“Forgive and forget” is a common phrase in our society. However, one may argue that mistakes are never truly forgotten. The Kite Runner suggests that the best way to resolve your past and make up for your mistakes is through doing good. Through Rahim Khan’s wisdom, the actions of Baba, and the journey of Amir, Khaled Hosseini illustrates that the need for redemption, due to unresolved guilt, can haunt someone throughout their life. Hosseini exemplifies the importance of redemption through the wisdom of Rahim Khan. Rahim Khan’s wisdom shows that the past is a constant reminder of guilt, but the guilt may be remedied with active attempts to amend past mistakes. He repeats, “there is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 2, 192, 226). Another significant …show more content…
Baba is first depicted as an unreachable man who was well respected in the community. Amir recalls his birthday party where he was “scanning over the invitation list a week before my birthday party and not recognizing at least three-quarters of the four hundred [. . .] Then I realized they weren’t really coming for me. It was my birthday, but I knew who the real star of the show was” (94). Amir did not know it at the time, but Baba had sins he was trying to absolve. Through his actions toward redemption, Baba touched the lives of many. Regardless of their social status, Baba would lend a he Amir recalls how Baba “always carried an extra handful of Afghani bills in his pocket just for them; I’d never seen him deny a peddler” (245). Baba would offer his wealth to every beggar he came across. Along with this, he also built an orphanage with his own money, planning, and time. Baba did everything in his power to redeem himself and eradicate himself of the guilt in his heart. Some say he was redeemed; others disagree. Rahim Khan tells Amir of Baba’s dilemma: This is what I want you to understand, that good, real good, was born out of your father’s remorse. Sometimes, I think everything he did, feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need; it was all his way of redeeming himself. And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when …show more content…
Over the course of the novel, Baba implies that he is not proud of Amir and the only reason he knows Amir is his son, is because he witnessed Amir 's birth. He states to Rahim Khan that he thinks Amir needs to stand up for himself more often. Countless times during the novel, Amir feels like he has to fight for his affection, that he has to earn Baba’s love. In order to prove himself worthy of affection and to redeem himself for not being a son Baba could be proud of, Amir yearns to win the kite runner competition. He reminisces on a memory, when all “I saw was the blue kite. All I smelled was victory. Salvation. Redemption” (65). In the aftermath of Hassan’s rape, Amir got rid of Hassan so he would not have to face the cause of his guilt on a daily basis. Amir buries the secret of the rape deep within him, where he hopes that it will not come back to haunt him, which is not the case. “We had both sinned and betrayed. But Baba had found a way to create good out of his remorse. What had I done, other than take my guilt out on the very same people I had betrayed, and then try to forget it all? What had I done, other than become an insomniac? What had I ever done to right things?” (303). As mentioned earlier, Amir is not one who stands up for himself. In order for Amir to redeem himself for betraying Hassan, and not standing up for him earlier,
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...
