What decision does Amir reach after hearing Rahim Khan's story about his Hazara fiancée?

• A. Either he or Hassan must leave their household to be happy.
• B. He should confess to Baba about Hassan.
• C. He should marry Hassan to preserve the family.
• D. He should stay and pretend nothing happened.

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is how deep social pressures and family loyalties push a person toward a painful sacrifice in order to find happiness. When Amir hears Rahim Khan’s tale of a Hazara fiancée, he confronts a pattern in Afghan life where love and duty clash with ethnic and class expectations. That story makes him realize that keeping everyone under one roof may be impossible if true happiness is the goal; the only workable path, in that moment of reflection, is that one of them must leave the household to preserve harmony and dignity. This is why choosing that one of them must depart is the best reading: it captures the tension between staying and belonging versus pursuing true happiness when social barriers loom large. The other options don’t fit because the anecdote isn’t about confessing to Baba as a simple remedy, nor does it present marriage to Hassan as a feasible solution given their social status, and it contradicts the impulse to confront the past or take action rather than pretend nothing happened.