Finn Schuemann 05/12/2014 English 1, Section 6 The Kite Runner Essay When people are given a chance to redeem themselves they will try to use their best abilities to accomplish their objective. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is a historical fiction that follows Amir from childhood to adulthood. Amir, a socially awkward kid, lives in Kabul, Afghanistan with his father, Baba, a successful businessman, with his best friend, Hassan. Baba is discouraging towards Amir for not being confident in himself, but Amir finds a passion in writing. When Amir and Hassan win a kite fighting tournament, it causes Baba to accept Amir, but ultimately Hassan leaves Baba’s household because Amir betrays Hassan by not defending him when he is raped by local bullies. Due to turmoil rising in Afghanistan, Amir and Baba travel to America, where Amir becomes a successful writer and has a wife. Then Amir receives a call that can help Amir redeem his friendship with Hassan. As the book progresses, Hosseini proves that anything can be fixed through redemption. Amir’s pursuit of writing in America demonstrates the freedom found there, exemplifying the endless freedom found in America compared to Kabul. In a quest to save Hassan’s son, Sohrab, Amir fights Assef, an adversary of Amir since childhood; as Amir is losing the brawl, he goes through a similar pain that he made Hassan go through. When settling in America, Amir and Baba’s relationship improves as compared to their poor affliction in Kabul. Amir’s conquest in the art of writing indicates how the opportunities he has found in America have better shaped him to reach his entire capabilities, than in Kabul. When Amir marvels over how life in America has been better for him, he ponders o... ... middle of paper ... ...l, where Baba was judgemental towards Amir. When Amir says, “I liked being on the receiving end of that look,” implies that after all the years of Baba being harsh to him, he happily accepts Baba’s change of mind, exemplifying how Baba and Amir’s relationship has been redeemed when in America. Khaled Hosseini intends to elaborate on how bad relationships may have a positive change, as shown with Baba and Amir’s bond. Throughout the book, Amir comes to realized that things can be resolved by acts of redemption. The Kite Runner, a historical fiction written by Khaled Hosseini, demonstrates how regretful events can be fixed with redemption. Even if it means that someone’s whole life is on the line, redemption still happens to be worth it, as seen with Amir. When people redeem themselves from past events, the results may change their views forever, positively.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, focuses on the character Amir who fails to help his friend Hassan in an alley when they are both children. This incident occurs because of the simple reason that Amir is a coward even when he knows deep down that Hassan would do anything for Amir. This betrayal towards Hassan turns out to cause Amir a lifetime guilt throughout the rest of the novel. Later on when Amir moves to America, gets married, and becomes a successful writer, Amir is still incapable of forgetting the incident. Amir’s actions as an adult stem from his desire for redemption and start forgiving himself for the mistakes of his past. Amir is an accurate portrayal of a tragic hero based on his inherent guilt, well deserved punishments, and
Amir’s development from being “a boy who won’t stand up for himself,” to a man that stands up for the morally responsible thing to do (22, Hosseini). When Amir was a child, he tried to escape from his sins in the past by hiding them with lies. However, this only made it worse for Amir, causing him to be an insomniac for much of his life and putting himself through constant torment. Only when Amir became a man, like Baba wanted him to be, was Amir able to face the truth of what he done and put himself on the path of redemption. Even when Amir was suffering a violent beating from Assef, Amir was able to laugh because he knew he was doing what he should have for Hassan years ago. Amir’s development from a child, who lies in order to cower from their own mistakes, into a man, someone who is not only able to admit his sins, but atone for them, is essential to communicating the theme of redemption being the only way to settle with your
Redemption is gaining honor and self-forgiveness through a selfless act that reflects off of one’s regretful actions of their past. In the novel, The Kite Runner, Amir is the main character who goes through many life struggles and mistakes, then finds himself on a road to redemption. Amir and Hassan were best friends throughout their childhood and Hassan was the honorable, trusting best friend, the one to always take a stand for what he believed was right. Amir’s lack of courage caused him to stay silent in the worst of times, letting Hassan get tortured for the things he did not deserve. The themes of sacrifice, honor and redemption are carried out in many ways throughout this novel being shown through the actions of Hassan, Baba, and Amir.
Amir’s childhood never seemed less than impeccable. A dream house with his father and their servants to serve his every need made Amir’s only trouble the yearning for his father’s approval. But what price comes with his father’s love? Consequently, when Amir ran away from
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 loyal servant, he runs like “a coward.” 77.
