In order to yearn for redemption, a sin must be committed. Baba, the father in The Kite Runner, a novel by Khaled Hosseini, argues that theft is the only sin. “When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. . . . There is no act more wretched than stealing. . .”(18) As a child, Amir is told that and instantly becomes afraid of committing a sin. Amir spends most of his childhood yearning for his father’s approval and would hate to jeopardize it over something like theft. Naturally, Amir sins and immediately resorts to withholding the truth. By doing so, the sin takes the form of a giant. Amir becomes a young boy with a slingshot and a few stones as his only defense. He realizes that earning forgiveness and redemption is a challenge. …show more content…
He continues to withhold the truth, until he is faced with another opportunity to sling the rock. Frustrated with the abnormality of the silence, Amir invites Hassan to join him on the pomegranate tree hill. Once there, Amir converses with him, finally breaking the silence, until the giant comes into view. In determination to finish the giant, Amir picks a pomegranate off the ground and hurls it. “It struck him in the chest and exploded in a spray of red pulp. Hassan’s cry was pregnant with surprise and pain” (92). Amir threw the rock at the wrong person. He believed that he would feel redemption by hurting Hassan, but in reality he should have been throwing the pomegranates at himself. Amir resorts to yelling at Hassan. “ ‘You’re a coward!’ ” (92) Deep down, Amir knows that he, himself, is the true coward, but escaping the hole of silence he has dug himself into seems nearly impossible. Amir did not have time to prepare himself for the events that would come with the slingshot. Although he believes that the incident is entirely his fault, he forgets that society has simply molded him into young Pashtun boy who has been programmed to despise Hazaras like Hassan. When Assef speaks about Hassan while confronting Amir, he acts as if Hazaras are less than dirt. “ ‘How can you talk to him, play with him, let him touch you? . . . How can you call him your ‘friend’?’ ” (41) That is the mentality of most Afghans in society, so …show more content…
After the talk about sin, Baba becomes his giant, and Amir struggles with slinging the stone at him for fear of disappoint. He remains silent in hope that Baba will not discover the sin he has committed because silence was what won Baba’s approval in the first place. “A smile played on my father’s lips. He opened his arms. I put the kite down. . . buried my face in the warmth of his chest and . . . I forgot what I’d done. And that was good” (79). That was the first moment in his life that Amir ever felt his father’s acceptance, so he wanted to cherish and prolong that for as long as he could. The giant finally stood on the same side as him, but Amir still felt as if something were wrong. He wondered why he did not feel good about that moment. Since Amir is too cowardly,he ignores the feeling. For the remainder of Baba’s life, Amir withholds the truth about that day from Baba, not because he forgot about it, but because he finally has his father all to himself. Baba becomes proud of Amir’s accomplishments in America, and Amir decides to cherish that. Before he dies, Baba says, “ ‘There is no pain tonight’ ” (173). If Amir had told him the truth about the incident, Baba may not have been able to die peacefully. Although Amir withheld Baba’s right to the truth, he saved him some
Amir believes that Baba wants his son to be just like him, but when Amir doesn’t turn out exactly the way Baba wants, he rejects and neglects him. Amir notices this, and looks at Hassan, who embodies what Baba wants in a son. As a result, Amir takes his anger built in from his father disregarding him out and exerts it at Hassan. After every instance that Amir’s father shows Hassan any type of affection or attention, Amir becomes angry. He takes a pomegranate and “struck [Hassan] in the chest, exploded in a spray of red pulp. Hassan’s cry was pregnant with surprise and pain” (92). Amir repeatedly hits Hassan and asks him to hit in back so he doesn’t feel guilty for his actions. To Amir, in order for his cruelty for hurting Hassan to be forgiven, Hassan must hurt him
He now works in a gas station and tries to help get by. Still, Baba does larger than life things for example he refused food stamps and treatment for his cancer. On page 156 it says “ That's a clear answers, Dr Amani. Thank you for that, Baba said. But no chemo medication for me.” He did that because he later on in the chapter told Amir that he does not want anyones sympathy and does want anyone to know. Also another thing Baba still has is is graciousness, in later chapters we see that Baba spent his life savings on Amir
Amir watches Hassan get raped which leads him trying to find some sort of way to get rid of his guilt. All of this is caused by him knowing what he did was wrong. It shows Amir admits his guilt after it happens and he tries to relieve himself of it: “In his arm I forgot what I'd done. And that was good.” It shows him trying to get relief through hassan hurting him with a pomegranate. It shows Hassan knows this when he says “Are you satisfied? Do you feel better?” Amir keeps looking for ways throughout the entire book to relieve his guilt.
