Best of the Week: Culture

This week we discussed how culture has such an overwhelming impact on characters and their actions. Culture is evident in every culture. For example, in The Blue Sweater , we noticed how the women felt so empowered becase culture had pushed them down so many times, and told them they couldn't do anything. In that story, women were very limited because of culture. However, culture is different for every part of the world. America's culture is different from Africa's which is different from Afghanistans, and so on.
Anyway, at the beginning of the story, Amir was a walking example of culture. For example, while although Amir never said it, we could see through his actions and thoughts that Amir thought of Hassan as his servant. Why? Only because Hassan was a Hazara. Culture had guided Amir to this conclusion, and would continue to do so for the rest of his life.
20 years later, as Amir asked for Soraya's hand in marriage, he had to be very cautious because Afghani culture would reject the way the marriage was performed. Even at the market, it was his Amir's father who reminded him, not to embarrass the two of them, by doing even something as simple as talking to a woman. While although marrying Soraya in the first place, was a rejection of culture (because of her reputation), the rest of their marriage had to be led by it.
Culture has played a dominant role in Amir's life, and think it will continue to for a very long time. It's so hard to defy something that has been with you your whole life.
This is relatable to Assef's and Amir's childhood. What role does culture play in your upbringing? Whether that is for the better or for the worse. In my opinion, there were many instances where culture brought out the worst in Amir. However, later in his life, while Amir was still under the chains of culture, he did happen to defy it. This was when he married Soraya.
In conclusion, culture played a large role in Amir's life, sometimes for the worst, sometimes for the better. It's up to Amir to decide to what extent it influences the rest of his life.