Jack and Alex walked out of the theater, pondering their thoughts on the film they’d just seen, The Kite runner, a film about a boy not standing up for his best friend, trying to forget his guilt and eventually embarking on a dangerous journey to try to redeem himself.
“Wow, that movie was such an eye opener! I had no idea what Afghan culture was about, let alone the hardships people faced,” said Alex. “But it was really about guilt and atonement I guess. What did you like best Jack?”
“The relationship between Amir and Hassan was pretty interesting. Amir and Hassan are as close as a servant and master can be, yet Amir acts like, a Hazara like Hassan is beneath him. But Amir relies on Hassan to protect him as he never learns to assert himself as a child, his childhood cowardice and social status is why he sacrifices Amir,” replied Alex. “What do you think of their friendship?”
“Well Hasan and Amir were close as brothers, before their relationship decayed after Hassan was raped. Foster uses the pomegranates to symbolize the friendship. Amir carving “Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul" formalizes their friendship. Then after Hassan’s rape, Amir throws pomegranates at Hassan hoping Hassan will hit him back and free him from his guilt. Hassan instead crushes one against his own head which symbolizes the loyalty he had for Amir. As Amir is reading Hassan’s letter, crates of pomegranates fall and splatter on the ground and are picked back up. The splattering pomegranates symbolizes a broken friendship and picking them up foreshadows Amir’s pursuit for atonement,” Said Jack.
“I thought Amir’s guilt and need to redeem himself was the driving force behind the entire movie. Amir feels constant guilt for his cowardice while Hassan was rap...
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...explained Jack. “I think the Arabic language and subtitles could bore western audiences.”
“What no way! Thelsubtitles added authenticity to the Arabic culture, which draws people further into the plot. Just like the Arabic music adds authenticity, contrasting sad moments with soft calm music and intense moments with bass heavy, high tempo music.” argued Alex. “What did you think of Hassan’s letter?”
“I thought it showed that Hassan’s good nature and respect for Amir was still present, Hassan writing “I taught Sohrab how to read and write so he doesn’t grow up stupid like his father.” Shows Hassan still thinks of himself as a lesser person than Amir even though it’s clear to Amir and the audience than Hassan is greater person which makes Amir feel more guilty,” Replied Jack.
“Well do you want to see it again?” asked Alex. “There is probably a whole lot we missed!”
Betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness are all major themes in The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini. The novel also focuses around the theme of a broken relationship between father and son as well as facing difficult situations from ones past. Amir and Hassan are best friends with two completely different personalities. Each character in the novel faces their own hardships and eventually learns to overcome those difficulties. Beginning with betrayal then the characters have to make their way to gaining redemption and forgiveness from others, as well as their self, is carried on throughout the novel. It is a continuous story of the relationships between Amir and his father Baba and facing their challenges from the past every day of their present.
Clearly, Amir hears how his father compares the two, and unlike Hassan who manages to meet Baba’s expectations, Amir grows bitter towards Hassan. He is unable to fight off his envy which later causes him to sacrifice his best friend’s innocence: “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (82), and this is all because he realizes “his shame is complicated by his own realization that in part he doesn’t help his friend precisely because he is jealous of him” (Corbett, 2006). From here, Amir develops strong feelings of guilt that induces him to perform even more destructive acts, such as having Hassan and his father evicted from the house. Amir not only loses a close friend, but now he has to continue to live with remorse as he dwells on these memories.
Amir goes through many events that take place in the book that change him, and the way he is perceived within the book. Amir is a young boy, who is tortured by his father’s scrutinizing character. Amir is also jealous of Hassan, because of the fact that his father likes Hassan instead of Amir. Amir fights for his father’s approval, interest, and love. This is when Amir changes for the good as he deals with the guilt of the rape of Hassan. Amir witnessed Hassan getting raped, but decides to nothing in order to win over his father’s interest. The guilt that Amir builds up is carries from his premature times as a child to his mature times. From Afghanistan to
His mistakes disgust us, especially after Hassan has been by his side the entire book. As the reader gets deeper into the book, they start to develop feelings of anger but sometimes sympathy, towards Amir. By the end, we are not as angry as Amir, the reader to begin with. Amir has grown into a better person and has tried to fix his past mistakes.
(2) The Kite Runner follows Amir on his odyssey to redeem himself for his hurtful actions. Through this journey, Khaled Hosseini delivers the message that sin and guilt can always be atoned for. At the beginning of The Kite Runner, young Amir wins a kite fighting tournament. He feels like he has finally redeemed himself for his father.
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
sexually assaulting him in an alleyway. Amir witnessed the act and did nothing to stop it, resulting in unbearable guilt. Amir’s cowardly and careless childhood resulted in a guilty adulthood which is the main motivation behind him going back to his birthplace as an adult in attempt to make things right.
...rough his actions to save Sohrab, Amir became the man his father had always wanted him to be. Although Baba never lived up to the persona he created for himself, Amir did, and that is why his attempts to achieve atonement were more successful than his father’s. While Baba was unable to seek more than personal redemption, Amir found atonement with himself, Hassan, and God. Amir also found the courage his father lacked to make the necessary sacrifices to achieve redemption. Amir’s ability to transform into a strong character was a result of what he learned from his father’s strengths and weaknesses. While Baba was unable to achieve true redemption, he was a true role model that provided his son, Amir, with the necessary skills to achieve atonement for both of them.
The Kite Runner is a story about two afghan boys Amir and Hassan, who were best friends, their friendship eventually went south after Amir witnessed something horrible happen to his friend. They've played together everyday since they were very little, till one day when Hassan and his father decide to leave, leaving Amir distraught and confused.
Kite Runner depicts the story of Amir, a boy living in Afghanistan, and his journey throughout life. He experiences periods of happiness, sorrow, and confusion as he matures. Amir is shocked by atrocities and blessed by beneficial relationships both in his homeland and the United States. Reviewers have chosen sides and waged a war of words against one another over the notoriety of the book. Many critics of Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, argue that the novel would not have reached a lofty level of success if the U.S. had not had recent dealings with the Middle East, yet other critics accurately relate the novel’s success to its internal aspects.
Amir’s conflict decision to be dishonest and betray his best friend hassan teaches the reader the importance of being a loyal and honest with friends through Amir betraying his friend hassan, lying to him and losing the friend that he’s been so close to for years before even telling him sorry and living with guilt and regret in his adult years until finally going back home to save a young orphan he’s never even met. Amir has lived a very lavish lifestyle with his wealthy father, nice house
(17). Amir was taught that lying was a sin and sinning is wrong. When he witnessed Hassan’s rape, he became guilty for not standing up for him and his guilt powered destructive decisions. His values were corrupted when he lied about Hassan stealing his watch so he would leave. Amir felt guilty after the incident and couldn’t see Hassan without the memory of what had happened.
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,
Other than flying kites and watching westerns, Amir would read to Hassan to help pass the time. Amir was not a particularly a good friend to Hassan and would attack him out of jealousy. Amir would tease Hassan’s illiteracy by giving him the wrong definitions of words. Amir was devastated by Hassan for quickly finding a plot hole in his first short story. He was not athletic or brave as Hassan and Amir prided himself for being intelligent. In Amir’s situation, he felt entitled to all of his father’s attention and the majority of it, from his point of view, was going to Hassan and the
A large part of the novel deals with Amir trying to redeem himself. First with his Baba by trying to win the kite fighting tournament because Amir feels as though his father blames him for his mothers death. The the larger act of redemption occurs when trying to rid himself of the guilt of letting Hassan be rape...