This past week in religion, our class watched the movie “The Kite Runner”. It is about two best friends named Amir and Hassan, who come from two different social classes: Pashtun (higher class and wealthy) and Hazara (lower class and poor). Due to the nature of these two social classes it leads to the two boys being raised and treated differently. In addition although the two are best friends, Hassan is Amir’s servant. When the movie first opens one can see that Hassan is the loyal friend who would do anything to protect Amir, while Amir is the wimpy friend who only cares for himself. For example when Assef (the bully) picks on Amir and Hassan for hanging out with one another, Amir hides behind Hassan while Hassan stands up for …show more content…
But because Hassan is so loyal to Amir, he states that he must give the kite to Amir because it belongs to him. So as a result, Assef’s friends hold down Hassan, while Assef rapes him. Without anyone knowing Amir watches this happen and runs away like a coward when he sees what is going on. The reason why this represents Hassan’s loyalty is because when the bullies attack Hassan he does everything he can just to keep the promise he gave to Amir, which in this case was keeping Amir’s kite. While the reason why this represents Amir’s wimpiness is because when he sees Hassan getting attacked he runs away like a coward, but if the roles were switched and Amir was the one being attacked Hassan would do anything to protect Amir, even if it meant stepping in front of Assef and getting beat up. This shows the values of friendship and double standards because although they both say they would do anything to protect one another, one would risk his life to save his friend while the other would do anything to save himself, even if it meant running away from his friend who needs him the most. When watching this and seeing the double standards, it made me feel quite sad for Hassan how he would do anything for Amir, but Amir wouldn’t do
Because of Amir’s extreme desire to receive the attention and affection from Baba, he begins to subconsciously sacrifice his relationship with Hassan in order to fulfill his interests. However, as Amir continuously matures and begins to recognize his initial ignorant, detrimental actions towards Hassan, he no longer “worships” his father like he did in the past. This causes him to ensure a sense of independence because of his ability to quickly adapt to a completely new, unfamiliar environment and remain adamant on pursuing their own aspirations. When individuals highly idolize and worship the successes that their loved ones have achieved, their in-suppressible desire to emulate the achievements of others causes them to inevitably experience difficult circumstances that challenge their morality and principles. In The Kite Runner, Amir has always displayed overflowing affections for Baba due to his prideful feelings of being the son of a wealthy, prominent father.
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.
The theme of loyalty is widespread throughout "The Kite Runner". Hassan is a very loyal character in this story, he is loyal to his brother Amir this is demonstrated from the start he tells Amir “for you a thousand times over” often to mean he would do anything for Amir when the situation calls for it. Amir on the other hand is jealous and feels entitled to his father’s love and care, he does not understand Baba’s love for Ali and Hassan and as such he does everything to discredit Hassan and put himself on better grounds with his father. Hassan’s loyalty is juxtaposed with Amir’s betrayal, for in every act of kindness demonstrated by Hassan he receives and equal or greater amounts of betrayal from Amir. Nonetheless Hassan remains
Hassan and Amir were close, but were not “friends”. There was once a kite fighting tournament that Amir won and Hassan was the kite runner. Hassan went after the last kite and while returning to Amir from capturing the kite, Hassan ran into a known bully, Assef. Amir was looking for Hassan. When Amir finds Hassan, he sees Assef with him.
Assef's vow comes true during the day of Amir's favorite sport: "kite fighting". In this sport, children fly their kites and try to "slice" each other's kite. Amir wins the tournament, and Baba's praise, with his kite the last one flying, but when Hassan goes to fetch the last cut kite, a great trophy, Assef and two henchmen are there instead. Hassan tries to protect Amir's kite, but Assef beats Hassan and brutally rapes him. Amir hides and watches Hassan and is too scared to help him. Afterwards, Hassan becomes emotionally downcast. Amir knows why but keeps it a secret, and things are never the same between the two. After hearing a story from Rahim Khan, Amir decides it would be best for Hassan to go away. Amir frames Hassan as a thief but Baba forgives him, even though he admits to committing
Within Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, one witnesses a tremendous act of self sacrifice. During a kite competition Hassan retrieves a kite to bring back to his friend, Amir. However, while running back to Amir, he is cornered by Assef, town bully, and his lackeys. Assef gives Hassan an option to give up the kite and be let loose, or keep the kite and be raped. Hassan’s self sacrifice is letting himself be raped for his friend. It was important for Hassan to keep the kite because Amir is trying to please his father who has neglected Amir. Getting the kite from the competition is the real grand prize and it would please Amir’s father. Amir sees Hassan being raped, but doesn’t do anything because of his cowardice. Hassan and Amir notice each-other at one point. That is when Amir knows he has lost his relationship with Hassan. Amir goes on to say, “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(sacrifice) was the price I had...
One of the most tragic and tear-jerking moments in the entire novel surrounds the moment when Amir decides to not help Hassan while he is getting raped. Reading this part, it is very hard not to get furious with Amir because obviously what he did was wrong, but he did have reasoning behind not helping his brother. Amir stands there for a few reasons; one of the reasons being his desire for his father approval, which he knows he can receive by coming home with the kite. When Assef says this, “I've changed my mind; 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.
