In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, sacrifice plays a major role in the creation of the theme. Many sacrifices take place throughout the novel. From the sacrifice of Hassan in the kite race, to the sacrifice of Hassan when amir tries to set him up as a thief, to the sacrifice Amir makes when he goes to rescue Sohrab. All of these major events help make up the main theme of sacrifice. The first sacrifice in the novel is the rape of Hassan. Hassan sacrifices himself to Assef in the alley in order to keep the kite for Amir. When Hassan was running Amir’s kite for him in the race, he gets stopped by Assef who then tells him to give him the kite. Hassan is faithful to Amir, so he refuses to give Assef the kite. Assef says the Hassan has to give …show more content…
Amir wants to get rid of Hassan because he feels so guilty about the rape that he thinks it would be best if either him or Hassan were gone. Baba has always told Amir that the biggest sin was theft, so Amir tries to set Hassan up by saying he stole Amir’s presents. Amir went into Hassan’s room and put his new watch and money underneath Hassan’s mattress. Then Amir went over to Baba’s office and knocked on the door. He then tells Baba that all of his gifts are missing and that he thinks Hassan stole them. When they go to check in Hassan’s room, they find the gifts where Amir had left them: right underneath Hassan’s mattress. When Baba asks Hassan if he stole the gifts, Hassan says yes. Hassan knew that he had been set up, but he still took the blame for Amir’s sake, because if Baba found out that Amir had tried to get Hassan in trouble, then Amir would’ve gotten in a lot deeper trouble than Hassan did. “My heart sank and I almost blurted out the truth. Then I understood: This was Hassan's final sacrifice for me. If he'd said no, Baba would have believed him because we all knew Hassan never lied. And if Baba believed him, then I'd be the accused; I would have to explain and I would be revealed for what I really was. Baba would never, ever forgive me.” (Hosseini 105). Hassan had once again, sacrificed himself for Amir’s sake. Amir finally realizes how good of a friend Hassan truly is, and begins to feel more
How much are you willing to sacrifice for another? Whether they are a family member or a complete stranger. In the novel The Kite Runner Baba was was willing to risk his life when he had stood up and was trying to stop the Russian soldier from rape the young woman as payment for letting them pass through one of the checkpoints. Then there had been Amir it was when he had suffered extreme injuries, nearly losing his life when he had fought Assef, so that he could save Sohrab for the abuse he was suffering from the Taliban. Both Character Baba and Amir were willing to sacrifice themselves for another person, regardless of who they were. Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, teaches the reader sacrificing your life can lead to another person’s happiness through Baba saving the woman from the Russian soldier and Amir fighting Assef.
On a different occasion on chapter 8 after Amir’s birthday party, Amir collects the birthday money he had received and a wrist watch belonging to Baba and hid them under Hassan’s mattress. After planting the items under Hassan’s mattress then telling Baba that he thinks Hassan might have taken the items, when confronted by Baba about the money and watch Hassan innocently accepts the blame admitting that he had stolen the items himself even though this is not true. This is perhaps the greatest act of loyalty because Hassan understood that Baba valued honesty and he didn’t want him to think less of Amir, some have argued that Hassan took the blame instead because he was mistaken to think that this act would win back Amir and improve their relationship, Hassan also do not want to hurt Baba by revealing the truth about Amir’s acts. Amir is shocked and surprised by these extreme acts of loyalty. Thereafter Hassan goes away but has fond memories of Amir, he tells his wife and kid about how good friends they were, he does not speak ill of him at all and even learnt how to write so that he could write letters to Amir and update him on his life. Eventually when Assef comes to the house where Hassan, his wife and son are leaving to demand that he evacuate
Hassan would do anything for his friends and treat everyone, even bullies, with respect because his respectful dad, Ali, taught him to always be loyal to all, and never hurt anyone. Ali was Baba’s servant and long-time friend, and stayed close to him throughout their childhood and adulthood. Amir's actions showed how much of a coward he was. Amir suffered his whole life living with the guilt of knowing that Hassan was raped, much like Baba lived his whole life in guilt knowing that he stole the truth from Ali by committing adultery.
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
After Amir wins a kite fight for the first time Hassan offers to retrieve it for him. After Hassan gets the kite he is confronted by the neighborhood bullies who demand the kite. Hassan is aware that the kite will improve Amir’s relationship with his father so he refuses to give up the kite and is ultimately raped. After this sacrifice Amir is too guilty to continue living near Hassan and he frames him for theft. In Hassan’s final act of sacrifice he admits to theft and leaves Amir and his father. Although Hassan’s rape is foreshadowed it still has a large emotional impact on the audience and allows the reader to gain a full understanding of all that Hassan is willing to sacrifice for Amir.
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.
