Amir's Downfall

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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, focuses on the character Amir who fails to help his friend Hassan in an alley when they are both children. This incident occurs because of the simple reason that Amir is a coward even when he knows deep down that Hassan would do anything for Amir. This betrayal towards Hassan turns out to cause Amir a lifetime guilt throughout the rest of the novel. Later on when Amir moves to America, gets married, and becomes a successful writer, Amir is still incapable of forgetting the incident. Amir’s actions as an adult stem from his desire for redemption and start forgiving himself for the mistakes of his past. Amir is an accurate portrayal of a tragic hero based on his inherent guilt, well deserved punishments, and …show more content…

Amir tells him it means smart or intelligent and uses it in a sentence which says how Hassan is imbecile when it comes to words. Afterwards, Amir always feels guilty for it and ends up giving him an old shirt or a broken. As it says, ““Let's see. ‘Imbecile.’ It means smart, intelligent. I’ll use it in a sentence for you. ‘When it comes to words, Hassan is an imbecile.’”... I would always feel guilty about it later. So I'd try to make up for it by giving him one of my old shirts or a broken toy.” (Hosseini, 31) Amir teases Hassan for not knowing how to read and feels guilty for calling him a stupid person so he tries to make up for it by giving him old shirts or broken toys. In addision, Amir writes a story and wants Baba to read it but he shows no interest in reading it and quickly gets away to get ready. Rahim Khan comes along as he happily offers to read it and leaves him a note which encourages him to keep writing. When they leave, Amir suddenly wishes Rahim Khan was his father but then feels guilty for it and remembers all the good things about Baba. As it states, “When they left, I sat on my bed and wished Rahim Khan had been my father. Then I thought about Baba

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