Amir In Disgraced

In the play “Disgraced” the character Amir is born in America to a Muslim family. He was raised as a devout Muslim, though he ends up despising and leaving Islam. It is with Amir that I relate to and understand the most. He is an American and yet because of the religion he was born to and the color of his skin no one accepts the fact that he is not a Muslim, not even those closest to him. It is something that his American wife is fascinated with. She and Amir often get into arguments because of her attempts to defend Islam’s tenets. Not even she accepts his decisions; no matter what he says or does everyone around him sees him as a Muslim. As a man raised in the Mormon church I can relate to this. Though the Mormon church does not have such stringent rules against the leaving of the Church, it is not too kind to those who leave it, especially those

Whenever Amir starts to question Islam and the culture it breeds he is shut down with accusations of self-hatred and bigotry. An example of this is when Amir is having a dinner party with his wife and friends, “Get what? That you’re full of self-loathing?” (Akhtar 61). This is just one of many examples of people within the play of someone accusing Amir of hating himself and his own kind, as if he were nothing more than a Muslim, as if he doesn’t have the agency to choose his own belief. Amir is constantly reminded that no matter his success, no matter what he says he will never be anything other than a Muslim, and that there is nothing he can say or do that changes that. It is a simple thing to fight against those that simply hate you. It is another to fight those who claim to love you and want the best for you. It is the greatest strength of the Mormons they make you believe that they care for you, when they just want you to be like them, and not question anything. Amir faced the same thing with his wife, friends, and