The Fence of Guilt

This image represents Amir’s life struggle due to his lack of openness with his wife Soraya. The chain links represent the bond that Amir and Soraya have formed through their marriage and love, and how they hold each other together. Additionally, The fence as a whole represents that while Amir and Soraya hold each other together, in truth, Amir only creates a barrier between Soraya and his past. This is just like the barrier between the blurry landscape of Amir’s past and the other side of the fence, which represents Amir’s potential marital relationship of trust and openness. Even though Soraya attempts to instigate heartfelt communication with Amir in her initial openness about her past, Amir refuses to open up to Soraya and confess his secret about Hassan. Furthermore,  the fence represents a defense mechanism preventing Amir from possibly losing Soraya. When Amir first hears about Soraya’s disgraceful past, he says that he is not one to judge, but does not share his past stories. Due to this, Amir retains the guilt he has felt for so long, and rather than gaining someone to confide in, Soraya acts as another obstacle preventing him from true peace. The open landscape behind the fence represents what Amir’s life could be if he took a risk with Soraya, and opened his dark past to her without worrying about her opinion of him.