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Critically analyse Amir character in the kite runner
The moral quality of Amir in The Kite Runner
How does amir in kite runner develop as a character
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Loyalty throughout the Kite Runner Right before he goes to run the blue kite, Hassan says to Amir, “For you a thousand times over!” (Hosseini 67). This is one of the most significant quotes in the novel, The Kite Runner by the number one New York Times bestselling author Khaled Hosseini. This quote means to do anything, no matter what deed or task, however many times for a person. A common phrase exchanged between loyal friends or partners. Speaking of loyalty, this is one of the main themes present within The Kite Runner. Quite frequently and especially in this novel, loyalty often comes with the reality of (ADD MORE) In the novel, The Kite Runner by author Khaled Hosseini, the theme of loyalty is present throughout the book and especially …show more content…
Much like Amir has a friend who is as loyal as Hassan, Baba actually has a friend who is just as loyal to him and his name is Rahim Khan. Rahim Khan is Baba’s best friend and has been with Baba for as long as he can remember and one can see that he values their friendship through his loyalty to Baba through his word. One example is when Rahim Khan finally tells Amir the truth about the relationship between Hassan and Baba where we see Rahim’s Khans true loyalty. Rahim states, “Please think, Ami Jan. It was a shameful situation people would talk. All that a man had back then, all that he was, was his honour, his name, if people talked… we couldn’t tell anyone, surely you can see that” (Hosseini 233). Rahim Khan shows his loyalty to Baba by not proclaiming Baba’s misfortunate actions to the public. Rahim knew that if people were to find out about what Baba had done, all that he has worked for would be of no use anymore. The Orphanage, Baba’s name and the respect he receives from the people of Afghanistan would be worthless. A second example to present Rahim Khan’s loyalty is when Baba “sells” the house to Rahim Khan before him and Amir leave for Pakistan and eventually to America. Here Amir narrates, “Baba had ‘sold’ the house to Rahim Khan shortly before he and I fled Kabul… So he’d given the house to Rahim Khan to keep watch over until that day” …show more content…
However there are some characters that become better people and change becoming a better, stronger, more loyal individual in the end. The individual that demonstrates this development within this novel is Amir himself. All of the guilt Amir holds with him as a child allow him to realize his duty to be loyal to his brother Hassan ion the end. An example of this is when Amir goes back to Kabul, Afghanistan to retrieve his nephew Sohrab. Amir says, “I remembered Wahid’s boys and… I realized something. I would not leave Afghanistan without finding Sohrab.’ tell me where he is,’ I said” (Hosseini 255). Here, Amir is at the orphanage waiting to find out where Taliban has taken his nephew. Amir remembers the three young starving sons of Wahid, a man whose home he had been in earlier, and realized that Afghanistan is not a safe place for Sohrab. Amir is finally aware of one thing, Hassan has always been there to protect Amir like a loyal friend and brother would and now Amir knows that it is his turn to return that loyalty to Hassan by protecting Hassan’s flesh and blood. A second example of Amir’s loyalty to Hassan near the ending of the book is during Amir’s confrontation with General Sahib and the dinner table after Sohrab is safe in America with him. Amir proclaims to General Sahib, “…That boy sleeping on the couch
Despite living majority of his life with the guilt of not helping Hassan, Amir’s nemesis is yet to come. Destiny plays a huge game with Amir and reveals to him that Hassan is his illegitimate brother during his visit with Rahim Khan. Reacting with various emotions, Amir first decides to head back about to America, but in the end makes the first brave decision in his life by going back to Kabul “…to atone not just for [his] sins, but…Baba’s too” (198). Amir tries to compensate for his sin by rescuing Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from the brutality occurring in Kabul. Amir puts his entire life in jeopardy by facing the oppression in Kabul so he could make a genuine effort in eliminating his sins. In an ideal world, when one truly makes an effort to redeem themselves for their wrongdoings, they are usually gifted with forgiveness. However, in reality, Amir’s heroic act of saving Sohrab, did not free him of sorrow because he still has to live with his nemesis for the rest of his life. By taking Sohrab to America with him, Amir constantly is reminded of his hamartia by envisioning Hassan through Sohrab. This shows how the guilt from a cowardly act leads one into a lifelong feeling of
It is not often that Amir’s love for Baba is returned. Baba feels guilty treating Amir well when he can’t acknowledge Hassan as his son. Baba discriminates against his son Amir by constantly making him feel weak and unworthy of his father. Baba once said to Rahim Kahn, “If I hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe he’s my son” (Hosseini 23). Amir doesn’t feel like a son towards Baba since he seems like such a weakling. This neglect towards Amir causes him to feel a need to be accepted by Baba to end the constant discrimination from his father and he will do anything for it. “I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (Hosseini 77). Amir did not stop the rape of his good friend for one sole purpose. Amir felt that he had to betray his own half-brother to gain th...
