The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini,is a novel about one man’s journey to redemption. The novel reveals that even though one may suffer from perceivably inescapable guilt, you can right your wrongs and escape the guilt that has a grip on your life. Along with this, the novel also illustrates the value of sacrifice and honor that greatly impacts its characters. The main character, Amir, faces many hardships throughout his life, one of the most impactful hardships he has faced is the guilt that he holds from his childhood. Amir’s journey to redemption and escape from the guilt begins when he receives a call from his childhood mentor, Rahim Khan, informing him that “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 2). The receiving of the phone call …show more content…
One of the many hardships include confrontations from their childhood bully, Assef. Assef would insult the boys calling them “kunis” and “fags” and threaten to harm them during their encounters. Hassan saved the day every time, often threatening Assef with his slingshot whilst Amir did nothing to help. Though Hassan was brave, he couldn’t save himself from Assef Panter 2 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. Though Amir made many mistakes throughout his childhood, such as not standing up for Hassan and blaming him for his wrongs, he learns that through a series of good deeds, he may be able to redeem himself for all of the wrong he committed throughout his life. The series of good deeds that Amir is taking on is rescuing Hassan’s son from the terrorists in Afghanistan. Amir hesitantly accepts the mission and completes it after many trials such as getting beat by childhood bully, Assef, being shot at, and facing adversity from his family in America. Though it was tough to complete, Amir finally feels relief as guilt takes its grip off of his
Amir’s wealthy status in the city of Kabul allows him to have excessive hubris, which eventually initiates his tragic downfall.
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.
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
...by Amir in his childhood not only gravely colors his relationship with Hassan, whose innocence he failed to protect from evil and overbearing Assef, but this guilt continues to stay with Hassan as he moves to America and starts a new life. 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.
(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 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.
To atone for his past sins, he embarks on a journey back to Afghanistan to redeem himself to Hassan for not treating him the way he was treated. He redeems himself by saving Sohrab and giving him a safer and enjoyable life in the Untied States. Amir tyres to attain redemption to baba for being the cause of his mother’s death as he believes. Gaining his fathers love and care will make him feel redeemed from all of the resentment and lack of care that his father shows to him. He must prove to Baba that he is worthy of spending time with everyday because he feels the hatred that his father shows to him. One way how he gets redemption from his father is by winning the kite running tournament to prove to him that he is worthy of being his son. Amir’s path of redemption is not only directed to other people but personal redemption for himself. He attempts to redeem himself by building an orphanage with his wife Soraya and giving Sohrab the childhood that is safer and more suitable for a young boy to grow up in. Amir has to realize that the past doesn’t define who someone is although you can’t forget the past, the actions that they decide to do to redeem themselves from the past mistakes defines who someone is. If Amir’s mother did not die at birth would he be resented from his father greatly and have to make great
Afghanistan’s history can be correlated to some of the character’s external influences, however characters can also be influences that created internal conflicts for another. For Amir, he was influenced by the Afghan’s long history of the persecution of the Hazaras. It was these persecutions and ideology of the Hazaras that put Amir to the test with Hassan. The peer pressure of society didn’t help the fact that Amir was indecisive and cowardice. He was so afflicted by these outside ideas that in his marriage with Soraya, he says, “Our lovemaking was still good...but some nights all I’d feel was a relief to be done with it...about the futility of what we’d done” (211) which implies a lackluster mood and shows how monochromatic Amir’s life is
Even when Amir was nasty and cruel to him, he had always been a faithful, kind soul. He never doubted that Amir was his friend and that he held a special place in his heart. When Hassan got raped, Amir did not help Hassan. 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 witnessed what had happend. There is also 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 him to throw one back. He exclaims, “You’re a coward,” (...). And what does Hassan do? He picks up a pomegranate, but instead of hurling it in Amir’s direction, he smashes it on himself and says, “are you satisfied?” (....). There is this constant pressure on Hassan and Amir’s relationship. The Afghan society would not approve of such “friendship.” Both of the boys were good, but Amir was so young when he made the mistakes that it made the reader question whether there was a way for Amir to be morally good again.
He was told by Rahim Khan, an old, dying friend, that he could redeem himself and begin to heal by rescuing Sohrab from an orphanage. After rescuing Sohrab, Amir receives a letter from Rahim Khan that states, "A man who has no conscience, no goodness, does not suffer. I hope your suffering comes to an end in Afghanistan" (Hosseini 301). Rahim Khan understands that Amir's internal plight could start to resolve itself if he makes a sacrifice in Hassan's honor. Traveling to find the child is a dangerous journey, but Amir could seek solace in the fact that he is saving Hassan's child from suffering more tragedies. In addition, once he rescues Sohrab, Amir believes that the best option for him is to return with him to America. When Amir tells his wife about his journey, Soraya agrees that she wants Sohrab to live with them by telling her husband, "'Amir, he's your qaom, your family, so he's my qaom too'" (Hosseini 326). To the couple, Sohrab is the closest thing they will ever have to a child of their own because Soraya cannot have children. To them, this is their opportunity fulfill the desire to have a family and is also Amir's chance to make up for what he did to
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
He has had to live with the regret that he caused by deserting Hassan left to be raped by Assef. Ever since the day he abandoned Hassan in the alley, Amir allowed the guilt from that tragic event to eat him up. Amir then fled to the US to escape the grief that was back in Afghanistan. Next, Amir put himself at risk to save Hassan’s only son from the dangers of Kabul. Lastly, Amir was to forgive his own self. Amir recognized the problem through guilt; avoided repeating the offense by fleeing; did what needed to be done by saving Sorhab; and asked forgiveness from God by accepting
“For you, a thousand times over.” In The Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini, there is a recurring theme of redemption that is portrayed by various literary devices. Kahled excellently juxtaposes devices such as irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing to show redemption within his first novel.
For the majority of his life, Amir, the son of a wealthy Pashtun Afghani, runs to escape from his past. Distant from Baba, his father, despite his best efforts, Amir “…always felt
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a heart breaking novel. It features events that bring tears to the eyes of its readers, as well as a look into the world outside our own. This book deals with tragic adult themes such as racism and child rape. The story takes place in two different countries, Afghanistan, and later the United States. The novel is in the point of view of the main character Amir and it begins as he recalls events from his childhood in Kabul, Afghanistan in a time on the brink of civil war, when the Afghanistan king is overthrown.