~Adapting to America~

1. Analyze the scene in chapter 11 where Baba fights with the Nguyens in their store. What does this scene show about Baba's character?
-Earlier in the book Amir states, "Do you have to always be the hero? Can't you just let it go for once? These statements seem to be parallel with the character that Baba portrays in the store. He portrays himself as being hard-headed and stubborn. He will only hear what he wants to hear and he will only do what he wants to do. He always has to have the last word in, even if his word is incorrect. He has a very domineering character.

2. Why does Baba come to America?
-Baba comes to America to seek freedom and safety for himself and his son Amir. As mentioned in the book, Karim told the escapees that soon a fuel truck would take them "on to freedom. on to safety." Kabul was not safe ever since the Russians had started a war on Afghanistan and it also did not allow the people living in Kabul the right to live the life they wished to live. Baba did not want to risk his or his son life.

3. Why does Amir have an easier time adapting to American culture than Baba does?
-Amir thinks of America as being a place where he can "bury his past." He sees America as a fresh, new start where he can forget where and what he came from and start a brand new life. Baba on the other hand has lived his whole life in Kabul and does not want to let it go. "Baba was like the widower who remarries but can't let go of his dead wife. He missed the sugarcane fields of Jalalabad and the gardens of Paghman." Baba only could remember the good life in Kabul, the place where all of his happy memories were and where "people knew him, his father, knew his grandfather." Amir remembers Kabul as the place where he could not stand up for himself and the place where he let his own best friend down. "For me, America was a place to bury my memories. For Baba, a place to mourn his." In America Baba could no longer be the higher standard of living and was set to be a gasoline attendant. Babay was no longer the well-known, rich man that lived in Kabul, but a man that lived in an apartment with his son and drove an old beat up "bus."

4. Does Soraya help Amir develop as a character? Why or why not?
-When Amir meets Soraya, he finds her to be the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. The first thing she says that I think makes Amir realize his character is when she tells the story of the hired woman she helped in learning to read. She says, "I was so proud of her and I felt I had really done something worthwhile." Amir thinks to himself, "I used my literacy to ridicule Hassan. I would tease him about not knowing big words." Amir begins to realize that what he did was out of character and I believe that Soraya is teaching him the right way to treat people. He feels very comfortable around Soraya, such as when she came to the hospital. He was glad she was there and was not afraid for her to see his emotions. Both Soraya and Amir have done something wrong in the past, but the difference between them is that Soraya came clean about her secret and Amir did not. She tells Amir, "I don't want us to start with secrets," but yet Amir will not stand up like a man and tell her of his secret with Hassan. I think that Soraya is helping Amir develop in some ways, but overcoming his character in other ways.