Amir’s redemption is a large part of the novel and is carried out almost entirely until the end of the story. He travels to rescue Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from the orphanage he was placed in after the death of his parents. He promises to find him a safe home with someone but after time passes he feels like this is not enough. He then speaks to his wife and decides to take Sohrab back to the United States with him and take care of his as if he was one of his own. Earlier in the novel when Baba is speaking Amir over hears his conversation as he is referring to him stating, “A boy who won 't stand up for himself becomes a man who can 't stand up to anything” (Hosseini, 22). Thus meaning that if he is able to stand up for himself as a young boy, when he is grown he will not be able to stand up for anything that is in his future. This is true throughout the story until he stands up for himself and Sorhab when he is arguing with his life long bully, Assef. Amir lacked the courage to defend himself in the novel until he finally took charge and went against
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
Amir goes through many events that take place in the book that change him, and the way he is perceived within the book. Amir is a young boy, who is tortured by his father’s scrutinizing character. Amir is also jealous of Hassan, because of the fact that his father likes Hassan instead of Amir. Amir fights for his father’s approval, interest, and love. This is when Amir changes for the good as he deals with the guilt of the rape of Hassan. Amir witnessed Hassan getting raped, but decides to nothing in order to win over his father’s interest. The guilt that Amir builds up is carries from his premature times as a child to his mature times. From Afghanistan to
No one in the city of Kabul thought anything less than greatness and admiration for him. Hassan’s with Amir, ready to defend and protect him no matter what the cost. And Amir’s with Baba, wanting to please him and make him proud to have a son like Amir. By making a decision of who Amir was more loyal to as well as who he wanted to please more, inadvertently led to his betrayal of Hassan. “I had one last chance to make a decision.
On his journey to save Sohrab, Amir discovers that a Taliban official took him from the orphanage. When meeting with that Taliban official, who turns out to be his childhood nemesis Assef, Amir is placed in a situation where he is forced to choose between fleeing from the enemy and saving Hassan’s son. The structure of this scenario is analogous to one earlier in the book when Amir had to choose between saving Hassan by standing up for him and repairing the relationship with his father by bringing the blue kite back. The author uses the similar setting with Assef and the similarities in characterization of father and son in order to provide Amir with the opportunity to make the choice to stand up for what he believes in. When Amir allowed Hass...
Amir is Pashtun, this is the more accepted and prosperous ethnicity. Hassan is a Hazara boy, this being an ethnic group that is looked down upon by Pashtun citizens of Kabul. “In the end, I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that.” (Hosseini 25). Throughout his childhood, Amir is put down regularly by neighborhood kids for befriending Hassan because of his ethnic background. Amir realizes that no matter what he may do, or no matter how Hassan may try to alter the situation, Hassan would always be too different for people to accept. This embarrasses and frustrates Amir. This frustration is one cause for Amir to slowly but surely push Hassan out of his life. Although it is not the most obvious reason, it is an underlying one. This is a mistake on Amir’s part because Hassan does so much for Amir, being the loyal friend that he is, and for Amir to push someone of such good moral and character out of his life, is a tremendous mistake on his behalf. It is quite obvious that Hassan would give his life for Amir, but, because of where Hassan comes from, Amir struggles throughout his childhood, to find a way to accept the friendship Hassan gives
After weeks of secrecy, a brutal fight, and battles with the immigration office, Amir is able to return to America with a bright perspective of his new home albeit broken, beat, and scarred, and a new adopted child, Sohrab. The developed Amir is brought out with his interaction with General Taheri. In the novel, Amir shows his new found ability to stand up for himself with the quote, “‘And one more thing, General Sahib,’ I said. You will never again refer to him as a ‘Hazara boy’ in my presence. He has a name and it’s ‘Sohrab’” (361).
