Character Analysis From 'The Break Up'

Can you imagine what it would be like to be an 18 year old girl and look the person you once loved in the eyes as he strangled you, knowing you could do nothing to stop him? Can you imagine the amount of betrayal you would feel in those final moments? That is what Hae Min Lee experienced with Adnan Syed. It was just an average January day when Adnan asked his ex girlfriend for a ride, because his friend had his car; however, Adnan’s intentions were not to get a ride, they were to get revenge. And that is what he did, in the Best Buy parking lot. Adnan is clearly the murderer, he was hurt and angry that Hae left him for an older guy and his psychopathic personality allowed him to make Sarah believe he had no recollection of where he was at the

For example, when Hae and Adnan broke up, he figured they would get back together because they had been on again/off again; however, Hae began dating Don almost immediately after Adnan (Koenig, “The Breakup”). Adnan had a lot of mixed feelings when he learned about her new relationship. He was hurt and angry, so angry he would do anything to get revenge; therefore, he decided to kill her to reciprocate the pain that he felt. Another motive Adnan had for killing Hae was because she began to doubt him and their relationship, because of the religious differences, at the dance when Adnan’s parents showed up (Koenig, “The Breakup”). Adnan felt betrayed and embarrassed by the interaction that took place at the school. He was supposed to be the dominant one, it was his religion. Adnan figured the only way he could show his dominance in the relationship was to strangle Hae because she wouldn’t have a chance. Adnan had many reasons to snap and kill the girl who was breaking his heart; he wanted revenge for how bad she hurt him, and he wanted Don to know how it felt to have her taken

Dr. Robert Hare, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia compiled a list of psychopathic traits. Adnan had many of the traits including superficial charm, lack of remorse or guilt, poor behavioral controls, promiscuous sexual behaviors, impulsivity, and criminal versatility (Hare). Adnan has shown criminal versatility on many different occasions. An anonymous male, that knew Adnan, states, “He was pocketing thousands of dollars every week [from the mosque]. I absolutely saw him taking it” (Koenig, “Rumors”). When Adnan was asked about the stealing from the mosque, he admitted to it. This, along with smoking weed, shows that he is already fully capable of breaking the law. On the other hand, some may say that Adnan is innocent because when Sarah and Dana tested Jay’s locations and timelines there was hardly any time left to use as strangling Hae (Koenig, “Route Talk”). However, Sarah and Dana cannot account for how much traffic there was on that day, how fast Adnan drove, or if Hae was even murdered in the Best Buy parking lot. Adnan could have killed her someplace else, then proceeded to drive to Best Buy to use the phone to call Jay, or he thought it would be far enough away where it would be impossible for the murder to take place