and tries to fill the gap Baba leaves in their
relationship. He knows all along how Amir betrayed Hassan and is the one
to call him and tell him there is still time to be good. He also sets
into the motion the plan to get Sohrab out of Afghanistan, because he
knows that this is the only way to make up for never telling Amir and
Hassan that they were brothers. Like Amir, he too finds a way to be good.
He goes away to die alone, knowing that calling Amir back to his homeland
was the right thing to do.
The story is a narrative from the viewpoint of Amir who tells about
the sins he committed in his childhood and how he atoned for them as a
man.
Clapsaddle, Diane. "TheBestNotes on A Long Way Gone".
TheBestNotes.com.
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