Hassan Harbish Character Analysis in An Abundance of Katherines

Hassan is Colin’s best friend. He and Colin take a road trip together to deal with Colin’s breakup with Katherine XIX. While Colin pays for the road trip with money from a television quiz show he won, Hassan demonstrates his loyalty by sacrificing his entire summer to take the road trip with his friend. Hassan is described as not very attractive and not very smart or remarkable compared with Colin. For the most part, though, Hassan does not mind playing the part of Colin’s sidekick. He is constitutionally somewhat lazy, and prefers watching Judge Judy to most forms of productivity. However, over the course of the novel, it becomes clear that Hassan also needs the road trip to figure out who he is and what he wants. He has been raised Muslim, and his faith is important to him, but he also wants to gain some independence from his parents and do a few of the things, such as drinking, that are forbidden by his faith. Hassan also wants to climb out from behind Colin’s shadow when it comes to dating and being seen as an interesting person. Hassan manages to do a few of these things on the road trip by dating Katrina and befriending TOC. These relationships do not work out, but they are nonetheless growing experiences for Hassan. Hassan’s easy recognition of his “failed” relationships as still an important part of his life contrasts with Colin’s perpetually pessimistic attitude toward all his breakups. By the end of the novel, Hassan has decided for himself that he should try going to college, not because it is what his parents and Colin want him to do, but rather because it will open more opportunities to him.

Hassan Harbish Quotes in An Abundance of Katherines

The An Abundance of Katherines quotes below are all either spoken by Hassan Harbish or refer to Hassan Harbish. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

All I ever wanted was for her to love me and to do something meaningful with my life.

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Page Number and Citation: 9

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Driving was a kind of thinking, the only kind he could then tolerate. But still the thought lurked out there, just beyond the reach of his headlights: he’d been dumped. By a girl named Katherine. For the nineteenth time.

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Page Number and Citation: 15

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Shit, Colin made a funny. This place is like magic for you. Shame about how we’re gonna die here, though. I mean, seriously. An Arab and a half-Jew enter a store in Tennessee. It’s the beginning of a joke, and the punchline is “sodomy.”

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Page Number and Citation: 30

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He thought of Chicago, where you can go days without ever once stepping on a single patch of actual earth. That well-paved world appealed to him, and he missed it as his feet fell on uneven clumps of hardened dirt that threatened to twist his ankles.

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Page Number and Citation: 32

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What is the point of being alive if you don’t at least try to do something important?

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Page Number and Citation: 33

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He could just never see anything coming, and as he lay on the solid, uneven ground with Hassan pressing too hard on his forehead, Colin Singleton’s distance from his glasses made him realize the problem: myopia. He was nearsighted. The future lay before him, inevitable but invisible.

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Page Number and Citation: 35

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[Y]ou can see into the future if you have a basic understanding of how people are likely to act.

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Page Number and Citation: 43

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Like it or not, Colin thought, road trips have destinations.

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Page Number and Citation: 64

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No longer a prodigy, not yet a genius – but still a smartypants.

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Page Number and Citation: 65

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The missing piece in his stomach hurt so much – and eventually he stopped thinking about the Theorem and wondered only how something that isn’t there can hurt you.

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Page Number and Citation: 101

Explanation and Analysis:

As the staggered lines rushed past him, he thought about the space between what we remember and what happened, the space between what we predict and what will happen. And in that space, Colin thought, there was room enough to reinvent himself – room enough to make himself into something other than a prodigy, to remake his story better and different – room enough to be reborn again and again….There was room enough to be anyone – anyone except whom he’d already been, for if Colin had learned one thing from Gutshot, it’s that you can’t stop the future from coming. And for the first time in his life, he smiled thinking about the always-coming infinite future stretching out before him.

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Page Number and Citation: 214-15

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Colin’s skin was alive with the feeling of connection to everyone in that car and everyone not in it. And he was feeling not-unique in the very best possible way.

