School of Distance Education

party. Amir’s character is a representation of this 
disgrace. Considering the revelation of Amir’s 
development of his identity throughout the story, he has 
taken conscious actions to a certain degree to integrate 
into the American society. He is a South AsianAmerican 
who purposefully changed his name from Abdullah (a 
Muslim name) to Kapoor (a Punjabi name), most likely 
to avoid certain scrutiny in relation to his legal status or 
employment application. He voluntarily offered himself 
to be searched by airport security, a group which tends to 
racially profile. He had denounced Islam as a backwards 
religion based on his prior personal experiences. Yet, at 
the same time, he also feels “pride” for his people (“we”) 
at the time of 9/11, which he admits stems from seeing 
America finally being defeated.
The political relevance of theatre is becoming more 
significant with the push to diversify all sectors of 
society in popular culture and to include the experiences 
of the marginalized and the minority. The analysis of 
three elements of Emily and Amir’s relationship in the 
play; the painting, the White Savior Complex, and the 
violence; uncovered complex layers of contradiction.

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School of Distance Education
English Literature in the 21
st
 century
29 
Emily’s painting of Amir in the style of Diego 
Velázquez’s Portrait of Juan de Pareja, is the source of 
power dynamic shift between Emily and Amir. Emily’s 
White Savior Complex shows itself in other instances 
such as when she influences Amir until he agrees to help 
the imam’s case. Amir’s violence uncovers some Neo 
Orientalist concepts which are the hierarchical binary 
opposition of ‘barbaric brown man’ and ‘free white 
woman,’ and the ‘new barbarism’ motive.