Honesty and Trust The Ways of Maintaining His Friendship with Amir
“Amir agha and I are friends,” Hassan said. He looked flushed Hosseini 63-64.
Despite what Assef says is true or not Hassan trusts Amir. He trusts that Amir regards him as his best friend, not a pet. And what Assef says does not affect his
loyalty to Amir. He still does not give the blue kite to Assef because it is for Amir Hosseini 64.
What Hassan does for Amir reflects his honesty and trust, one of the characteristics of friendship that is important in making a good friendship.
Honesty and trust are important elements in friendship since through honesty and trust one can measure the quality of friendship. It is also important because
honesty is closely linked to trust and together they build a base of friendship to be strong and healthy. One will try to be honest with his close friend in giving
affirmation or correction in order to develop his potency and character. He will also trust his friend to share his feelings whenever he wants to. In summary,
honesty and trust are strongly needed in building a good quality of friendship. 4.2.2.2 Emotional Respect
According to Peterson 1, the second characteristic of friendship is emotional respect. This emotional respect includes the feeling of love, receiving
and understanding. Emotional respect will give a strong support to a friendship because through love we will not leave our friend who is in trouble. From the
novel, we can see that Hassan’s love is seen when he will always defend Amir without being asked like when he points to Assef’s eyes with his slingshot when
he intimidates Amir and blocks his way home Hosseini 36-37 and also when he runs the cut kite at the tournament right after the kite flies Hosseini 58-59. His
love for Amir affects him greatly in almost everything that he does for Amir. His love also motivates him to have the feelings of receiving and understanding. He
receives Amir just the way he is. He loves Amir since they grow up under the same roof and yard and because Amir treats him not like any other servant.
Besides, his feeling of receiving and understanding appear because Amir is not violent, but he tends to be a coward and afraid of getting hurt Hosseini 19,
and so Hassan always defends him. Hassan’s feelings of love, receiving, and understanding bring a comfort feeling to Amir. In the morning before the kite
tournament Amir admits that he feels it comfortable to have someone who always knows what he needs Hosseini 54. On the night of the bombing, for example,
Hassan asks Amir to climb their tree and read a tale under it Hosseini 33 and before the kite tournament when he feels fear and anxious, Hassan gives him
some support by telling him that there is no monster Hosseini 53-54 so that Amir will feel better and confident to fly his kite.
The second main characteristics of friendship proposed by Peterson in building a good quality of friendship is by having love, receiving, and
understanding which are united in what we call emotional respect. What makes emotional respect become the main elements in friendship is that through
emotional respect, we can love and receive our friends just the way they are. Love and receiving that appear will drive one to have an understanding. Understanding
will help one to know his close friend’s true characters and make him act more easily in a certain situation. That is why, emotional respect is important in
friendship.