Conflict Leads To Growth In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

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Conflict Leads to Growth "How people deal with conflict shows you the kind of people they are". When a person faces conflict, there are many ways as to how they can deal with it. The way in which they deal with that conflict can define who they are. In the novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the author demonstrates that the process through which we we deal with internal conflict can precipitate growth. Amir’s struggle with the morality of his decisions allows him to grow as a character. Amir had always feared Assef and was not able to bring himself to stand up to him. Baba always criticized this inability claiming that “‘a boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything’” (Hosseini, 24). In the alley, …show more content…

When Baba is faced with the issue of trying to resolve his conflict, he ultimately chooses the wrong way. Rather than telling everyone what he had done, he decided to hold it in and take his secret to the grave. In order to attempt to redeem himself, Baba sets up orphanages and gives Hassan and Amir equal treatment. Although Baba does try to fix his problem, it is not in such a way that he is able to grow. Before Baba and Amir moved to America, Baba had always been a man of great pride. When Baba and Amir are in America, Baba claims that honor and pride are "the tenets of Pashtun men'" (153). Although Baba had thought of his actions as being an indignity, he still remained remained a man of great pride because he did not deal with this conflict. This overwhelming pride prevented Baba from directly addressing his issue. The author is able to show his unchanging character with the metaphor of the bears that Baba had wrestled. The Baba “had wrestled bears his whole life” but his biggest bear was the secret he kept with him (183). The metaphor of the bears show that he had always struggled with obstacles but he never directly addresses them. When Baba was diagnosed with cancer, he refused to get treatment and even directly address his problem. Because Baba did not resolve his conflicts in an outward way, he is not able to grow and as a result takes his secret to the

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