When Amir is young he tries to find
peace through his father.
He feels that he needs to make his father proud.
He feels that, in order to be happy
his father needs to appreciate him.
He would watch his best friend get raped to gain his fathers affection.
When Amir is older, he tries to find
peace by making up for his past.
Amir will do anything to save Hassan's son.
Annotations:
"I would not leave Afghanistan without finding Sohrab"
- Amir
He nearly loses his life fighting
Assef trying to achieve this.
He also
Amir spends his life riddled
with guilt and does whatever
he can to stop that
Annotations:
"Those thorny old barbs of guilt bore into me once more, [...]"
- Amir
He takes on a fight that he is nearly
sure to lose just to save Hassan's son.
He is happy because he finally feels at peace.
Annotations:
"What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace."
- Amir
This is probably because he feels
that he is paying for his past.
His guilt also makes him a better person because
he understands that everyone makes mistakes.
He accepts Soraya's past.
Not only does Amir seek peace
but everyone else does too.
Baba
Baba's way of finding peace is by trying to force
other people to avoid making his mistakes.
Annotations:
"Sometimes, I think everything he did, feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need, it was all his way of redeeming himself."
- Rahim Khan
He tells Amir that the worst thing one
can do is to steal and he did just that. He
stole Ali's rightful son through his wife.
He gives to the poor and does a lot of good deeds
because he fills that this will make up for his past.
Baba becomes a better man through his mistakes.
Rahim Khan
Rahim Khan tries to find peace as well.
When Amir is younger
Rahim Khan acts very fatherly towards Amir because
he knows what kind of problems Amir and Baba have.
Rahim Khan knows most of the things that happen in Amir's life and understands
that Amir is having a rough time and knows that someone needs to be there for him.
Annotations:
"Except now I knew he knew. [...] He had always known."
- Amir
When Amir has grown up
Rahim Khan feels that in order to find peace within himself
he must inform Amir about his past and about his father.
He tells Amir that he knew about
everything (including the rape)
He tells Amir about his father having an affair with
Ali's wife and how Hassan is actually his half-brother.
He tells Amir about Hassan since their separation and about Sohrab.
Hassan
When Hassan was younger, the way he found peace
was to always make sure that Amir was happy.