The foundation of trust is paramount in family and the quality of relationships. A person puts the most trust in family and friends. People feel betrayed at least once in their lives. Betrayal is the act of disloyalty, unfaithfulness, or the disappointment in the hopes or expectations of an individual. In Khaled Hosseni`s novel, "And the Mountains Echoed" many of the protagonists` express feelings of betrayal. When Abdullah`s father Saboor, sells Pari, both siblings feel betrayed.

Parwana feels she deceived her sister Masooma by being responsible for her paraplegic condition, and Adel is deluded by his father when he realizes a certain truth. All of these characters` are impacted by the act of betrayal, causing them to become different people emotionally, and mentally. These characters` all share one thing in common; they were betrayed by their loved ones whom a person would trust the most. Putting abundant amounts of trust in your family and then being deceived is the worst type of betrayal.

Pari and Abdullah were both impacted significantly by the actions taken by their father Saboor and uncle Nabi earlier in their lives. At the beginning of the novel, Saboor told a story to his two children. The story was about a monster called a Div, who chose a child every year to take away from their family. The Div chose a house, and the family living in it was to give one of their children to the Div, or else all their children would be taken. The father is given a magic potion for the pain of giving up his son which causes him to forget his child. In the story the father mentioned, "A finger had to be cut, to save the hand." (5)