He asked me to fetch Hassan too, but I lied and told him Hassan had the runs. I wanted Baba all to myself.
Amir was always envious of Baba's affection towards Hassan. He never understood how Baba would treat Hassan like his son. Amir only learned later that Hassan was his half-brother. Sanaubar, Hassan’s mother, got intimate with Baba so she could have a child because Ali was sterile. However, she abandoned Hassan soon after he was born. Further, she was a Hazara and could not have an official relationship with Baba. Although Baba did not publicly relate with Hassan as his father, he always treated him as such. He invited him whenever they were going for trips with Amir.
I faked interest for as long as possible. I cheered with him when Kabul’s team scored against Kandahar.
In attempts to live up to his father’s expectations, Amir pretended to like football, at least, as a spectator. Baba was athletic during his youth. He hoped his son would follow in his footsteps. However, Amir was not inclined to live up to his father’s expectations. Instead, he was interested in literature. This irked his father who viewed poetry or literature as an embodiment of his son’s “soft” character.
‘Imbecile.’ It means smart, intelligent. I’ll use it in a sentence for you. ‘When it comes to words, Hassan is an imbecile.
In this instance, Amir employed his knowledge of English to deceive Hassan. Hassan was illiterate with no hopes of ever attending school because of his social status. He relied on Amir to explain some of the words he did not understand, but during this instance, Amir lied to him. However, Amir did this in jest as he was teasing Hassan.
I lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it.
Amir lied to his father about his lost watch, which he had planted in Hassan’s room. He did not want Hassan around him anymore because of the guilt he carried around. He did nothing to help Hassan when Assef raped him.
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