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 now has the skills needed to continue his life in America as being independent and the man of the house. The future is bright for Amir, as one can see a fortified, relieved, and joyful version of him compared to the accustomed one in Kabul. Amir is able to purge his sin of silence and lying by using his newfound life to forget all that has occurred in Kabul. This new land of opportunity also brings Baba and Amir closer, for they need to look out for each other as a way to be successful and survive in the land of the free.
I am here today to carry on my ideas on the difference between living and surviving. Now we might ask ourselves what living is and what surviving is or what the difference is. If anything, there is a huge difference. Surviving is doing whatever it takes to live up to the next day, you are doing just enough to get by. On the other hand, living is a whole other different thing and in life that’s what you want, you want to live not just survive. I want to live, not just survive and there are choices that you make daily to help you decide whether or not your going to live or survive so I’m asking you, are you really living or surviving? Really ask yourself that because in society we get confused, we get brainwashed into thinking things that are
Amir has been searching and waiting for Baba to take pride in him. When in America, Amir graduates and he is accepted into college. Baba is very proud and comments about how he wishes Hassan could be there with them. “‘I am moftakhir, Amir,’ he said. Proud.’” “‘I wish Hassan had been with us today,’ he said” (133). Amir is hit hard by his father bringing up Hassan in his moment of glory. He has a reaction of guilt. “A pair of steel hands closed around my windpipe at the sound of Hassan’s name” (134). Amir felt guilty because all he ever wanted was to make Baba proud, and now in the moment of his father’s praise, Baba is reminded of Hassan. At Amir’s wedding, he saw Baba sitting on the couch, and it triggered thoughts about Hassan, and how he was living. “And I remember wondering if Hassan too had married. And if so, whose face he had seen in the mirror under the veil? Whose henna-painted hands had he held” (171). Once again, Amir’s felt a reaction of guilt. He knew life would have been better with Hassan if he hadn’t run away from conflict. The past finds its way into everyday life, especially if it is something like Amir’s, which was full of regrets. No matter how far Amir tries to run, it never helps because reminders of the past will trigger the memories again. Amir ran. He moved 7,683 miles away from his past, yet the memories continued to impact emotional moments causing reactions of guilt to consume
We all are heroes of our own story, and it is a quality seen in many movies and books. The hero's journey is about progress and passage. This journey involves a separation from the unknown, known world, and a series of phases the hero must go through . Each stage of the journey must be passed successfully if the person is to become a hero. In “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, the main character Amir faces a series of trials and goes through obstacles where the concept of his childhood dies. Amir's mother passes away during his birth, and his left with the suspicion that his father blames him for her death. Amir longes for his father's attention and approval, but does not receive any affection as a son. He grows up with his Hazara best friend, Hassan. In Afghanistan culture, Hazaras are considered lower class and inferiors in society. Amir describes his friendship with Hassan saying, “then he would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break." (20). Amir first refuses the call of action due to being afraid of the adventure ahead of him. Call to action is the very first step of the hero's journey, where the hero is disrupted and the
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.
As a foreword, the story of The Kite Runner focuses on a man named Amir. In his childhood, he enjoyed a high-class life in Kabul, Afghanistan, living with his father Baba. They have two servants, Ali and his son Hassan. They are Hazaras, a lower class ethnic minority in Afghanistan. In one Winter of their childhood, Amir and Hassan participate in a kite-fighting tournament; the goal is to be the last kite flying. When a kite is cut, boys chase after it as a trophy. Amir wins the tournament, and Hassan flies to catch the losing kite. Later, following Hassan's path, Amir comes upon a neighbourhood bully named Assef about to rape Hassan who has the trophy, the blue kite. Amir does not interject, believing this will secure him the kite. Thus, Amir sets forth a chain of events he must redeem in his adulthood.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, is a thrillingly emotion stirring book. With its undertones of racial discrimination, family secrets and battles with ones own conscious. Amir the main character struggles with the relationship between him and his father and also him and his so-called friend Hassan. The book shows us that jealousy, and not cowardice as Amir claims, leads Amir to reject the one true friend he has. Though in the end Amir isn't always controlled by his horrible jealousy towards Hassan.
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.
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is a story about Amir who, as a child, witnessed a horrific act against his friend. He spends the next few decades struggling to come to terms with what happened to his friend, the role he played and finding atonement. The story is told by Amir and takes place during the time period of 1975-2001 in Kabul, Afghanistan, then moves to Fremont, California and then back to Kabul, Afghanistan. Strength of character is a prevalent theme throughout the novel. Three characters in the novel, Amir, Hassan and Baba demonstrate personal attributes of strength while dealing with hardships.