The language that is used in this extract demonstrates how Amir deems himself to be almost a criminal and also guilty of a crime that he is actually not even responsible for. Freud states in Mourning and Melancholia that a patient that is suffering from mourning tends to deem themselves as:

worthless, incapable of any achievement and morally despicable; he reproaches himself, vilifies himself and expects to be cast out and punished. (Freud, 1916, p246).

Freud’s analogy is quite succinct as it denotes how Amir has punished himself repeatedly for all these years despite not actually being guilty of any actual crime. His mourning and lamenting of the past have led to his own self certifying punishment and only he can relinquish himself of this pain by confronting the