The Kite Runner Post B #2

On page 109, Amir's friend (and servant) Hassan and his father Ali leave Amir and Baba. It still came as a bit of a shock, however, I shouldn't have been suprised based on the way that Amir had been treating Hassan. He had after all, walked away when Hassan was getting raped by one of the worst bullies in their city. Amir was standing near the end of the alley, torn between helping him, or running away and staying unscathed. "I could step into the alley, stand up for Hassan-the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past-and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. [...] I ran [...] I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid about getting hurt (77)." I'm going to speak frankly here. That was a dick move on Amir's part. What kind of friend jumps ship on someone in a situation like that? If I saw something like that happen, I don't care if there were five people. I would go in there and tell them to stop, and if they didn't, I would beat them up. It's as simple as that. If you are a true friend to someone, you will stand up for him or her no matter what. What angered me even more, is that Hassan stayed true to Amir until the very end. He even tried to retain what friendship they still had, and did not hold it against Amir for running away (he had seen him looking down the alley and running). What did Amir give him for it? He pelted him with pomegranates, told him to stop being around him, and accused him of stealing his new watch.