608 Words of Disappointment

I hate how people can read something so emotional and dissect it like a frog. In The Kite Runner, Hassan is raped by an asshole older boy named Assef- he is also held down by Assef’s two friends, Wali and Kamal. Most of my classmates discussed the intellectual side of the rape- why didn’t Hassan struggle? Why didn’t Amir do anything to help him? I’m here to discuss the emotional side. I guess you could say... the human side.

Let’s start with Hassan. This poor boy is twelve and, as I already said, he’s being held down by two older, stronger, more powerful boys. He’s scared, he’s shocked, he’s confused, he’s sad, and most of all? He’s humiliated. He’s  dropped lower than being just a Hazara. He’s being used like a woman, a woman Hazara. He’s being shamed by another boy, even though that boy is older and more of a sociopath. Not only that, he’s been taught, raised, to do what he’s told and not put up a fight. Sure, he pulls out his slingshot at one point, but that’s like his special weapon- take away his weapon and he’s got nothing left to defend himself. Besides... his friend was standing right there. He expected his friend, his master, to at least try to save him. Right?

And now we move to Amir. Amir, watching the rape take place. “Why did he just stand there and let it happen? Doesn’t he care?”

I blinked, saw I was still biting down on my fist, hard enough to draw blood from the knuckles. I realized something else. I was weeping. (Page 77)

Oh, no, of course he doesn’t care. No one who cares would inflict pain unto themselves from watching their loved ones be harmed. Oh no, of course not. “But then why didn’t he do anything?” Just like Hassan, he was scared. He was twelve. When I was twelve, I was just leaving sixth grade. I was short, weak, and still as green as a leaf. I was inexperienced. I was scared of the world, even in our protected society. The same goes for so many other twelve-year-olds out there. Amir was terrified- if he’d done anything like throwing a rock or shouting at them, they would have either beat the shit snot out of him or raped him too. And if he’d run and gotten help, his father only would have looked down on him more- for not being strong or brave enough to defeat Hassan’s rapist. It would have been... shameful.

So, I guess what I’m saying is... don’t look at these horrific things under the magnifying glass of a scientist. Think about it in a deeper kind of way. What would you do if you saw your friend being raped? And don’t say, “Oh, I’d beat that guy!” or “I’d get my daddy and he would kill him!” When you see that kind of thing, when you are standing there witnessing this tragic surprise, you are in complete shock. Your body freezes, you tense up, you can’t breathe. Your heart stops for a second and then it races, it becomes to only thing running away from the scene in front of you. You wouldn’t be able to do anything. You probably wouldn’t even be able to scream.

This is why I got so upset in class earlier. People aren’t paying attention to the human element to the picture, they aren’t paying attention to the emotions behind the characters actions. It was especially disturbing to see smiles and laughter on the faces of the people discussing the topic. Please don’t joke about rape. It’s not funny.