Group Question - Sophia, Morgan, Paisley, Morgan

[sophia....@gmail.com]

Towards the beginning of the book, it is said that Baba is well known in their town because of his strength and manliness. It is also said that he has fought a bear. In the end of the novel, when Baba has passed away after battling cancer, Amir says "This was his biggest bear" and that he couldn't fight it, referring to his cancer. Metaphorically, what is Amir's biggest bear? 

[cole.a...@gmail.com]

P.S. Sophia messed up and put two Morgans instead of my name so it should be Sophia, Ashlee, Paisley Morgan for who wrote it!

[n Cook]

Metaphorically concluding, Amir hasn't met his biggest Bear yet. With Hypothetical deduction, In this question you're left with the statement that despite Baba's Inhuman Like strength and manliness that left him fearless He couldn't fight His biggest bear? So why would Amir even have the courage to acknowledge the bears existence? But with leaves the only option of Amir's biggest bear being one that Baba himself couldn't shake, Death, or Maybe God? Having already concurred Assef, And with the attempted Suicide of Sohrab comes the Prayer of Amir. This is possibly Amir's clash with the "Bear" fighting words of Baba and the hovering hand of God, whom Amir chooses To fight with his Prayer.

[Ashley Perez]

Metaphorically i think that Amir's biggest bear is his past regret that constantly ate away at him. If he had not helped Sohrab, the guilt would have ate away at him until he was completely consumed by regret of his lack of actions taken for Hassan. Luckily he conquered his " biggest bear " to a certain extent by righting his wrong enough to ease the guilt of his past.

[Miraya Mathews]

Metaphorically, Amir's biggest bear was the guilt he felt from not helping Hassan and carrying the guilt with him from his childhood into adulthood. Amir went from not knowing how to deal with it, to trying to ignore it, to satiating it by going to Afghanistan to get Sohrab. The guilt wasn't really eased until he got beat up by Assef and essentially getting what he felt he deserved. The bear was defeated when he brought Sohrab to the states and was adopted by him and Soraya.

[Eveline M. Bailey]

I don't know--interesting question. One might conclude that Amir's "biggest bear" is his attempt to mend his relationship with Hassan through Sohrab. Clearly he feels that adopting Sohrab and bringing him to the United States is a way to make up for his wrongdoings toward Hassan, but we realize that this may not ever be possible because the two are in fact separate and not the same person. One suspects that Amir will always struggle with his feelings of guilt and inadequacy and will find, sooner or later, that Sohrab is not the avenue he will take to make up for that. His thinking that it is the way to make up for his past is just another indicator of his selfish, sycophantic ego. Thus, his "biggest bear" is really going to be putting the past to rest the way it is--without trying to "make up" for anything--and move forward with his life as it is currently.