In the attention-grabbing book, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, which is about an Afghan boy, Amir, growing up and dealing with the pain of mistakes and unfortunate circumstances. Amir manages to hide his wrong doings until he receives a call from an old friend. Amir moves out of Afghanistan in his late teenage years with his father Baba, a many hat is courageous and hard to satisfy, not brining much with him besides a few clothing items and a whole lot of guilt for abandoning his friend Hassan. To redeem himself, Amir travels back to Afghanistan as an adult facing challenges such as violence and lack of courage to save his nephew and bring him to safety. Amir channels Baba’s courageousness when fighting with Assef, which then Amir to relieve …show more content…
Throughout The Kite Runner, Amir makes poor decisions that hurt himself and others such as not telling anyone about Hassan being raped; these decisions lead to extreme guilt along with hated he feels towards himself. To relieve the guilt and pain after several years, Amir tries to redeem himself by rescuing Hassan’s son Sohrab. When Amir receives a phone call from Rahim Kahn, Baba’s good friend, Amir gains courage to fix the conflict he has with himself when Rahim says, “There is a way to be good again”(Hosseini pg1). After Rahim Kahn tells this to Amir, Amir knows that Rahim is saying that it is a way for Amir toe feel good again. Amir has already been forgiven a thousand times by Hassan, this opportunity is for Amir to forgive himself. Amir and Assef have conflict continuously throughout the book starting as kids playing outside and ending in a fight till death circumstance. Although Amir and Assef rivaled as children, after Assef raped Hassan is when the real conflict occurred. Amir did not have the courage to stand up to Assef until Amir was an adult who was trying to redeem himself. When Amir and Assef, now a Taliban leader, were fighting to live and for Sohrab, Amir says, “ I don’t know at what point I started laughing, but I did” (Hosseini pg. 248 ). When Amir laughs, he wins the fight between he and Assef despite losing physically because he doesn’t care …show more content…
When a child receives abuse, their life can become forever damaged, and problems such as what Sohrab experienced through mutation may occur. When Amir is trying to gain trust from Sohrab through talking, Sohrab tells him, “…they did things…the bad man and the other two…they did things…did things to me” (Hosseini 277). Violence brings people together, in some ways it brings people in to help join in and hurt more, but the violence in this book brings the readers together to share utmost sorrow and compassion for Sohrab. Hosseini writes Assef as the “evil villain” in The Kite Runner; however, Assef, always doing harm and hurting others, is written as a villain that many could and have encountered throughout life, which is why the theme of violence guides the readers to relate and understand easier the events of rape and abuse in the book. Guilt can bring the best or worst out of a person. As Amir thinks over his development in how he has dealt with guilt, he says, “That was a long time ago, but 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. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years”(Hosseini 2). The reader gets to see Amir grow up through his development of redemption as he deals with the guilt of not
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.
Throughout The Kite Runner this theme is shown many times without this aspect and understanding of this part of the book it would be incomprehensible. Amir eventually learns how to cope with his own guilt and his
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.
In Khaled Hosseini’s book, The Kite Runner, Amir is an example of growing up, making mistakes, and facing the consequences for those mistakes. Amir grows so much throughout the book. He is a fictional example of maturing and growing up in a realistic manner. Making mistakes is a part of this growth, even though his were extreme. The reader is introduced to Amir and is disgusted about how he treats Hassan and abandons him in a time of needing rescuing. 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 feeling of anger but sometimes sympathy, towards Amir. By the end, we are not as angry as Amir than the reader to begin with. Amir has grown into
Guilt. A cancerous thing, spreading through your body, manipulating your thoughts, working as a deterrent for any type of long term vivacity. As seen in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner one of the main themes is seeking redemption. We see that in order to seek redemption and earn it, you must have the self-motivation deeper than other people pushing you.
Going through all these different motifs, it taught Amir many different lessons, good and bad. But in the end, Amir finally is able to let go of his guilt and make his awful choice to not help Hassan in his time of need, have somewhat of a better outcome. In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini’s repeated the use of rape, sickness, and sacrifice to represent many different things throughout the novel.
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. However, Amir’s happy day turns dark, when an hour later, he witnesses Hassan, his best friend, raped in an alley. He had “one final opportunity to decide who [he] was going to be. (77) Instead of standing up for his friend and...
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.
Amir also committed a sin that affected him negatively throughout his life. This sin occurred when Hassan, Amir’s best friend during his childhood, was getting raped by Assef. This situation occurred when the children were chasing kites. Hassan got the kite first, but Assef insisted that he wanted the kite. Assef also had a racial and religious prejudice against Hassan. Because Hassan did not give the kite, Assef decides to rape Hassan as a “punishment”. Instead of helping his friend out, Amir just walked away from the scene and let Hassan get violated in one of the most vulgar ways. After this incident, Hassan quietly walked back home and gave Amir the kite for which he was confronted by Assef for. The kite in this situation proves to be an important symbol. Whereas earlier in the novel the kite represented happiness and fun to Amir, in this situation it represented sin and guilt to Amir. 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).
In the novel The Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini writes about Amir a young Afghan child who is a coward and who later as an adult seeks redemption from past mistakes. These characteristic effects Amir’s live throughout the novel from childhood to present. However, these are just words on a paper without some proof and the novel happily supports this either through the events or the behavior of other characters. Now let’s start with Amir’s past childhood.
In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, the author follows the development of protagonist Amir through a life filled with sorrow, regret, and violence. Amir encounters numerous obstacles on his path to adulthood, facing a new test at every twist and turn. Amir embarks on the long journey known as life as a cowardly, weak young man with a twisted set of ideals, slowly but surely evolving into a man worthy of the name. Amir is one of the lucky few who can go through such a shattered life and come out the other side a better man, a man who stands up for himself and those who cannot, willing to put his life on the line for the people he loves.
Due to the nagging guilt he can not live a peaceful life, and feel the need to punish himself for what he did. Cowardly, Amir waited years to inform anyone of what happened to Hassan at the Kite festival. Amir already carries guilt and resentment inside him. He claims “’I [Amir] watched Hassan get raped,’ I said to no one…A part of me was hoping someone would wake up and hear, so I wouldn’t have to live with this lie anymore…I understood the nature of my new curse: I was going to get away with it." (page 86) The novel starts with the incident at the kite tournament and continues with many other mistakes that he later regrets. The structure of the Kite Runner refers back to the past by changing the date constantly. Amir goes back and forth telling stories about his life and all the mistakes he made. Once he becomes an adult the responsibilities he faces become greater. Hassan’s passing
To begin, the first instance of redemption is found and portrayed through irony. As Amir's mother died giving birth to him, he has always felt guilty. Leading up to the annual kite-fighting tournament, Amir feels as if winning will redeem her death, and solidify his relationship with Baba. When he comes upon Hassan who is cornered by Assef, Amir feels as if his rape might be justified: “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba. Or was it a fair price?” (Hosseini, 82) If Amir gains the kite, he wins Baba's heart. Ironically, the sacrifice of Hassan is the catalyst to Amir's need for redemption. Instead of redeemi...
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.