Every person is burdened with guilt and regret. Henry David Thoreau’s quote about how guilt should not consume a person, but instead, encourage a person to change, is valid in the novel The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini. The author proves that a change in oneself is possible when he writes about how Amir redeems himself after running away, when he saw that Hassan was being raped. It is also shown when Baba’s guilt of keeping Hassan’s and Amir’s true relationship with each other a secret, makes him into a better person, and when Soraya running away with a man made her into a better woman, daughter and wife. Amir runs away when he sees that Hassan is being raped, “I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan… and accept whatever would happen to …show more content…
This can be seen when Amir admits that he is at fault, “Was it too farfetched to imagine that things might have turned out differently if I hadn’t.” (Hosseini, 239) Amir realized that it was his mistake, which takes strength. Admitting his mistake means that he is learning from his actions, and that he is becoming a new person. Amir went back to Kabul, Afghanistan to look for Sohrab, Hassan’s son. During his time there he met Assef, who held Sohrab in captivity. Assef wanted to trade Sohrab to Amir for one fight, which Amir complied to. “His brass knuckles flashing in the afternoon light; how cold they felt with the first few blows and how quickly they warmed with my blood.” (Hosseini, 302) Amir not only went to a dangerous country, he let Assef beat him up for a person he does not know much of. Amir felt as though he deserved every hit that came his way, it was his way of healing, “I felt healed. Healed at last.” (Hosseini, 303) He became selfless; he cared more about Sohrab’s safety then his own. Amir finally thought of someone other than himself. Amir wanted to adopt Sohrab, and he looked at many different options, putting in
Although Hassan is his best friend, there are many instances where Amir reveals his jealousy, most notable when Baba sees Hassan as the stronger boy, "self-defense has nothing to do with meanness. You know what always happens when the neighbourhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fends them off. I 've seen it with my own eyes…” (Hosseini 24). 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. The only way for Amir to redeem himself of his repercussions is through a challenging process of sacrifice and self-discovery. Although one is unsure at this point whether Amir succeeds at his endeavors, it is clear that this story
In the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini he uses many works of literature that contain a character, Baba, who intentionally deceives other. Baba is seen has the man who can do no wrong, he helps out people, gave people jobs and more. He always use to tell Amir to never sin and that stealing something away from someone is the worst sin you can do. He could do no wrong right? Babs past decisions of dishonesty towards Amir, Hassan, and Ali have already caused great sin. Is the result of the pressure of Afghan society to blame? In Afghan cultures a man’s honor, ethnicity, and family name are paramount. Well, it can be shown in these three areas of Baba life, Baba life in America, Amir going back to visit Rahim Khan, and
... Finally, Amir chooses to redeem himself by opting to protect Hassan’s son Sohrab. The guilt which estranged Amir from his childhood friend in a way manages to reunite him with Hassan, albeit in a different manner. Thereby, the two works that are Macbeth and The Kite Runner not only present before the humanity, the immense power and potency of guilt, but also emphatically reveal the eventual consequences of the guilt traceable to an evil act or an act of cowardice or betrayal. These two works expose the psychology of guilt in a very vivid and threadbare manner, which explains their appeal and the human interest they accrue.
When Amir decides to plant his own watch and money under Hassan’s mattress he planned on getting Hassan in trouble from Baba. When Hassan is asked if he stole the watch and money he said yes. “I flinched, like I’d been slapped” (105). In this quote Amir shows that he was not expecting Hassan to respond in the way that he did. Right here is where Amir should have seen that Hassan cares about him and acted loyal like a real friend should have. Instead Amir Betrays Hassan again by not saying a word and letting Hassan take the blame for something he did not do. Amir continuously shows that he is Hassan’s betrayer by more actions that he
Guilt is a result of sin, and sin is a result of misaction. In the novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the protagonist, Amir, goes on a journey to redeem himself for his sins. When Amir was 12, he witnessed his best friend, Hassan, get raped in an alley. Instead of standing up for his friend, Amir ran away in selfishness and cowardice. The guilt of his choice plagues Amir for the rest of his life, until one day, he gets a call from an old uncle, who tells him that “there is a way to be good again.” (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 sins and guilt can always be atoned for.
Hassan got raped right in front of Amir and he didn't stand up for his “friend.” But Amir pays a big price for not having help Hassan. He had two options, “I could step up into that valley, stand up for Hassan” or “Run,” (pg. 77) the decision of running affects him and makes him a terrible friend because unlike him Hassan has always been there for him. “Hit me back goddamn you!’ I wished he would. I wished he’d give me the punishment I craved, so that maybe I’d finally sleep at night.” (pg. 92) After the incident with Hassan, Amir has had a hard time getting some sleep at nig...
