Afghanistan’s Redemption
Honor, religion, and poetry are the most important parts of Afghanistan’s culture. Stereotypes are used to cover up all of the culture and goodness that once was and still can be seen all over the nation. Headlines all over the world focus on all the things that have created the war-torn country that it is today. Khaled Hosseini illustrates the goodness and cultures of Afghanistan before the Soviet take over. He also shows all that has happened to the country and the hope that remains. Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, uses the character Amir, conflicts between characters, and the theme of redemption in order to show Afghanistan’s downfall and the ability to rebuild.
Amir's life and Afghanistan change drastically throughout the novel.
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Redemption occurs over many years of struggling and determination. It takes an entire year for Sohrab to speak to anyone once he moves to America with Amir. Soraya and Amir both try relentlessly to get him to open up to them but minimal progress is made. They try to give Sohrab the best life he can possibly have. Amir finally succeeds when they fly a kite together. A little smile appears on Sohrab’s face and Amir exclaims, “’For you, a thousand times over’” (Hosseini 371). This quote shows how much the small gesture means to Amir. He understands now the loyalty Hassan felt towards him because that is the same way he feels towards Sohrab. In that moment, he finally feels like he has redeemed himself. In his article, The Servant, Edward Hower explains that “[I]n the end, we're won over by Amir's compassion and his determination to atone for his youthful cowardice" (2). The development of Amir shows how he becomes someone who can make up for all the wrong he has done in the past. Sohrab brings out the compassion and determination that Amir was missing. Afghanistan misses that one piece of itself that will allow it to contain the same qualities as Amir finds with
Throughout the thought provoking and eye opening narrative, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini provides a vivid and in depth story told through the eyes of a privileged young narrator who is forced to come of age in the capital of Afghanistan. As a story told from a different cultural perspective,culture and morals in this society are different from foreign beliefs. A reader will not fully comprehend The Kite Runner without discerning the differences between social classes and understanding the importance of honor in the Afghanistan culture.
Many people have done things that they can’t seek redemption for or can’t forgive themselves for, such as not being there for a friend when they need you most. Including Amir, from The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Amir is best friends with Hassan, a Hazara boy. They grow up together, and Amir later finds out that they are half brothers. Hassan helps Amir, but he allows a boy, Assef, and his group of friends to rape Hassan, which he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to forgive himself for. Amir is redeemed because he receives letters from Hassan, he adopts Sohrab, and fights Assef.
“His people have been struggling to triumph over the forces of violence-forces that continue to threaten them even today” (Hower). Khaled Hosseini’s novels have brought many of his readers a different perspective of Afghanistan. Many people after reading Hosseini’s books start to notice this place more and have sympathy feelings rather negative views about it. Usually people believe the media’s information that conveys about Afghanistan as a poverty place but does not specify why they live in this conditions and how those states affect their everyday life. In the two novels The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, the author Khaled Hosseini wrote the political events that happen in Afghanistan and show how those events affected Afghans’ lives in order to show his personal values of political events and humanitarianism. Khaled Hosseini uses his and other Afghan’s personal experience to send out his mission statement to his readers. Hosseini said that his message was to get his readers be a part of “the mission of [his] foundation to reach out and help people who are exactly like the characters in [his] books” (Wrenn). Across the globe, people started to give a helping hand when they start to read Hosseini’s novels.
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, follows the maturation of Amir, a boy from Afghanistan, as he discovers what it means to stand up for what he believes in. His quest to redeem himself after betraying his friend and brother, Hassan, makes up the heart of the novel. When Amir hears that his father’s old business partner, Rahim Khan, is sick and dying, he travels to Pakistan to say his goodbyes. Rahim Khan tells Amir about Hassan’s life and eventual death; the Taliban murdered Hassan while he was living in Amir’s childhood home. As his dying wish, Rahim Khan asks Amir to rescue Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from an orphanage in Afghanistan. Although Amir refuses at first, he thinks about what Rahim Khan had always told him: “There is a way to be good again…” (226), which gives him the incentive he needs to return to Afghanistan and find Sohrab. Hosseini draws parallels between Amir’s relationship with Hassan and Amir’s relationship with Sohrab in order to demonstrate the potential of redemption.
It is difficult to face anything in the world when you cannot even face your own reality. In his book The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses kites to bring out the major themes of the novel in order to create a truly captivating story of a young boy’s quest to redeem his past mistakes. Amir is the narrator and protagonist of the story and throughout the entire novel, he faces enormous guilt following the horrible incident that happened to his closest friend, Hassan. This incident grows on Amir and fuels his quest for redemption, struggling to do whatever it takes to make up for his mistakes. In Hosseini’s novel, kites highlight aspects of Afghanistan’s ethnic caste system and emphasizes the story’s major themes of guilt, redemption and freedom.
Guilt is a strong emotion that affects many people around the world. It can either lead people into a deep and dark abyss that can slowly deteriorate people or it can inspire them to achieve redemption. Guilt and redemption are two interrelated subjects that can show the development of the character throughout a novel. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, are two literary works that convey the connections between guilt and redemption and show the development of the character by using theme and symbolism that are present in the novels.