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Page Number and Citation: 215

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Hassan Harbish Character Timeline in An Abundance of Katherines

The timeline below shows where the character Hassan Harbish appears in An Abundance of Katherines. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

A little after 10:00 p.m., Colin’s brooding is interrupted when his friend Hassan Harbish enters Colin’s room without knocking. Hassan calls Colin a “sitzpinkler,” which the narrator explains... (full context)

Hassan returns and kicks Colin, who is still lying on the floor. Hassan says he had... (full context)

...and to do something meaningful with my life. And look. I mean, look,” he says. Hassan says he doesn’t like how Colin looks or smells. Colin goes on a rant about... (full context)

Colin sighs. The narrator states that although Hassan is “not that religious,” he often tries to convert Colin as a joke. Colin responds... (full context)

After climbing off Colin, Hassan turns serious and asks his friend what the problem is. Colin says the problem is... (full context)

Hassan wants to know if the problem is the genius thing or the Katherine XIX thing.... (full context)

Hassan tells Colin that the genius thing is “nothing” but a desire to be famous. When... (full context)

Colin and Hassan are sitting in the Singletons’ living room, telling Colin’s parents that they are going to... (full context)

Colin and Hassan now have to convince Hassan’s parents to let him go on the road trip. Hassan... (full context)

Late at night, Hassan is sleeping in the passenger seat while Colin drives on the highway. Driving is just... (full context)

Colin pulls into a rest stop in Kentucky around 3:00 a.m. to sleep. Hassan wakes him the morning, telling Colin to move the seat he has leaned back so... (full context)

...bathroom and anagrams a phrase he sees scratched into the door. Rather than share with Hassan when he returns to the car, Colin keeps to himself the subsequent series of barely-connected... (full context)

...thoughts lead him to the term “pupillary sphincter,” which reminds him of how he met Hassan. Hassan came to Colin’s school in tenth grade, after ten years of home school that... (full context)

Back in the present, Hassan says that he doesn’t think much of Kentucky. Forlorn, Colin says it reminds him of... (full context)

Further down the road, Hassan wants to exit to see the World’s Largest Wooden Crucifix. Colin says they shouldn’t because... (full context)

Hassan wants to know if Colin already knew the World’s Largest Wooden Crucifix was in Kentucky.... (full context)

...and that she’ll tell “anyone” to call his cell. After he hangs up, he and Hassan eat at Hardees and get directions to the Archduke’s grave from the woman behind the... (full context)

Hassan expresses concern about going to Gutshot, which the woman at Hardees described as “the sticks.”... (full context)

...FRANZ FERDINAND / ICE-COLD BEER / SODA / BAIT.” Colin jokes about the sign, and Hassan says it’s a shame they are going to die here. (full context)

Colin and Hassan go into the building and hide behind racks of potato chips, neither of them wanting... (full context)

Colin misses the well-paved landscape of Chicago while he, Lindsey, and Hassan walk across an uneven field. Colin finds reasons to be annoyed with both of them... (full context)

...which leads him to trip, fall, and hit his head on a rock. Lindsey asks Hassan for his shirt to bandage Colin’s head wound. When he refuses, Lindsey uses her own... (full context)

Hassan reveals that he did not want to take off his shirt in front of Lindsey... (full context)

...test him for a concussion by asking him simple questions like the day and time. Hassan asks much more difficult questions, such as the name of the junior senator from New... (full context)

Hassan grabs Colin’s notebook, and Colin explains that he is trying to write a Theorem to... (full context)

Lindsey, Colin, and Hassan have continued walking through the field, which turns abruptly into a graveyard. A six-foot obelisk... (full context)

Hassan asks how this rural town in Tennessee got the Archduke. Lindsey says the town bought... (full context)

...trudging over the slope. When the newcomers introduce themselves, Colin speaks bad fake French while Hassan pretends to translate for him. A muscular boy Lindsey stares at turns out to be... (full context)

When Colin says the word “hemorrhoid” in French, Hassan cannot resist telling Katrina that he said her face was beautiful like a hemorrhoid. Lindsey... (full context)

Colin hopes to work on the Theorem in the car. Hassan says he needs some Gatorade before he can get back on the road with Colin.... (full context)

...one watched it. Hollis is star struck and insists on cooking dinner for Colin and Hassan. (full context)

...pink truck up a hill to a huge, pink house. Inside, Hollis tells Colin and Hassan to make themselves at home while she and Lindsey fix dinner. Colin notices a photo... (full context)

...everyone is seated for dinner. He notices that the Wells family already seems to love Hassan. Hassan, Colin reflects, is amazingly gifted with the ability to make people like him. At... (full context)

...did not seem very excited. Colin says he felt bad for the kid who lost. Hassan chimes in that he was excited enough for the both of them. Colin grows quiet... (full context)

...dollars a week in addition to providing free room and board. Colin silently consults with Hassan and then answers “okay” for them both. After all, he thinks, road trips have destinations,... (full context)

Colin consults Hassan in Arabic about his worry that the job will take up his time for working... (full context)

