One summer day, Amir uses one of Ali’s kitchen knives to carve their names on a tree:” Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul”. Those words make it formal that
the tree is theirs. After school, Hassan and Amir climb its branches and snatch its blood red pomegranates. Then, Amir will read Hassan a story Hosseini 24. All
of those happy times bring Hassan to experience beautiful times as a Hazara boy. The feeling that he only has one friend drives him to keep his friendship
with Amir. Since he has only one friend he will not hurt his friend and do almost anything to make Amir happy to be with him. His sense of belonging affects him
to do all of the good things to Amir. He is always the one who can protect Amir especially when they play outside Hoseeini 37. Most of the time he also tries to
make Amir happy with him. The reason that Amir is his only friend takes Hassan to keep his friendship
even after receiving some betrayal from Amir. If we take a look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Hassan’s third reason can be categorized in the third level
which is love and belonging needs. In this third level which covers the needs of friendship and family Hassan put his efforts and loves to Amir and their
friendship. Here, in his third reason Hassan put his motivation for regarding Amir as his best friend one level upward from the two previous reasons. It is because he
feels that his needs of safety and security are fulfilled by respecting Amir as his master and keeping his status.
4.2.2 The Ways of Maintaining His Friendship with Amir
According to Beebe 420, communication and conversation between close friends will be highly intimate. The relation deals with our emotional feeling. It is
described in the novel that Amir and Hassan never experience any quarrel between them except the most painful betrayal that Amir does to Hassan. It is
unbelievable that one can maintain a friendship after a betrayal if he does not have a perfect friendship which is based on goodness as what Aristotle as quoted in
Becker 388 states that a true friend loves the other for what he is and not for any incidental value. Friendship of this kind is permanent because in that kind of
friendship all the qualities that friends ought to possess are united. In this part of discussion, Hassan’s ways of maintaining his friendship with Amir are seen from
the characteristics of friendship. Peterson 1 states that they are honesty and trust, emotional respect which deals with love, receiving and understanding and service
and loyalty.
4.2.2.1 Honesty and Trust
What Hassan does to maintain his friendship reflects some characteristics of friendship stated by Peterson 1. The first characteristic of friendship which is
clearly shown by Hassan concerns honesty and trust. They are the most important things because an honest affirmation or correction to a friend can help him to be
better. Here, Hassan never lies to Amir Hosseini 47-48 and he trusts Amir. He trusts at the time when Amir actually creates his own story instead of reading the
book for Hassan Hosseini 29. He always has a good thought about Amir. “But before you sacrifice yourself for him, think about this: Would he do
the same for you? Have you ever wondered why he never includes you in games when he has guests? Why he only plays with you when no one else
is around? I’ll tell you why Hazara. Because to him, you’re nothing but an ugly pet. Something he can play with when he’s bored, something he can
kick when he’s angry. Don’t ever fool yourself and think you’re something more.”