To atone for his past sins, he embarks on a journey back to Afghanistan to redeem himself to Hassan for not treating him the way he was treated. He redeems himself by saving Sohrab and giving him a safer and enjoyable life in the Untied States. Amir tyres to attain redemption to baba for being the cause of his mother’s death as he believes. Gaining his fathers love and care will make him feel redeemed from all of the resentment and lack of care that his father shows to him. He must prove to Baba that he is worthy of spending time with everyday because he feels the hatred that his father shows to him. One way how he gets redemption from his father is by winning the kite running tournament to prove to him that he is worthy of being his son. Amir’s path of redemption is not only directed to other people but personal redemption for himself. He attempts to redeem himself by building an orphanage with his wife Soraya and giving Sohrab the childhood that is safer and more suitable for a young boy to grow up in. Amir has to realize that the past doesn’t define who someone is although you can’t forget the past, the actions that they decide to do to redeem themselves from the past mistakes defines who someone is. If Amir’s mother did not die at birth would he be resented from his father greatly and have to make great
Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, grew up in prejudiced Afghanistan during the 1960’s as a middle-class Pashtun living with Hazaras working for his family. His move to America after the Communist Coup proved difficult for his family, especially his father. In his novel, Hosseini writes through a young boy, Amir, very similar to himself, who grows up with his father and two Hazara servants in Afghanistan at the time of the Taliban attacks. Both Amir and his father, Baba, treat their servants, Hassan and Ali, like family. Society, however, does not approve of such relationships between Pashtuns and Hazaras. As Amir hides and watches horrified, another Pashtun boy rapes Hassan. This leads to the continuation of Amir’s internal conflict about the treatment of Hazaras by the public, and also makes him feel guilty and self-conscious throughout his entire life. In addition, Amir strives for affection and attention from his rather indifferent father. Amir’s outward conformity to societal values in his relationships with both Hassan and Baba, as a result of his inner struggle and guilt, contribute greatly to the significance of The Kite Runner.
“For you, a thousand times over.” In The Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini, there is a recurring theme of redemption that is portrayed by various literary devices. Kahled excellently juxtaposes devices such as irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing to show redemption within his first novel.
After many years of war with the Soviet’s, the people of Afghanistan looked towards a group to take control and return the peace. However, in a situation similar to the rise of Hitler in Germany, a group called the Taliban took control of the land. The Taliban rapidly rose to power in Afghanistan, imposing laws on citizens with punishments many deemed gruesome and harsh, many of these laws can be seen in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner. These laws and their dehumanizing qualities bring a lot of attention to this country and the events that occurred, and bring a shock to those who learn about them.
“Forgive and forget” is a common phrase in our society. However, one may argue that mistakes are never truly forgotten. The Kite Runner suggests that the best way to resolve your past and make up for your mistakes is through doing good. Through Rahim Khan’s wisdom, the actions of Baba, and the journey of Amir, Khaled Hosseini illustrates that the need for redemption, due to unresolved guilt, can haunt someone throughout their life.
...a kite for Amir to put a smile on his face, and now that Hassan passed away, Amir is left with Sohrab who he repeats the same action with. In a way Amir did not truly find redemption as he was only trying to free himself from the consequences of sin rather than change for the better. In conclusion, redemption is so important because it frees a person from the sin and suffering they have endured.
In the literature, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the idea and representation of justice, and its relationship to that of the treatment of women in Afghan society, the ever-changing politics of Afghanistan, and the desired results of redemption and forgiveness, become illustrated through the novel’s characters and motives. Justice can be defined as the quality of being guided by truth, reason, and fairness. The Kite Runner illustrates the power of influence from an outside power and its effects on society, and the minds and lifestyles of the people. In relationship to the Cheverus High School Grad-at-Grad profile the actions and wrongdoings that take place in the The Kite Runner and in Afghanistan prove to be injustice.
Khaled Hosseini in his novel Kite Runner creates a portrait of the beauties and horrors of his hometown Kabul, Afghanistan. The novel is based on real-life events. Hosseini depicts the racial, religion and class issues in Kabul. The setting and social milieu drastically changed from the early 1970’s when the country was western and had not undergone warfare to the late 1970’s when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and violence and instability began. The Soviet Union’s invasion created violence and increased the inequalities between social class and religion. Hosseini shows how the novel’s setting and social milieu in Kabul directly influence and shape the relationship between two young boys Amir, an upper class Pashtun, and Hassan, his servant’s
Since I first picked up Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, as an assigned text for my senior AP English literature class, I was fascinated with the small Middle Eastern country of Afghanistan. Of course I had heard about Afghanistan before. Every child my age was taught about Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks. Thus Afghanistan was portrayed in a negative light, with a focus on the Taliban and al Qaeda, so I, along with my classmates, grew up to view this country rather negatively. My view changed when I finished The Kite Runner. I realized that this was an incredibly old country, rich in its unique culture, and should not be solely defined by its recent interactions with the United States. However, another issue was brought to my attention at this time, as highlighted in this novel and Hosseini’s follow up, A Thousand Splendid Suns. This issue was gender and human rights.