The only reason that Hassan got raped was that he was trying to get a kite for Amir. Now the kite acts a reminder to Hassan of his wrong-doing and it will now begin to haunt him for a long time. Although when in America, Amir does not get reminded about Hassan, deep inside he still feels guilty. Amir immediately begins to feel the most guilt when he goes to Iran when Rahim Khan, Amir’s childhood friend, asks him to come. He feels that Rahim Khan has reminded him of his “past of unatoned sins”(Hosseini 2).
People need redemption from our continual sin, otherwise, we just wallow in the shallowness of that aspect of our lives. Sin stays with an individual and effects the way their lives are lived. Unless they confront their past the sin will always be present. For example, Khaled Hossei’s , The Kite Runner explains how Amir- one of the main characters in the novel redeems himself because he undergoes strong guilt from his past sins. By examining Amir’s sins in his childhood, in his teenage years and in adulthood, his attainment of atonement is revealed. Particularly Amir atones for his past sins of being an eyewitness of Hassan rape who is his most loyal and devoted servant. He is influenced by this moment because he realizes that Hassan always
There were ultimately two options: step up to the bullies and rescue Hassan, or run away. Even after hearing Assef say how Amir would never do the same for him, about how he would never stand up for him, he still chose to run away and pretend like he did not just witness what had happened. There is also a scene where Amir is feeling guilty and both the boys are around a pomegranate tree. Amir just starts pelting Hassan with pomegranates and threatens to throw him back. He exclaims, “You’re a coward,” (.).
When an individual responds to injustice, they gain self-respect. If an individual suffers from hardship memory, they must respond to the injustice to maintain self-respect. Some individuals might be forgiven, atoned, or redeemed for their unjustified memory. In Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, the author develops the idea that an individual seeking forgiveness, atonement, and redemption gains self-respect when responding to injustice from their past memories. In other words, responding to unjustified past memories gains an individual's self-respect when seeking forgiveness, atonement, and redemption. This idea is seen in the protagonist Amir who forgives himself and he finally responds to injustice and gains self-respect. He suffers from past memories of him disrespecting and not taking injuries for Hassan but Amir atones himself from his past
Guilt is a powerful emotion that can lead you down two paths in life; one is to seek redemption, while the other is having guilt build up inside you as a result of not excepting your actions. During the process of redemption, it may not seem like they are being remorseful but they might justify it as being a necessary precaution they need to take to protect others. In The Kite Runner, Soraya shares her greatest sin to Amir and also explains how she wants to become a teacher so that she can help children learn to read and write. Amir says he has done the same with Hassan, even though he knows it is untrue. Amir would ridicule Hassan when he would question the definition of a word. This shows how his guilt overpowered his right judgment but justified it as being the right thing to do. “I envied her. Her secret out. Spoken. Dealt with.” (Hosseini, 174). Amir felt that if he told Soraya the truth, she would not be able to forgive him. Amir admires that fact that Soraya had dealt with ...
Amir wakes up after fighting Assef in the hospital thinking about Sohrab, “for some reason I can’t think of I want to thank the child” (Hosseini 293). Sohrab is the first thing Amir thinks of when he wakes up in a groggy state in hospital. Sohrab was willing to attempt to save Amir’s life, a man he barely knew, even though it meant risking his own life. In this way, he was able to not only physically save Amir but also mentally because he allows Amir to complete his mission and redeem himself. While struggling against Assef, Amir thinks, “...for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace...I hadn’t been happy and I hadn’t felt better, not at all. But I did now. My body was broken...but I felt healed. Healed at last.” (Hosseini 289). Sohrab feels guilty for what he did to Assef, although it saved himself and Amir. Amir tells him, “There are bad people in this world, some people stay bad. Sometimes you have to stand up for them. What you did to that man is what I should have done to him all those years ago. You gave him what he deserved. He deserved more” (Hosseini 319). While talking to Sohrab, Amir acknowledges that he was wrong and that he could have avoided all his guilt, if he had only stepped in against Assef. But he had not, so part of Amir making up for his sins was to stand up to Assef, and win a fight against him. However, in the end, Sohrab is the one
Guilt is the emotion that a person feels when they are responsible for an action that has violated some set of standards. Khaled Hosseini conveys this through his novel, The Kite Runner, by following a young Afghan boy and the events that surround him with the build up of guilt that continue to follow him as he ages.The consequence of guilt is that it stays with the person for the rest of their life, but one way of getting rid of its weight is to use the past to make the future better by acting upon it in the present. As seen in both Baba's and Amir's actions throughout the novel, guilt can propel actions in order to ease the burden the person had experienced.
The beating left many emotional scars and one big physical one. A scar down his lip almost exact to Hassans. This makes the situation seem like it really was payback after all. After Hassan was always bullied for his lip looking that, now that Amir has it, they really are equals. It's nostalgic when Assef would bully Hassan for
“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.