Baba was happier in Pakistan, but he moves to America knowing it is the right move to keep Amir and himself safe. When Amir questions Baba’s motives by saying “You were happier there, Baba,” Baba retorts with “Peshawar was good for me. Not good for you” further displaying Baba’s sacrifice to keep Amir happy (Hosseini 129). Even though Baba would be much happier back in Pakistan, he sacrifices his own desires for the most important person in his life, his son. If Amir and Baba had stayed in Pakistan, they would eventually have to face the Taliban and be required to move out anyways, or worse, be injured or killed. After Amir is in America for a while, he feels great remorse for the wrong he had done to Hassan and is determined to make things right. In the process, Amir sacrifices his higher class in an attempt to please Sohrab, a low class Hazara. When Amir cut the opposing kite with Sohrab, he asks Sohrab if he can run the kite and says “For you, a thousand times over” (Hosseini 391). Instead of acting like he is above Sohrab because he is a Hazara, he embraces the class difference and uses the famous quote from Sohrab’s Dad who Amir had done wrong several years
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
Amir discovers where Sohrab had been taken and must fight for his guardianship. Assef, a Taliban soldier who was also Hassan’s rapist and the neighborhood bully, challenges Amir to a fight for possession of the young child. Amir accepts and is badly beaten by Assef to the point where “[his] body was broken...but [he] felt healed”. (289) This final act of physical pain is also paralleled to Hassan’s rape: both sacrificed their physical health to help their loved ones. By taking on Hassan’s persona, Amir finally has become good again. A repeated action with an opposite outcome is incorporated into this novel by Hosseini to achieve the effect of change, specifically Amir’s transformation. Amir attempts to adopt Sohrab but he is shut down and breaks the promise; Sohrab is destroyed and attempts suicide. Amir waits in the hospital and since “[his] hands are stained with Hassan’s blood” , he prays that “God doesn’t let them get stained with the blood of this boy too”. (346) Amir has finally come to terms with his past actions and now fully accepts the blame. The pain from previous suffering has traumatized Amir, teaching him the importance of owning up to actions and preventing him from disregarding others’ feelings. The human condition is growth; Amir has shown significance maturity as a result of the suffering, proving how it is part of every life. Amir takes Sohrab to America where the boy feels out of place and eventually becomes ignored. However, Amir finally sees Sohrab smile when flying kites together, just like what Hassan and Amir used to do together. Amir describes the short but meaningful smile like a snowflake, explaining how “when spring comes, it melts one snowflake at a time…[he] just witnessed the first flake melting”. (371) Hosseini often reflects mood into setting and in this case, Amir begins to
Baba betrays Ali, Amir and Hassan by his unfaithful decision to have an affair and steel Hassans right to know the truth about his parentage, Baba does not pursue seeking a strong connection with Hassan because of his regretful actions. In truth, Baba is truly disappointed in both of his sons. In Amir, he is reminded of his deceased princess. In Hassan, he is reminded of the Hazara, Sanaubar, he ...
In the book Amir can be seen as a troubled young boy who is struggling with a tremendous amount of guilty. It is easy to blame Amir’s actions on his guilty and his father’s lack of love for him. The movie does not allow this. The movie characterizes Amir as a young boy who is to blind by his owns needs to be a decent and noble friend. The movie does not do a good job of showing that Amir felt horribly guilty about what he did to Hassan. It portrays Amir as uncaring and selfish. The movie also changes the depiction of Amir as an adult. While the book shows Amir as a man who has not yet learned to stand for what is right until he comes face to face with his past all over again, the movie jumps the gun and shows the change earlier with the change of a scene. The scene that is changed is when Amir and Farid visit the orphanage where Sohrab is supposed to be. In the scene Amir is the one to try and kill the orphanage owner instead of Farid which takes away from Amir’s cowardice persona that is portrayed in the book. The movie makes Amir seem stronger before his time while the book keeps up his weakling persona until he is faced with a situation he cannot help but stand up to. Similarly the characterization of Hassan is just as lacking as Amir’s in the movie. In the book, Hassan is shown as being selfless beyond a doubt and loyal to a fault.
Guilt prompts Amir to go back to Afghanistan and drives Baba to care for Hassan. In the beginning of the book, Amir expresses that “it’s wrong what they say about the past… about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out(Hosseini 1).” Amir realizes this when the guilt never goes away from when he ignored Hassan when Hassan needed help. Amir constantly tries to forget about the past and how the rape impacted his relationship with Hassan and Ali. However, even with Amir’s efforts to obliterate the memory of the event, it resurfaces with Rahim Khan’s request to find Sohrab. Initially, Amir is reluctant to go to Kabul to look for Sohrab, but he remembers Rahim Khan saying, “There is a way to be good again(Hosseini 226).” Desperate for the chance to redeem himself, Amir returns to Kabul with the intention of transporting Sohrab to a better place. Amir understands that the only way for him to stop feeling guilty about the winter of 1975 is that he finds Sohrab and verifies that he lives a more secure life. In Baba’s case, he was able to care for Hassan as an uncle and the guilt he has inclined him to help others by building an orphanage. Also, with Ali’s permission, Baba is able to “[hire] Dr. Kumar to fix Hassan’s harelip(Hosseini 225)” and give Hassan birthday presents to show his affection. Caring for Hassan helps Baba get rid of the guilt he feels from the affair. Even though Baba could only show his love as a friend and not as a father, he embraces the opportunity with open arms. The guilt that both Amir and Baba experiences motivate them to do whatever they can to make up for their