Betrayal is taken to an extreme extent in this story. In the beginning of Hassan's life he and Ali were betrayed by Hassan's mother when she deserted them five days after Hassan was born. Sanaubar, Hassan's mother deserted Hassan when she came to notice he had a cleft lip. Hassan was betrayed by many people throughout his life. Amir, Hassan's half brother and best friend betrayed Hassan a countless amount of times. For example when Amir came to find Hassan being raped by Assef in the alleyway. Amir had a chance to save Hassan from being raped but took the cowardly way out and ran. Hassan was chasing a kite that had flown away and was taken into an alleyway by Assef. Amir is the only person who knew of this incident and turned a blind eye to it. He could have shown his loyalty to Hassan, but instead he betrayed him. Not only didn't Amir attempt to protect his friend by at least getting help, he also kept this incident a secret and treated Hassan with even less respect then before. Amir said, and I quote, "I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran. I ran because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt. That's what I told myself as I turned my back in the alley, to Hassan. That's what I made myself believe. I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba." Amir betrayed his best friend in hope to win the love of his father. Amir made excuses in his head that would in turn lead to him letting Hassan be raped, overlooking the real reason which was that he only cared about pleasing his father.