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
—Forgiveness is a suite of prosocial motivational changes that happened after a person has incurred a transgression (McCullogh). McCullogh also asserts the forgiveness process includes empathy for the transgressor, generous attributions and appraisals regarding the transgression and transgressor, and rumination abalout the transgression where agreeableness takes a serious place in the person who needs to forgive someone. Andre was impressed by his father’s work, the emotion developed in Andre’s mind have given up revenge and resentment thought to his father. When Andre’s father had an accident that made his legs crushed and had to sit on a wheelchair for the rest of his life; Andre immediately felt how vulnerable people are. He cherished the relationship with his father, in fact after the accident Andre started to cherish everyone besides him. The accident was a trigger to a prosocial motivational change to Andre and his father’s relationship. “But deliver us from evil. Amen” (Dubus, 387). Andre prayed on his father’s funeral. Forgiveness needs something to trigger; Andre understand pop’s condition and forgave him. Andre knew that his father has done the best he could, and he was happy and grateful that he had a father. Moreover, Andre’s life was full of sports, the healing process was impacted by
Baba saw that something was not right in Amir but never quite was able to tie his head around it. “ Sometimes I look out this window and I see him playing on the street with the neighborhood boys. I see how they push him around, take his toys from him, give him a shove 2here, a whack there. And you know, he never fights back. Never. He just . . . drops his head and . . . “ (22). As Baba see’s this in his own son in a way he has a bit of disappointment. Baba wanted Amir to be as tough as he was he wanted his son to fight back when he was supposed to fight back. To let be known that he was not
Baba ran from the truth, and so did Amir to protect the family name, even if that meant betraying the people closest to him. Baba was a man more worried about his image than anything, and that is what he taught his son as well. Slowly that is all Amir knew how to do: protect his family and himself, leading him into a life of guilt, and running from people when situations were challenging, instead of making the admirable decision and helping a friend. He shows his unconditional love when he suddenly packs up and leaves all he has ever known, “‘[Ali and Hassan] can’t live [there] anymore.life here is impossible for [them] now”’
Baba is displayed as an immoral man while at home because he is not loving to his son and he cheated with his friends’ wife and had a child. Even some of Baba’s good qualities such as his care for Hassan and Ali, his father, seem to have a selfish motive behind them because he wants to keep his son close to him. While Baba is never the fatherly figure in the first part of the book, once they leave their home, Baba seems to care a lot more about Amir. This may happen because he does not always have Hassan around to remind him of the terrible mistakes that he made in the past. However, even when Hassan is leaving, Baba still cares about him. Even though Hassan may be a symbol of past mistakes, he is still Baba’s son in the end and family always has a strong bond. Therefore, Baba’s character shows his moral side because instead of hating his illegitimate son, he cares for him as much as he can given the cultural standards of the two opposing religions. By healing his cleft lip and remembering Hassan’s birthday every year, Baba is able to show his caring side that is seldom seen with his relationship with
Thinking Baba was dead, Amir already started to worry about his future and how he was going to make it in life by himself. All of Amir’s life he had someone to always count on, he could count on Hassan to fight most of his battle for him and Baba to provide him with food, shelter, and an education. But when it could have possibly been time for Amir to leave the nest he realized how unprepared he was for the world. He also realized that who he was “had been defined by Baba”(Hosseini 174), his whole image was because of his father and not him. Once Baba did really die, Amir was “terrified” of the thought of finding his own way in life because “Baba couldn’t...show the way anymore”(Hosseini 174). In addition, Amir relied on others to get him
Baba struggles to adapt to America, while Amir flourishes. Amir stands up for Baba is when Baba is accused of stealing at the store. Baba was quite childish in the way that when he was blamed for stealing,-the only true sin in his mind- he threw a tantrum. This provides an opportunity for Amir to strengthen his fortitude. In this reversed role Amir takes care of the damage, asking the store owners for forgiveness and promising that he will pay the bill for any expenses, just as any responsible adult would do. The tables continue to turn as Amir brings Sohrab into his life. When he first stands up to Assef he fights back and doesn’t let Assef take care of his unfinished business. “ In the end he’d get us both. He’s kept that promise with Hassan. Now it was my turn (pg. 286). Instead of letting him take him down, Amir fights back, to the point of almost killing himself. By standing up for Sohrab, he makes up for not standing up for Hassan in the alleyway. He continues to stand up for Sohrab when he travels back to America. “You will never refer again to him as ‘Hazara boy’ in my presence.” (pg. 361), he tells the general. He ends up becoming not only a man, but a father in the way that he takes care of
The essay "Forgiveness," written by June Callwood, explores the concept of forgiving and how it influences people's lives for the better. Her work describes many components of forgiveness, such as how difficult it can be to come to terms with, why it is such a crucial part of humanity, and how it affects all people. Her essay aims to prove that forgiveness is the key to living peacefully and explains specific examples of people who have encountered extremely difficult situations in their lives- all of whom found it within themselves to forgive. To clearly portray this message in her writing, Callwood uses several strategies. She includes fear inducing statistics, makes many references to famous events and leaders, and uses a serious convincing tone, all of which are very effective.
