Functional Order: Te/Ni/Se/Fi
Dominant Function: Te
Assef is a bully and enjoys humiliating others to assert his dominance and authority over them. He is racist towards the Hazara and Hassan in particular, as he firmly believes in his countries social order and that some people are placed higher on this hierarchy than others. As he and Amir are placed on top of this hierarchy while Hassan is at the very bottom, Assef can not understand why Amir would bother with him. This idea of an inherent inequality of humans also make him sympathize with some social Darwinist ideologies and later lead him to become a high ranking official in the Taliban. Assef naturally takes the lead in his „friend group“, asserting his will through force and intimidation. As the very embodiment of an unhealthy Te dominant, Assef sees people as means for his own ends and struggles with upholding genuine emotional connections with them. Assef is also unhealthily ambitious, trying to excell at everything he does and can‘t accept only taking second place to Amir and Hassan in the Kite Runner tournament, which leads to his horrific attack on Hassan.
Auxilliary Function: Ni
Assef is very aware of the symbolical implication of his actions. He belittles Hassan to teach Amir a lesson about his and Hassan’s different social standings and show him how little rights an Hazara like Hassan actually has in their society. His birthday present to Amir - an autobiography of Hitler - also articulates this racist ideology and is meant to show Amir that he doesn‘t regret what he did to his friends. Assef is also delusional about his abilities believing that he has a promising future awaiting him and is destined for greater things. Representing the evil of religious fundamentalism and inequality, Assef dreams of a state in which the Hazara are totally oppressed and largely eliminated to create his ideal of a perfect society. This vision however is totally devoid of reality, leaving no room for humanity or appreciating the way many different cultures helped shaping Afghanistan. Assef also knows how to manipulate others, by crafting a certain image and presenting himself as the model young gentleman and son, easily predicting how others will react to his gestures even from a young age.
Tertiary Function: Se
Assef uses his physicality and strong built to viciously bully and intimidate those around him. When his manipulation and mind games won‘t work, he sues brute force, physically attacking Hassan multiple child and later raping him, when he won‘t submit to him. He also physically teases and attacks other children in the neighborhood, taking sadistic pleasure in hurting them, just for the fun. Assef is hedonistic and shallow, living a life of material abundance as a Taliban, and loosing himself in physical pleasures. He is totally immoral in the pursuit of his hedonistic pleasures even molesting young boys and girls from the local orphanage to gain sexual satisfaction and living a life of decadence. When under attack Assef is quick to resign to violence and can act uncharacteristically impulsive, loosing his calmly and attuned of superiority, which helps Amir to ultimately defeat him.
Inferior Function: Fi
Assef seems psychopathic and devoid of any human emotions. Still their are hints that he might be partly emotionally motivated to having developed into the person he is today. Throughout the book their are hints that Assef is struggling with repressed homosexuality, which causes him to try to prove his own worth by putting other down an asserting his will on him. Assef also lacks any real human connections with others, being spoiled but treated with a sense of distance by his parents, which might left an emotional void in him. This combined with the racist teaching in his society also caused him to develop a twisted moral code with a strong believe in his own uniqueness and superiority over others. Assef low Fi might also explain his disdain for individuality and human vulnerability, always repressing any feelings he might have had in himself.
Note: Assef is an extremely unhealthy character and not bears little resemblance to a regular or healthy ENTJ. Still the little we know about his motives and thought process, make this typing the most likely, but there might be different interpretations about his type.
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