A foil is either a character who is opposite to the main character or nearly the same as the main character. The purpose of the foil character is to emphasize the traits of the main character by contrast only. The author adds these characters in his novel so that the reader can better understand the main characters and the story. The character foils being presented are about Amir and Hassan, their foils are shown when they are both still children and their differences clearly reflect one another.
The first character foil they have is their personalities, Amir and Hassan have very distinct personalities and they show especially early in the book. Amir is not brave and Hassan seems to be, in the book when Hassan was getting raped by Assef Amir just stood there and watched. He didn’t stop because he was too much of a coward. Amir could've stopped the tragedy that had happened to his friend but he did nothing. Hassan on the other hand was offered to be let free if he gave away the kite but refused and that shows his braveness and loyalty. Another act of bravery from Hassan was when Assef walked up to them the first time but Hassan held a slingshot to his face which made Assef back off. Amir is also dishonest and untruthful, in the book Amir's father
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Amir is describes by his dad in the beginning of the book as unathletic because Amir doesn’t want to do anything and is not like any of the other kids. Earlier in the story Amir expresses how Baba tried to enroll him in soccer teams and he did not like them at all, after that he tried watching soccer but hated it even more, Amir tired to fake like it but Baba knew. Hassan however loves to run and play sports, for example in the book Amir is the kite flyer while Hassan is the actually runner and he runs around trying to catch the kite and Amir has not caught one yet. Hassan is also always doing chores and moving around while Amir is more of a lazy