Forgiveness is portrayed through the characters and events all throughout the novel. Khaled Hosseini focused on the topic of making wrongs right with forgiving others and forgiving themselves. Hosseini shows how forgiveness can bring happiness even in the most dreadful of times. For example, Amir went on a long journey to find salvation for the sins he’s committed. He sought out forgiveness from Baba, Hassan, and himself. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini shows how Amir, Soraya, and Hassan find their own salvation and this is how Hosseini uses forgiveness to demonstrate how anyone can find grace even in the hardest of times.
After Amir wins, he turns back to look at Baba and he sees Baba “pumping both of his fists. Hollering and clapping. And that right there was the single greatest moment of my twelve years of life, seeing Baba on that roof, proud of me at last”(66). Baba now had something to be proud of in Amir. Baba had now accepted his son but Baba’s true transformation would come later when he and Amir leave Kabul and go to America. Baba leaves all his wealth, his power and all the respect he gained in Kabul to escape to America where he would end up working at a gas station and making close to minimum wage. Even though Baba moves to America, he never changed his principles; he just changed the way he acted around Amir. When Baba goes to the social services office, he “dropped the stack of food stamps on her desk. "Thank you but I don 't want," Baba said. "I work always. In Afghanistan I work, in America I work. Thank you very much, Mrs. Dobbins, but I don 't like it free money" (130). Baba acting differently in America was not all contributed to not having his wealth, but rather the way he lived. Baba did not feel as guilty living in America as he did in Kabul. While Baba was in Kabul, he could not share his wealth with his other son, Hassan, but now that Baba was in America with no wealth, he could focus on his relationship with Amir. On Amir’s graduation day, Amir says, “This was his day (Baba) more than mine. He
In The Kite Runner, Amir is on a quest for redemption. Throughout his entire childhood, he struggled to redeem himself to Baba for “killing” his mother while giving birth. Baba was always disappointed by Amir because he was nothing like him. After Hassan got raped by Assef, which Amir witnessed but never did anything to help him, Amir spent every second of his life trying to redeem himself to Baba, and Hassan. Amir goes back to Afghanistan in attempt to save and adopt Hassan’s son, Sohrab, after something terrible happens to Hassan. “And that, I believe, is what true redemption really is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good.” (Hosseini 302) Amir redeemed himself because he finally felt at peace after Assef let his anger out on him, he is afraid
The first stage in achieving redemption is committing a sin which Hosseini captivates with the use of metaphors. As Amir retells his life story, he compares every event against his sin, his betrayal of Hassan when he left him to be raped by Assef. Amir introduces the story by telling us about sin’s prevalence with the use of a metaphor. “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 1). In order for someone to be redeemed they must have committed some type of sin. Amir’s first sin of betraying Hassan is the first of many, as he was living in a constant cycle of sin since. The first major sin he committed is literally what keeps the story going. It is this sin that causes Amir’s guilt and affects the rest of his life. As a child, Amir never felt a sense of acceptance or affection from Baba. As a result of the lack of love Baba showed towards his son, Amir is very desperate to do anything to win his father’s adoration. “Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba...
Baba also focused on being an exceptional father to Hassan without others detecting the truth. For instance, Baba paid for Hassan’s harelip to be removed as a birthday present. Hassan was well provided for and even though he was Hazara, he was invited to attend events and gatherings with Baba and Amir. Overall, Baba redeemed himself by proving to others he was a decent man in society.
...mption comes up over and over. This holds true for Soraya, who needs Amir to forgive her before she can marry him and Rahim Khan, who needs Amir to forgive him for keeping Baba's secret before he dies. "I know that in the end, God will forgive. He will forgive your father, me, and you too ... Forgive your father if you can. Forgive me if you wish. But most important, forgive yourself." Amir is not able to forgive himself until the very end of the novel, and then sees and feels his redemption.