Because of this, Hassan is almost constantly bullied when he steps outside. Amir usually refuses to help Hassan, fearing he will get bullied for helping a minority. This type of thing built guilt up inside of him because he was then viewed as weak by his father’s friend. He overheard them talking and he was called weak because he would not even stand up for his best friend that he essentially lives with. He continues not to back Hassan up and starts being mean to Hassan, just like the other boys because he does not want to be viewed as weak.. During the kite runner festival, Hassan went to get the winning kite that Amir had knocked out of the sky. When he does, he is cornered by one of his bullies, Assef, and some of his friends. They take the kite and then rape Hassan. Amir stands nearby, watching the event take place and does nothing about it. Eventually he runs away trying to get the thought out of his head. Gradually over time, guilt builds up inside of Amir and it starts to become hard to even be around Hassan. This then leads him to frame Hassan for stealing his watch. After Amir does that, Amir finds out he forced his father to kick his brother out of the only housing he had. His father starts crying a lot and Amir feels that it is all his fault. Guilt impacts him very much even when he moves to America, he still
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 by Khaled Hosseini, the character Hassan plays an important role in the story. He is faced with many challenges, due to ethnic cultural collision, responding to it by not letting his loyalty or humanity falter, which relates to the novel because regardless of his statues and religion, Hassan would always protect Amir.
There has been a great deal of guilt that follows. The start of Amir’s “downfall” is when Amir watches Hassan get raped by their childhood bully, “... ‘I’m letting you keep the kite, Hazara. I’ll let you keep it so it will always remind you of what I’m about to do” (Hosseini 78). Assef rushes at Hassan and then the most tragic event of both Amir and Hassan’s childhood occurs. The most important factor of this incident to Amir is the fact that he could do something to stop Assef. But, has decided not to, “I bit on my fist. Shut my eyes” (Hosseini 78). While Amir’s best friend is being raped by their “bully, “ Amir tensed up and tried to avoid looking, not even turning his head. Not being able to fight for Hassan becomes one of Amir’s greatest regrets. His immense guilt soon leads to the close bond being even further ripped apart by when he decides to remove Hassan from his life completely. After Amir’s birthday, he feels guilty with all of the gifts he has received. This guilt, plus the guilt from Hassan’s incident “forces” Amir to try to remove Hassan from their house by putting his new watch and money under Hassan’s bed. Baba then asks Hassan, “Did you steal that money? Did you steal Amir’s watch, Hassan?” (Hosseini 111). Hassan then “admits” to stealing the watch and surprisingly is forgiven by Baba. This is even more devastating because Baba has once said how theft is the worst crime and Amir has framed
...and not self-sacrifice, giving a wide array of consequences. Amir serves as a way to show that it is possible to move from one end of the spectrum to the other. Jesus said in the bible, “There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends” (John 15:13), and an easy contrast to that made by the novel is “There is no greater sin than to lay down one's friends for one's life.” Whether as small as Wahid giving up some food to treat Amir like a guest, or as significant as Amir abandoning Hassan in his time of need, in The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini teaches that self-sacrifice brings wholeness while sacrificing another brings only guilt.
In conclusion irony, symbolism, and foreshadowing contribute to the omnipresent theme of redemption throughout The Kite Runner. Khaled Hosseini ties together seemingly unimportant details of the story to create irony, and juxtaposes segments of his book to show redemption.
Courage and bravery are two main characteristics seen in characters throughout the entire novel. The Kite Runner; written and published by Khaled Hosseini, has hidden characteristics of courage and bravery within different characters. This meaning that the characters stood up for themselves, others and for what they believe is right from wrong. The three main characters that showed an ample amount of these characteristics were; Amir, Sohrab, and Hassan. These characters were the ones whom throughout the novel were evoking the reader's thoughts by making them think about what defined courage and bravery to them. Khaled Hosseini purposely put these characters, with these specific traits into the novel because he knew that it would have a true significance. In the novel,
Author: Khaled Hosseini published The Kite Runner in 2003. By 2005 it became the number one New York Times Bestseller. Although this book was his first novel, people still couldn’t get enough of his story about the troubled friendship between two boys. Sylvester Stallone, an American actor, once said, “Most action is based on redemption and revenge, and that's a formula. Moby Dick was formula. It is how you get to the conclusion that makes it interesting”. From time to time mistakes are made every day, and however the story ends will describe your mistakes. In The Kite Runner, the kite is the most important symbol that represents Amir’s past; just like a kite flying in the sky full of soars and dives, Amir's life was the same way as a kite flies.
The Kite Runner has many themes throughout the book that carry out through the whole book, and shape the lives of the characters and their families. One of the main themes in the book is the theme of theft , as seen when Baba is revealed to be Hassan's father, “he’d stolen had been sacred: from me the right to know I had a brother." This sin of theft is shown to possibly be