The Monster in the Lake
The Monster in the Lake is a symbol of Amir. It represents Amir’s betrayal and deception at the beginning of the novel. The night before the kite tournament, Hassan had a dream of the monster, “”We were at Lake…but no one was swimming because they said a monster had come to the lake. It was swimming at the bottom, waiting…So everyone is scared to get in the water, and suddenly you kick off your shoes, Amir aha, and take off your shirt. ‘There’s no monster,’ you say ‘I’ll show you all’…Everyone is screaming, ‘Get out! Get out!’ but we just swim in the cold water. We turn toward the shore and wave to the people…They see now. There is no monster, just water. They change the name of the lake after that, and call it the ‘Lake of Amir and Hassan, Sultans of Kabul.’” (63-64) Amir defies everyone’s preconceptions and shows them that there is no monster. Amir’s good intentions are displayed; he is showing the people that it’s okay to swim because the monster is non-existent. Just like in the dream, Amir buckles up and choses to fly in the tournament after almost backing out. He is reminded by Hassan that there is no monster. He faces the challenge head on.
After Amir betrays Hassan by running away while Hassan is being raped by Assef, Amir thinks to himself, ““I thought about Hassan’s dream, the one about us swimming in the lake. There is no monster, he’d said, just water. Except he’d been wrong about that. There was a monster in the lake. It had grabbed Hassan by the ankles, dragged him to the murky bottom. I was that monster.” (91) The betrayal portrayed Amir as selfish and self-absorbed. He was the monster. Amir was the one to feed Hassan to the wolves. He ran away because his desires were his motivation. By running away, Amir was dragging Hassan to the bottom of the lake. The bottom of the lake represents the extent of Amir’s betrayal and how far he went in order to achieve what he wanted. It also marks the end of Hassan’s innocence and describes the absolute inferiority that Hassan feels.
After Amir betrays Hassan by running away while Hassan is being raped by Assef, Amir thinks to himself, ““I thought about Hassan’s dream, the one about us swimming in the lake. There is no monster, he’d said, just water. Except he’d been wrong about that. There was a monster in the lake. It had grabbed Hassan by the ankles, dragged him to the murky bottom. I was that monster.” (91) The betrayal portrayed Amir as selfish and self-absorbed. He was the monster. Amir was the one to feed Hassan to the wolves. He ran away because his desires were his motivation. By running away, Amir was dragging Hassan to the bottom of the lake. The bottom of the lake represents the extent of Amir’s betrayal and how far he went in order to achieve what he wanted. It also marks the end of Hassan’s innocence and describes the absolute inferiority that Hassan feels.