"But I knew he couldn't it wasn't in his nature" (, Hosseini, 122). In this quotation, Amir is describing how Baba has stood up to up for an Afghan women from being sexually abused by a Russian soldier. Even at gunpoint Baba did, not care about the dangerous situation he put himself into. Baba has always been a very courageous man, so Amir understood that Baba could not go against his values he has been preaching his entire life. He has also demonstrated courage when he got informed he had terminal cancer. He remained very calm and humble with hearing the news considering his disprove treatment for his cancer. This is an act of courage on Baba's part because it shows the ability is faced death right in the flesh, whereas most people would take the news very harshly. He has also demonstrated signs of true bravery throughout the novel, "I didn't bring us here for me did I?" (137). Baba has sacrificed his life in America and the culture and power he had in his hometown of Kabul, in order for Amir to attain a good education and life. This is a brave act of Baba because he risked his life trying to bring Amir a better life, he was stripped of a man of respect to an ordinary Arab immigrant. He has shown many courageous and brave acts in the course of his life through the way he was always generous and helpful towards his community and others. Baba is a very
The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, shows how lying and deceit is a counterproductive route when trying to live with a dreadful past, exhibited through the actions of Amir. Amir’s decision to withhold the truth and blatantly lie in several situations due to jealousy and his desire for Baba to be proud of him amounts to further pain and misery for himself and those he deceives. Because of Amir’s deceit towards Baba and Hassan, his guilt from his past manifests itself into deeply-rooted torment, not allowing him to live his life in peace. The guilt from Amir’s past is only alleviated when he redeems his sins by taking in Sohrab, contributing to the theme that the only way “to be good again” is through redemption, not shunning the past.
In addition, the relationship between Amir and Baba softens. Baba admits to Amir after he
Baba ran from the truth, and so did Amir to protect the family name, even if that meant betraying the people closest to him. Baba was a man more worried about his image than anything, and that is what he taught his son as well. Slowly that is all Amir knew how to do: protect his family and himself, leading him into a life of guilt, and running from people when situations were challenging, instead of making the admirable decision and helping a friend. He shows his unconditional love when he suddenly packs up and leaves all he has ever known, “‘[Ali and Hassan] can’t live [there] anymore.life here is impossible for [them] now”’
Hassan defends Amir from being beaten by Assef, who has a reputation in Kabul of being a psychopath. When Assef threatens them, Hassan does not hesitate to respond saying, “You are right, Agha. But perhaps you didn’t notice that I’m the one holding the slingshot. If you make a move, they’ll have to change your nickname from ‘the Ear Eater’ to ‘One-Eyed Assef,’ because I have this rock pointed at your left eye” (45-46). Later on, Amir stands up for Sohrab, Hassan’s son, as Hassan stood up for Amir countless times before.
Baba is displayed as an immoral man while at home because he is not loving to his son and he cheated with his friends’ wife and had a child. Even some of Baba’s good qualities such as his care for Hassan and Ali, his father, seem to have a selfish motive behind them because he wants to keep his son close to him. While Baba is never the fatherly figure in the first part of the book, once they leave their home, Baba seems to care a lot more about Amir. This may happen because he does not always have Hassan around to remind him of the terrible mistakes that he made in the past. However, even when Hassan is leaving, Baba still cares about him. Even though Hassan may be a symbol of past mistakes, he is still Baba’s son in the end and family always has a strong bond. Therefore, Baba’s character shows his moral side because instead of hating his illegitimate son, he cares for him as much as he can given the cultural standards of the two opposing religions. By healing his cleft lip and remembering Hassan’s birthday every year, Baba is able to show his caring side that is seldom seen with his relationship with
This means that his mother died and he lived. Baba shows little affection to Amir as a result of him killing his mother at birth. Amir attempts to attain redemption for taking away his fathers widow. He has to redeem himself to Baba everyday by praising him because he gets a small amount of love and care. “Because the truth of it was, I always felt like Baba hated me a little. And why not after all I had killed his beloved wife. The least I could have done was to have had the decency to have turned out a little more like him”-Amir P19. The quote explains how Amir feels the hatred that Baba might feel because he took his wife which is more important than him. He has to redeem himself by proving that his birth was not a waste of effort. Amir always wants to be with Baba because he desperately needs the affection that only a father can give. Because of his mother’s death he always has to prove his worthiness to baba. “I think I have saratan I said.Cancer.Baba lifted his head from the pages flapping in the breeze. Told me that I could get the soda myself, all I had to do was look in the trunk of the car.”-Amir-P14.This quote is an example of how much he feels he needs to redeem himself for killing his mother because he has to make up he has a life threating disease just to get his fathers affection and still does not receive the care and love that a father should give. Amir also attempts to
And what does Hassan do? He picks up a pomegranate, but instead of hurling it in Amir’s direction, he smashes it on himself and says, “are you satisfied?” (..). There is this constant pressure on Hassan and Amir’s relationship. The Afghan society would not approve of such “friendship.”