...think I’m an absolute asshole” because she has been lying awake worrying that he and Hassan think poorly of her for it. (full context)

...“not having friends sucks.” He wonders aloud if his desire to be famous is, as Hassan has insinuated, really a desire to be popular. He begins to tell her about a... (full context)

Around 7:00 a.m., Colin goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Hassan is there taking a shower, and they discuss how the Wells family is strange. Hassan... (full context)

Colin begins anagramming “dingleberries,” and Hassan says maybe that’s why Katherine XIX dumped him. Colin responds, “Dingleberries.” Hassan changes the subject... (full context)

Hassan and Lindsey watch The Today Show and Colin reads from a Lord Byron anthology he... (full context)

...“for future generations.” There have been issues with gossip about the interviews, so Colin and Hassan, who are outsiders, and Lindsey, who everyone trusts, will be conducting the interviews from now... (full context)

Lindsey, frustrated with Hollis’s tone with regard to her boyfriend, asks Hassan in the Hearse to drop her off at the store so she can see TOC.... (full context)

Back in Starnes’s un-air-conditioned living room, Colin, Hassan, and Lindsey interview him. He says he was born in “the country” (south-central Tennessee) and... (full context)

In the Hearse, Lindsey insists that Hassan and Colin drop her off at the store to see The Other Colin and then... (full context)

After dropping off Lindsey, Colin and Hassan spend some time eating unappetizing burgers and fries at Hardee’s. Colin reads more Byron until... (full context)

Lindsey gives Colin and Hassan TOC’s keys so that they can wait for her in his air-conditioned truck. On the... (full context)

When Hassan returns, he complains about Lindsey’s bubbly demeanor around TOC. Colin asks if Hassan has a... (full context)

Off the phone, Colin walks past Hassan’s room and hears Lindsey and Hassan talking about him. Lindsey wants to know, “How does... (full context)

Colin walks into the room, and Hassan and Lindsey change the subject. Colin works on the Theorem while they talk. At midnight,... (full context)

In the morning, Colin goes downstairs to find Hollis passed out on the couch and Hassan eating breakfast. Hassan shows Colin a note from Hollis directing them to speed up their... (full context)

Hassan teases Colin about his bedhead and Colin’s insistence that it makes him look like Nikola... (full context)

Colin, Hassan, and Lindsey get out the door and go to interview a bearded man named Hezekiah... (full context)

Toward the end of the day, a woman walks into the room where Colin and Hassan are conducting the interviews and says she is the last employee who hasn’t been interviewed.... (full context)

After the interviews, Colin and Hassan drive around until Colin decides, against Hassan’s protests, to trudge out into a field to... (full context)

Eventually, Hassan, who has left to pick up Lindsey, pulls up with Lindsey in Satan’s Hearse. Both... (full context)

The fifth night in Gutshot, Colin refuses Hassan, Lindsey, and even Hollis‘s attempts to get him to go out driving around with Hassan... (full context)

...French. Colin thought about how even if Marie ended up really liking him, he and Hassan would probably make fools of themselves among the cool kids at their parties. He called... (full context)

In the morning, Colin wakes to the sound of the rooster and Hassan’s morning prayers. Colin goes to ask Hassan to be quieter, and Hassan says he is... (full context)

When Lindsey comes downstairs, Hassan is watching TV. “Sorry Linds,” he says, “I called in sick.” Colin notes that he... (full context)

Hassan goes out with Lindsey, Katrina, TOC, JATT, and SOCT on Sunday and Monday while Colin... (full context)

Once Hassan goes to bed, Colin continues working on the Theorem through his tears. He thinks of... (full context)

The next morning, Colin and Hassan avoid talking to each other during the interviews. Colin thinks about all the reasons he... (full context)

Hassan and Colin make up after Colin congratulates Hassan for kissing a girl. They joke that... (full context)

...they arrive at the store to pick up Lindsey from another illicit date with TOC, Hassan and TOC joke with each other, and TOC invites Colin to come out shooting with... (full context)

Colin, Lindsey, and Hassan go back to Hollis’s house early. She is on the phone when they arrive and... (full context)

...struck by how pretty she is. On the way outside, they see Katrina picking up Hassan. They kiss, and Colin can’t believe he is seeing Hassan kiss a girl “who had... (full context)

...what Lindsey refers to as the “Taco Hell” drive-thru and stare through the window at Hassan and Katrina, Colin asks why they are going out to dinner. Lindsey first says she... (full context)

