Disgraced

Three months later, Amir is alone in the apartment and drinking on the terrace. Furiously, he smashes his glass on the ground, but this does nothing to appease his anger. Emily enters and reminds Amir that Isaac and Jory are coming over for dinner, and Emily has made pork tenderloin. Emily is hopeful that Isaac is coming to tell her that he has selected her work for a show at his gallery. Amir is unenthusiastic about the dinner and rejects Emily when she tries to act seductive because “it doesn’t help” (34). This is a discussion they have had before. Emily presses him to tell her what happened to make him so upset, and he finally tells her that the partners at his firm had cornered Amir in his office to ask where his parents were born. Amir’s father was born in a part of India that had been partitioned into Pakistan, and his mother was born in Pakistan. When the firm hired him, Amir had led them to believe that his family was from India, which is primarily Hindu, rather than Pakistan, which is primarily Muslim.