Amir is, to be put bluntly, a coward. He is led by his unstable emotions towards what he thinks will plug his emotional holes and steps over his friends and family in the process. When he sought after Baba’s invisible love, Amir allowed Hassan to be raped in an alleyway just so that the blue kite, his trophy that would win his father’s heart, could be left untouched. In the end, he felt empty and unfulfilled with the weight of his conscience on his shoulders comparable to Atlas’ burden. Unable to get over his fruitless betrayal, he lashes out and throws pomegranates at Hassan before stuffing money and a watch under his loyal friend’s pathetic excuse for a bed, framing Hassan for theft and directly causing the departure of both servants from his household. Even after moving to America, finding a loving wife, and creating a career for himself in writing, he still feels hollow when thinking of his childhood in Afghanistan. Many years later, he is alerted of Hassan’s death and sets out on a frenzied chase to find his friend’s orphaned son. He feels that he can somehow ease his regrets from all of those years ago if he takes in Hassan’s son, Sohrab. He finds Sohrab as a child sex slave for Assef, who coincidentally was the one to rape Hassan all of those years ago. After nearly dying in his attempt to take back Sohrab, he learns that he can take the damaged child back to the states with him. Sadly, Hassan’s son is so
“It's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out” (Hosseini). In The Kite Runner, Hosseini shares Amir’s journey to atonement. As Amir states, he was unable to bury his past, similar to his father, Baba, who spent the majority of his life haunted by his sins. While both father and son are consumed by guilt, the way in which they atone for their iniquities is dissimilar. While Baba attempts to live his life according to the Afghan saying, “ Life goes on, unmindful of beginning, end...crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty caravan of kochis [nomads]” (Hosseini 356), Amir strays from this traditional perspective. Baba chose to continue his life unmindful of his past, while Amir, eventually decides to confront his. Although both Baba and Amir have acted immorally, the choices they make find redemption affect the success of their individual attempts. In the novel, Amir’s quest for atonement is more effective than Baba’s because he acts virtuously, while his father, acts selfishly. Ultimately, Amir is the more successful of the two because, in opposition to Baba, he seeks holistic atonement and is willing to make sacrifices to achieve redemption.
Over the course of the novel, Baba implies that he is not proud of Amir and the only reason he knows Amir is his son, is because he witnessed Amir 's birth. He states to Rahim Khan that he thinks Amir needs to stand up for himself more often. Countless times during the novel, Amir feels like he has to fight for his affection, that he has to earn Baba’s love. In order to prove himself worthy of affection and to redeem himself for not being a son Baba could be proud of, Amir yearns to win the kite runner competition. He reminisces on a memory, when all “I saw was the blue kite. All I smelled was victory. Salvation. Redemption” (65). In the aftermath of Hassan’s rape, Amir got rid of Hassan so he would not have to face the cause of his guilt on a daily basis. Amir buries the secret of the rape deep within him, where he hopes that it will not come back to haunt him, which is not the case. “We had both sinned and betrayed. But Baba had found a way to create good out of his remorse. What had I done, other than take my guilt out on the very same people I had betrayed, and then try to forget it all? What had I done, other than become an insomniac? What had I ever done to right things?” (303). As mentioned earlier, Amir is not one who stands up for himself. In order for Amir to redeem himself for betraying Hassan, and not standing up for him earlier,
The story The Kite Runner is centered around learning “to be good again.” Both the movie and the book share the idea that the sins of the past must be paid for or atoned for in the present. In the book, Amir can be seen as a troubled young boy who is struggling with a tremendous amount of guilt. It is easy to blame Amir’s actions on his guilt and his father’s lack of love for him.