...Hollis was today. Lindsey says they might need to take a road trip out there. Hassan appears and says he and Katrina, who he emphasizes is a college girl (Colin has... (full context)

Colin sneaks into Hassan’s room once Lindsey goes downstairs. They discuss how Hassan got to second base over the... (full context)

...has a boyfriend, and Colin works on the Theorem. To shake things up a little, Hassan has a girlfriend, and everyone is preparing for a pig hunt. (full context)

...is excited to wake up before the rooster for the first time. He runs into Hassan in the bathroom, and Hassan says that he is confident no pigs will die today. (full context)

Colin and Hassan drive to the meeting place for the hunt in the Hearse with Lindsey. Lindsey directs... (full context)

Inside the lodge, SOCT hands Colin and Hassan camouflage outfits and bright orange vests. They change in the outhouse. Mr. Lyford then gives... (full context)

On the hunt, Colin and Hassan are to stick with Mr. Lyford while the others go off separately. He tells them... (full context)

Hassan has Colin pull out the mini recorder from the interviews and records a “captain’s log,”... (full context)

When Hassan wakes, Colin tells him about Katherine III, and how she dumped him at the end... (full context)

Colin feels betrayed by his memory. He tells Hassan that he has only ever been two things: a child prodigy and dumped by Katherines.... (full context)

Just then, Hassan spots a pig, and the pig spots Colin and Hassan. It is huge and terrifying.... (full context)

When the buzzing stops, Hassan collapses. Colin panics at first, thinking his friend is allergic to bees and going into... (full context)

Colin and Hassan begin walking downhill, uncertain of where they are and worried that they might die out... (full context)

...before, finds the sight of Katrina and the guy in the graveyard ridiculous but intriguing. Hassan begins to laugh and yells, “I AM BREAKING UP WITH YOU!” Colin reflects that Hassan... (full context)

Everyone drinks except Hassan, who says he is no longer drinking. Lindsey asks if Colin is quiet because of... (full context)

...a bit, everyone gangs up on TOC. Colin is an inexperienced fighter and accidentally slaps Hassan. TOC kicks Colin in the groin, and Colin vomits on his way to the ground.... (full context)

The next morning is Colin and Hassan’s twenty-second morning in Gutshot, which is “indubitably the worst.” Colin is in pain from walking,... (full context)

...stops in the bathroom on the way out. While waiting for Lindsey on the curb, Hassan says that the fact that the nursing home isn’t funny is getting to him. Colin... (full context)

...an accurate graph for his true relationship with Katherine III. He shows the graph to Hassan and Lindsey. Hassan wants to know if it works to predict the future for anyone,... (full context)

Hassan tells Colin the formula seems to work, but it really only proves what everyone already... (full context)

...but he is alert as soon as Lindsey jumps on his bed. Downstairs, Colin helps Hassan find the address of the warehouse. Hassan insists on taking credit because he has had... (full context)

...There is no receptionist in the small office of the warehouse, so Colin, Lindsey, and Hassan make their way out back to a dirt field, where there are two guys driving... (full context)

Lindsey demands why, if the company is so broke, Hollis hired Colin and Hassan to do a made-up job. Hollis explains that the job is not made up. “A... (full context)

Lindsey rides with Hollis on the way back to Gutshot, leaving Colin and Hassan alone together in the Hearse. Hassan takes the opportunity to tell Colin that he has... (full context)

Colin and Hassan arrive home after Hollis and Lindsey. Hollis tells them Lindsey went to stay overnight with... (full context)

...is his title. She reminds him that he let the hornets sting him instead of Hassan. He concedes that they are at least nearly tied for most self-centered. (full context)

Colin wakes up in the morning, exhausted, and descends the stairs to find Hassan going over profit and loss margins. He asks Colin if he hooked up with Lindsey... (full context)

...he wakes up to a note from Lindsey telling him she is dumping him for Hassan. “P.S.,” it says, “Just kidding.” He wants to be happy but is still disappointed that... (full context)

The next day, Colin works on the Theorem some more while Hassan and Lindsey play poker. Suddenly, he realizes that while it is possible to write equations... (full context)

Walking out to the Hearse with Lindsey and Hassan, nothing much happens, but Colin knows he will remember it because it is “thick with... (full context)

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Hassan Harbish Character Analysis

Hassan Harbish Quotes in An Abundance of Katherines

Hassan Harbish Character Timeline in An Abundance of Katherines

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