A key section of the novel you will want to pay attention to in
terms of how it presents the development of Amir is when he goes to Pakistan to see the dying
Rahim Khan in Chapter 15. It is when Rahim Khan reveals the truth of Amir and Hassan's
relationship that Amir feels honour-bound to go to Afghanistan and look for Hassan's son to try
to save him. It is interesting that Rahim Khan uses the words of Baba to shame Amir into
action:
"I remember he
said to me, 'Rahim, a boy who won't stand up for himself becomes a man who can't stand up to
anything.' I wonder, is that what you've
become?"
It is the truth of Amir and
Hassan's fraternity and the deep sense of shame that Amir feels for having stood by when Hassan
was raped as a boy that impels him now to return to Afghanistan. We finally see him trying to
make amends for what he didn't do so long ago, and thus taking responsibility for his actions and
decisions. Your essay should definitely focus on this turning point for the character of Amir, as
it is this point that leads him to show that Amir could do his fighting for himself, rather than,
as Baba put it, "someone had always done [his] fighting for [him]."
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