Sunday, February 26, 2012
Lurking in the Waters...
Like a sea monster, Amir drowned Hassan in the lake of blaring loyalty. Amir knew that he didn’t deserve the friendship of Hassan and was filled with shame for it. Baba performed a similar sense of betrayal to Ali. Even in the end, Baba took the secret of his treachery to the grave. According to Rahmin Khan, Baba sought redemption by indulging in philanthropy. He became a better individual because of it. However, Amir felt that “Rahim Khan had summoned me here to atone not just for my sins but for Baba’s too.” Amir’s shame brought nothing but pain; pomegranate and moving incident. What’s the correct way to atone for a sin? Do 100 million good deeds erase the one blemish?
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I don't think 100 million good deeds would ever erase the "blemish". In Amir and Baba's case, I felt it was more of a deeply embedded stain. The only way for them to atone for their sin would have been to directly confront the root of it all. As we saw with Baba, he was never able to forgive himself for having betrayed Ali. It tore him apart slowly, and we witnessed this when he broke down at the news of Hassan leaving the residence. While Baba never confronted Ali, Amir did indirectly confront Hassan when he rescued Sohrab. But, it wasn't until he was scarred with the split lip that he felt that guilt relieve his soul. So I guess the only way to ever atone for your sins is to face them head on.
ReplyDelete"Is there no reality in the penitence thus sealed and witnessed by good works? And wherefore should it not bring you peace?" (Hawthorne 159). In the Scarlet Letter this dilemma is seen through Dimmesdale and Hester. Dimmesdale does not believe that any good preformed by him through ministry will redeem his sin. As seen in the quote above Hester on believes good works can lead to redemption. In th end I think it was Baba not being able to forgive himself that did not allow him to move on.
ReplyDeleteI think Baba didn't confront his sin properly. His situation brings me back to King Claudius who ultimately couldn't redeem himself or atone for murdering his brother because he couldn't let go of the things that the murder awarded him. Baba is in a similar case, Rahim Khan talked about the importance of a name and what would happen to Baba's name if people were to find out that Hassan was an illegitamate child; Baba's inability to face his inniquity head on, like Jorge said, showed how he ultimately couldn't deal with it and he resorted to trying to bury it by doing a "100 million good deeds".
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