“No man is rich enough to buy back his past” (3) Oscar Wilde once said. Khaled Hossenini has shown the true meaning of the persistence of the past in his book The Kite Runner. Amir and Hassan are two boys in Kabul, Afghanistan who differ in numerous ways, yet, they are the best of friends. An event early on in their childhood altered their friendship and made Amir betray his only true friend. As he grows older, he realizes his decisions are catching up to him. Amir then tries to be good again by adopting Hassan’s orphaned son. A closer look at Amir’s past will show what decisions he made in his childhood, how they are holding him back from enjoying the present, and how he let go of a heavy burden by adopting Sohrab. During adolescence, a child may not have the ability to make the right decisions. For example, in chapter seven, Amir watched Hassan get raped by Assef. He did not intervene with the sexual act because he was too afraid of getting hurt himself. If he would have stood up for Hassan, his whole life might have changed with a single act. Another example appears in chapter nine where Amir …show more content…
For example, in The Kite Runner, Amir’s past holds him prisoner from enjoying the present. On page seventy-five, Amir said, out loud, he watched Hassan get raped and part of him hoped someone would hear him so he would not have to live with a lie anymore. He has a tremendous amount of weight on his shoulders and he would do anything to relieve some of the pressure. Another example is located in chapter twenty-two when Amir is almost beaten to death by Assef. As the current Taliban leader hits Amir with his brass knuckles, he feels a sudden relief. He finally feels like he is getting what he deserves for watching Hassan get raped and for not protecting him. Amir’s past judgments restrained him back until Assef relieved him of his guilt and he could finally love like
Actions made in a moment of pain, anger or simple immaturity can take anyone to make mistakes that can change their lives completely. Everyone has something in the past that is shameful, embarrassing and regrettable that is kept present daily. Whether this event happened during childhood, adolescence or early adulthood, this event could haunt and have shaped that person’s life into what he or she is today. In a similar way, in the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is shaped by a tragic and eventful past that has shaped Amir’s, Baba’s, and Hassan’s life. The four literary elements that will be used in this essay that Hosseini strategically uses in this book are: irony, simile, Metaphor, and personification.
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, follows the maturation of Amir, a boy from Afghanistan, as he discovers what it means to stand up for what he believes in. His quest to redeem himself after betraying his friend and brother, Hassan, makes up the heart of the novel. When Amir hears that his father’s old business partner, Rahim Khan, is sick and dying, he travels to Pakistan to say his goodbyes. Rahim Khan tells Amir about Hassan’s life and eventual death; the Taliban murdered Hassan while he was living in Amir’s childhood home. As his dying wish, Rahim Khan asks Amir to rescue Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from an orphanage in Afghanistan. Although Amir refuses at first, he thinks about what Rahim Khan had always told him: “There is a way to be good again…” (226), which gives him the incentive he needs to return to Afghanistan and find Sohrab. Hosseini draws parallels between Amir’s relationship with Hassan and Amir’s relationship with Sohrab in order to demonstrate the potential of redemption.
The Kite Runner is a book about a young boy, Amir, who faces many struggles as he grows up in Kabul and later moves to America to flee from the Taliban. His best friend and brother , Hassan, was a big part of his life, but also a big part of guilt he held onto for many years. The book describes Amir’s attempt to make up for the past and resolve his sins so he can clear his conscious. Amir is worthy of forgiveness because although he was selfish, he was very brave and faced his past.
