Betrayal in And the Mountains Echo by Khaled HosseniThe foundation of trust is fundamental in family and the quality of relationships. A person places utmost trust in family and friends. People feel betrayed at least once in their lives. Betrayal is the act of disloyalty, infidelity, or disappointment in an individual's hopes or expectations. In Khaled Hosseni's novel “And the Mountains Echoed” many of the protagonists express feelings of betrayal. When Abdullah's father Saboor sells Pari, both brothers feel betrayed. Parwana feels she has deceived her sister Masooma by holding herself responsible for her paraplegic condition, and Adel is deceived by his father when he realizes a certain truth. All of these characters are affected by the act of betrayal, causing them to become different people emotionally and mentally. All of these characters share one thing in common; they were betrayed by their loved ones who a person would have trusted more. Placing abundant trust in your family and then allowing yourself to be deceived is the worst kind of betrayal. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Pari and Abdullah were both significantly influenced by the actions taken by their father Saboor and uncle Nabi early in their lives. At the beginning of the novel, Saboor told a story to his two sons. The story was about a monster called Div, who every year chose a child to take away from his family. The Div chose a house and the family living in that house had to give one of their children to the Div, otherwise all their children would be taken away. The father is given a magic potion for the pain of giving up his son which makes him forget his son. In the story mentioned by the father: “A finger had to be cut off to save the hand”. (5) This meant that if they had to choose one child otherwise all the children would be taken, just as if Pari was not adopted, then worse events could occur. When Pari leaves, Abdullah repeats the same words about cutting off a finger to save the hand. At this point he says, "and would long for a sip of the magic potion which the Div had given to Baba Ayoub so that he too could forget." (48) This is ironic because many years later he forgets due to Alzheimer's. Over time, Abdullah forgets all memories of Pari, other than knowing that she had a sister. This event shows how even his memories have betrayed him due to his adoption. Abdullah forgetting Pari helped him forget the pain, however he lost every happy memory he had of his sister. Pari was four years old when she was adopted and taken away from her family. Her uncle was the person who made arrangements for her adoption. With this Pari feels the deception on his part because he is from the family, who is trusted the most. Uncle Nabi is Parwana's brother and ironically; Pari's adoptive uncle. There is no blood bond between them so this transitioning relationship helps readers understand how Nabi's personal choices were influenced by a weak bond. Sabour by allowing this, betrays his daughter by selling her as parents should never abandon their daughter. When Saboor and Abdullah return home, the father tells him: “'I will have no one to cry,' the father had said. 'Don't cry, I don't want it.'” (47) Saboor realizes that what happened wasn't right, but decides to proceed with adopting Pari. He doesn't even want to talk about it because of the pain he will feel knowing he sold his daughter. Abdullah feels the same pain and the same falseness when he haslost the person he loved most in his life. Since their biological mother had died, Abdullah cared for Pari all her life. When he left, Abdullah said: “There was nothing left for him here. Here she had no name." (49) Abdullah had an attachment to her and when she was given away he felt there was no meaning in life. His father also betrayed himself in a sense. He lost one of the last memories he had of her before wife. Abdullah and Pari's mother died in childbirth when Pari was born. This adoption symbolized Saboor giving away his daughter along with her being guilty of the mother's death. Abdullah's loss of Pari affected him in a way in which her love taught her father. Saboor's relationship with uncle Nabi weakened and her self-respect also decreased. Parwana cheated on Masooma almost all her life. and although they had a good relationship, it seemed that they were bitter towards each other in secret From the day they were born, Masuma was superior to her From the way Masooma was born effortlessly, while Parwana had the umbilical cord around the neck, and differences in beauty; Masooma was always in the shadows. Parwana and Masooma both had fallen in love with Saboor. Masooma went to tell Parwana about her marriage to Saboor and in an act of jealousy, Parwana made Masooma fall from a tree. Masooma then became paraplegic and could not marry Saboor. Before the accident in an act of ambiguous revenge; in the text it says: "Parwana planted her palms on the branch, raised her butt and then let it fall." (67) When Masooma fell from the tree, Parwana came back to reality and realized that not only had she betrayed and taken away her sister's love, but she was not even able to hold her head high. She was ashamed of what she had done and Masooma began to feel like a burden and asked her sister to help her commit suicide. While this had no impact on Masooma as she was deceived, Parwana felt that she herself was affected as she betrayed herself by being selfish with her sister's love. Parwana felt guilty that she had allowed herself to ruin her sister's life. Parwana ended up marrying Saboor, meaning she took away her sister's hopes of marrying him. Parwana's actions with her sister left her with a bittersweet ending in marrying Saboor but never being able to be truly happy about it. Adel is a little boy who lives with his family. His father is known to be a great man who always helps everyone. When Adel made a new friend named Gholam, he told him that his father was not a good person. Adel learns of his father's violence and illegal activities. Adel learned that his father took the land of Gholam and his family when they fled the war. This land belonged to Saboor for many years as Gholam was his great grandson. Gholam told Adel: "Imagine how my family felt, coming from Pakistan, only to get off the bus and find this thing on our land." (267) Adel's father not only betrays Adel but also deceives Gholam's family by taking what was theirs. When Adel and Gholam were discussing Adel's father, Gholam said to him, “I have nothing against you. You are a righteous and ignorant little boy. But next time Baba goes to Helmand, ask him to take you to that factory of his. Look what's growing out there. I'll give you a hint. It's not cotton." (268) Gholam was right about Adel being ignorant because Adel had been shadowed and blinded by his father since he was a child. When Adel realizes who his father really is, he begins to believe all Gholam. One day a man threw some rocks at his house breaking a window, Adel was taken to his isolated room with.