Amir's First Story

I found a lot of symbolism in the first story that Amir wrote. It was about a man who had a cup that turned his tears into pearls. The man grew greedy and tried to find ways to make himself cry as much as possible. It ended with him sitting on top of a mountain of pearls, holding his wife's slain body.

for those of you that haven't finished chapter seven in the kite runner, do NOT read this post.

in chapter seven, Amir wins the annual kite fight and Amir wonders if Baba is proud of him or proud of Hassan for winning. Hassan runs after the last kite Amir cut, as Amir plans to present the kite to Baba as a trophy. Hassan starts to look for Amir Amir looks for Hassan and finds him cornered in an alley by (Hassan's and Amir's enemy) Assef and his friends. Assef tells Hassan that he is not really Amir’s friend, but his servant. They start to beat up Hassan as Amir crouches behind a wall because he is too afraid to step in and defend Hassan. Since Amir wants the kite so he can bring it home and finally make his father proud, Hassan would not give up the kite. Assef rapes Hassan as his friends hold him down as Amir runs away. He later meets Hassan (pretending he doesn’t know what happened) and gets the kite from Hassan. Amir still doesn't know at the time if Hassan saw him crouching behind the wall while Assef and his friends were beating up Hassan in the alley. Amir gives the kite to Baba, who is proud of Amir.

The story relates to what happens to Hassan in the alley because like the man in Amir's story sacrificed his wife for the pearls, Amir sacrificed something extremely important to him that he could never get back (Hassan) just so his father could be proud of him for once. Both the man in the story and Amir get riches by sacrificing. another thing that the man in the story and Amir had in common was that before the the man got his "gift", or "blessing", of crying pearls and before Amir showed his kite to his father, they were both overall happy and content with their lives. after they got what they wanted though, they were miserable the rest of their lives. The riches that Amir get is the pride and affection of Baba when he sees that Amir brought home the kite. Both Amir and the man in the story deeply regret what they sacrifice in order to get what they want.