This drain represents Amir and his internal conflict with himself about forgiveness. The first aspect is the drain itself which represents how he tries to flush away his past mistakes and feelings. He does not want to remember or think about all the sins he has committed and uses this emotional drain to wash the feelings away. However, Amir is unsuccessful in trying to forget about his past, because some of his "emotional garbage" is too big and will not go away. This is seen with the leaves, berries, and trash that are sitting on top of the drain, but unable to get through. An example of this is when Amir thinks about how if he had chosen different actions, things would have worked out better for Hassan. He thinks "But I had driven Hassan and Ali out of the house. Was it too far-fetched to imagine things might have turned out differently if I hadn't?"(226). A final aspect of this is the drain being surrounded by stone. This shows the way that Amir has isolated himself from all the other people around him. This is shown when he decides to not share his past with Soraya. He proves this with the lines "I envied her. Her secret was out. Spoken. Dealt with. I opened my mouth, almost told her how I betrayed Hassan... But I didn't"(165). Altogether, this drain exemplifies the internal conflict that Amir has about self-forgiveness.
I like how you chose a drain as your metaphor, that is very creative!
ReplyDeleteI feel that the leaves in the drain could also represent guilt that is to great to be filtered through.
To me the choice was interesting. because Drains can never hold water. Can Amir trully ever be forgiven?
ReplyDeleteI think that your metaphor is very insightful, and you used evidence to back up your reasoning!
ReplyDeleteI think this also relates to Baba's internal conflict regarding his decision to lie about Hassan's origins.
I find the drainage metaphor to be quite fathomable, very applicable to Amir and his character. The text used really expresses your premise and explains how they connect. Really good job! I think that the image could also represent not only sins but also regrets. Amir makes a lot of bad choices in the book and the author uses him as an example of a child coming to age so I think that the drain could represent his bad choices draining the water that is his life. Leaving him with trash that are regrets.
ReplyDeleteI think your metaphor was very applicable to Amir, and very well supported by your quotes. It is very concise and does not vaguely describe guilt or barriers to forgiveness.
ReplyDeleteUsing the drain for your metaphor was really interesting and insightful. I like how you related to book to every part of the picture.
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