The constant battle of love and a sense of tension between all of the father and son pairs is extremely apparent throughout all of The Kite Runner. It always seems as though one character is trying to make something up to another character. Feelings of guilt, the need to redeem themselves, and extreme jealousy between Amir, Baba, Hassan, and Ali are the primary factors that keep the plot moving. Whether it is Baba to Hassan or Amir to Baba, there is always a sense of the need for redemption going on. This sense of redemption can be found not only within characters, but also incorporates a bit of polical view in to the novel by giving a glimpse in to the various lives of different ethnicities and how they interact with one another.
An important stepping stone in every child's life is when a child makes a vow to be best friends forever with another child. Many girls cement this promise by buying a necklace with half hearts on them, while boys may carve their names into trees, but either way this promise is very important for children to prove that they have someone who they can trust. In Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel The Kite Runner, two boys, Hassan and Amir, have a friendship that is not as typical as most children's. Although they do carve into a tree that they are the "sultans of Kabul" (Hosseini 27), their friendship is weak and one sided. These boys grew up in Kabul, and although their childhood friendship may have seemed like something out of a book, complete with pomegranate trees and story telling, it was dark and emotionally wearing. A main reason for this was because of the one subtle difference between these boys, omitting the differences in character; Hassan is a Hazara and Amir is a Pashtun. For this reason the Afghan society has classified Hassan as a lower human being and he, along with his father, is in servitude towards Amir and his family. Amirs lack of self-confidence throughout the novel hinders his ablity to have a true friendship with Hassan. Amir ruins the chance for friendship between himself and Hassan because he is jealous of Hassan, he thinks of Hassan as a lower human, and because of his bitter resentment.
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 Kite Runner focuses on the relationship between two Afghan boys Amir and Hassan. Amir is a Pashtun and Sunni Muslim, while Hassan is a Hazara and a Shi’a. Despite their ethnic and religious differences, Amir and Hassan grow to be friends, although Amir is troubled by Hassan, and his relationship with his companion, one year his junior, is complex. Amir and Hassan seem to have a "best friend" type relationship. The two boys, Hassan and Amir, are main characters in the book titled, The Kite Runner. The two boys have a relationship that is significantly different compared to most. There are many different facets that distinguish the relationship the boys possess. The boys do write their names in a pomegranate tree as the "sultans of Kabul" (Kite Runner 27) but, their friendship is not strong and it is one sided. Hassan has love for Amir. He loves him like a brother. Hassan is exceedingly loyal to Amir. The relationship between the two boys is emotionally wearing and rather gloomy for the most part. The main reason for their complicated relationship is the fact that Amir is Pashtun, and Hassan is Hazara. The Afghan society places Hassan lower than Amir. Hassan is Amir's servant. The placement of Hassan in the Afghan society disenables Amir from becoming Hassan's true friend. Amir sees Hassan as lower than human. Amir ruins the chance for friendship between himself and Hassan because he is jealous of Hassan, he thinks of Hassan as a lower human, and because Amir possesses such extreme guilt for what he has done to Hassan. Amir is an unforgivable person overall.
In Khaled Hosseini’s novel “The Kite Runner,” he illustrates a fine line between what is defined as morally good and evil. During their lives as kids, Amir and Hassan had always been close, but there had always been one problem. Amir was the son of a rich and powerful Pashtun man who was almost always given everything he wanted, while Hassan was a Hazara boy who had spent his life serving Amir and his family with his father. Although the two of them seemed to always be inseparable when they played games or flew kites, there was always the defining factor of who they really are, a servant and his master.
Hassan agrees and gives chase for the kite with Amir follow some time later on. However, during that time Hassan is corner by Assif and several others children. Hassan is then punished by Assif for protecting Amir, as well as being a different type of Afghani. In one swift motion, Assif performs a horrifying sexual act on Hassan, all the way Amir watch it far down a street. And what does Amir do? Well he ran as he put it, “I ran because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt” (77).
On the day of the kite running competition, Amir vows to win the entire competition in Baba’s honor. To end the competition, Amir cuts down the last remaining kite in the air, at which point in time Hassan runs after the falling blue kite. In hopes of retrieving the last cut kite for Baba, Amir follows Hassan on the run. However, Assef and his two sidekick bullies corner and rape Hassan. Amir watches the entire occurrence in
What is it that makes us human and what does it mean to be human? These questions should be frequently and relentlessly contemplated by all members of society. What makes us human is the notion that we have complex thoughts and emotions. No two individuals are exactly alike in every way who share the same opinions, tastes, thoughts, ideas, or feelings. Which is quite fortunate, because it would be a complete bore if everyone acted completely identical to one another. So, what is it that makes us abhor another based on their uniqueness as an individual or as a group? The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is about a friendship between two boys set in Afghanistan. The story spans over the last thirty years. Amir is the son of a wealthy business man, Baba. Ali is a longtime childhood friend of Baba’s and works as a servant for him. Hassan is the son of Ali and spends time with Amir. Hassan and Amir one day run into Assef—who has a superiority complex—and threatens to beat Amir for being friends with a Hazara. Later on in the story, Hassan is cornered by Assef and his two friends and Assef rapes Hassan. Amir witnessed the event concealed in the shadows, and is tormented for the rest of his life with his decision for not standing up for Hassan. The author,