Tragic Hero In Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner

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One moment can shape the rest of someone’s life in a positive or in a negative way. According to Aristotle, “a man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” In the book “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini you follow a story of a male from Afghanistan named Amir that grew up around the time of the Russian invasion into Afghanistan. Amir eventually moves to Fremont, California in the United States with his father, Baba, for safety from the war. During this book Amir’s is explaining about his childhood relationships around 1975 through flashbacks and what he does to deal with these relationships. Specifically the relationship with his closest friend, Hassan. Hassan was a boy that Amir grew up with because Hassan was a servant in their household. Amir explains that what he is today has come from what had happened when he was twelve. A tragic hero is a character that makes an error in judgment that’s leads to a tragedy in their life. Amir is a …show more content…

Which has a cascading effect to our lives and everyone around us. In the book ‘The Kite Runner’ Amir is a tragic hero. Amir meets all of the criteria of a tragic hero. He has excessive pride. He has a tragic flaw that leads to his downfall, and he has recognition of his own ignorance. Amir grew up with guilt on how he betrayed Hassan. His downfall begins when he witnesses his friend Hassan being raped and does nothing to stop it. As Amir gets older he finds out that Hassan was really his half brother and that he has been killed. This makes Amir decide to save Hassan’s son Sohrab because he believes it will make up for all the mistakes he has made in the past. For these reasons Amir can be considered a tragic hero because he performs actions that ultimately destroy him and his friendship but motivates him to save Hassan’s son, Sohrab in

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