Who is Mirwais in the collection, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories?

Mirwais is the main character and second person narrator of the story “Playing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.” At the story’s start, Mirwais is desperate to buy the new Metal Gear video game. He does everything possible to save his money to purchase the game, all the while hiding his plans from his father, who often makes him feel guilty for spending his time this way. On the day he finally brings the game home, Mirwais feels deflated when his father stops him in the yard and tells him they must talk after Mirwais finishes studying. Though he is convinced his father has something serious to say, Mirwais locks himself in his room, turns up his music, and turns on the new game.

Although Mirwais has been anticipating the release of The Phantom Pain for some time, not long after he starts playing, he finds himself overcome by fear. While exploring the video game world, he has encountered avatars that look like his father’s late brother as well as his father. Mirwais has already noticed parallels between the world of the game and the world of his father’s past life in Afghanistan. However, encountering actual figures from his life in the game unnerves him.

Despite his fears, Mirwais continues to play the game. Over the course of his time in the video game world, his reality and his father’s past become increasingly indistinguishable from the simulated reality through which he is moving. Each time one of his family members knocks on his door, Mirwais ignores them. He is too busy trying to save his father’s and uncle’s lives in the game to respond. Although he almost escapes his pursuers, Mirwais ultimately dies in the game. When the screen goes black, he studies his reflection in the television. The game has therefore forced Mirwais to confront and reconcile with the ways in which his father’s history continues to influence his identity in the present.