He views America both as a land of new opportunity and as a means fo escaping the darker past he left behind in Afghanistan. Of course, this past continues to haunt Amir, and this also colors his perception of America. While thinking of Hassan, the friend that Amir first failed to protect and then directly betrayed, Amir reflects that, "The first time I saw the Pacific, I almost cried. It was as vast and blue as the oceans on the movie screens of my childhood" (136). This statement illustrates the bittersweet nature of Amir's perception of America and the way that it has changed his life -- and the way that his presence in the country itself indicates the major change to his life that has occurred. He cannot fully enjoy...
Amir is left to sort out what forgiving a new life means with his new wife, the last real gift that his father was able to give him. Baba was not meant to survive in America; his spirit was simply not up to it. Amir, on the other hand, could live in America if only he could leave Afghanistan peacefully in the past.