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
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
The book’s opening chapter focuses on Amir's conversation with Rahim and Amir’s "way to be good again” (Hosseini 1). The reason Amir flies all the way to Pakistan leaving behind his wife and life in America is Rahim Khan. Amir desires to make up for what he did to Hassan, so he answers Rahim's quest to “be good again” (Hosseini 1). This meeting allows Rahim to tell Amir what he must do to make up for his past. Rahim tells him he must put his own life in danger to save Hassan’s son, Sohrab. At first, Amir wants to refuse Rahim Khan’s wish, thinking of his life back home. He also thinks about how Hassan’s life may have been different if Hassan had the same opportunities he had. Then he realizes, “ But how can I pack up and go home when my actions may have cost Hassan a chance at those very same things?” (Hosseini 226). Rahim Khan warns Amir that it cannot be anyone else; Amir must make up for his own sins. Although he knows it's dangerous, Amir agrees to get Hassan’s son for Rahim as his dying wish. Amir believes that saving Sohrab is “A way to end the cycle” (Hosseini 227). Amir’s commitment in the face of danger proves his determination to be better and finally atone for his sins. Amir realizes his mistake and knows he can't change what he’d done. Eventually, with Rahim's help, he begins to see saving Sohrab as a “way to be
“It's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out” (Hosseini). In The Kite Runner, Hosseini shares Amir’s journey to atonement. As Amir states, he was unable to bury his past, similar to his father, Baba, who spent the majority of his life haunted by his sins. While both father and son are consumed by guilt, the way in which they atone for their iniquities is dissimilar. While Baba attempts to live his life according to the Afghan saying, “ Life goes on, unmindful of beginning, end...crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty caravan of kochis [nomads]” (Hosseini 356), Amir strays from this traditional perspective. Baba chose to continue his life unmindful of his past, while Amir, eventually decides to confront his. Although both Baba and Amir have acted immorally, the choices they make find redemption affect the success of their individual attempts. In the novel, Amir’s quest for atonement is more effective than Baba’s because he acts virtuously, while his father, acts selfishly. Ultimately, Amir is the more successful of the two because, in opposition to Baba, he seeks holistic atonement and is willing to make sacrifices to achieve redemption.
In the novel The Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini writes about Amir a young Afghan child who is a coward and who later as an adult seeks redemption from past mistakes. These characteristic effects Amir’s live throughout the novel from childhood to present. However, these are just words on a paper without some proof and the novel happily supports this either through the events or the behavior of other characters. Now let’s start with Amir’s past childhood.
Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, grew up in prejudiced Afghanistan during the 1960’s as a middle-class Pashtun living with Hazaras working for his family. His move to America after the Communist Coup proved difficult for his family, especially his father. In his novel, Hosseini writes through a young boy, Amir, very similar to himself, who grows up with his father and two Hazara servants in Afghanistan at the time of the Taliban attacks. Both Amir and his father, Baba, treat their servants, Hassan and Ali, like family. Society, however, does not approve of such relationships between Pashtuns and Hazaras. As Amir hides and watches horrified, another Pashtun boy rapes Hassan. This leads to the continuation of Amir’s internal conflict about the treatment of Hazaras by the public, and also makes him feel guilty and self-conscious throughout his entire life. In addition, Amir strives for affection and attention from his rather indifferent father. Amir’s outward conformity to societal values in his relationships with both Hassan and Baba, as a result of his inner struggle and guilt, contribute greatly to the significance of The Kite Runner.
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.
In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini tells a notable coming-of-age story portraying the actions and thoughts of Amir, a penitent adult living in the United States and his reminiscence of his affluent childhood in the unstable political environment of Afghanistan. Throughout the novel Khaled Hosseini uses character description to display his thoughts on sin and redemption.
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 novel based in Afghanistan that shows the betrayal between two boys with two different social backgrounds. Four years later “The Kite Runner” was filmed by David Benioff, which shows the meaningful message that the book delivers in a movie. Throughout the book and movie, Amir the protagonist must live the rest of his life with guilt from his childhood. Although the movie gave the same meaningful message that the book delivered, the book was further developed, which had more detail and kept the readers wanting more. Ultimately these details that were present in the novel gave the readers a better understanding of the characters, which led to the relationships
The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, depicts the life of Amir, a male from Afghanistan, and his maturation through the social and political turmoil that emerged in Afganistan. Although the story is fictitious, the plot and storyline involves political, social, and cultural problems in Afghanistan. The book also provides a small window of contrast to the contemporary problems of terrorism, cultural battles and coup d'etat in the middle east.