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The kite runner character analysis
The kite runner literature review
The kite runner literature review
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Becoming A Man In the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Amir and Baba struggle to find a way to talk one on one with each other and bring their relationship closer. They try to bond over countless activities, but none of that works out. Amir also accumulates guilt, and cannot let it go. To resolve his issues, Amir needs to learn how to “be a man” just as Baba has been trying to teach him to be all his life. Amir finally learns how to be a man by taking the examples from Afghanistan and applying them in America, learning how to stand up for himself, and more importantly for others. Amir never stands up for himself in his youth. He always uses others to execute his dirty deeds for him. Consequently, Baba doesn’t recognize Amir as a …show more content…
His father was a role model in the way that he was always looking out for others. When they are escaping Afghanistan, Baba stands up for the lady in the truck at the possible cost of his own life. “Tell him I’ll take a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place” (pg.116). Amir’s conscience travels back again to the alley way. “Some hero I had been, fretting about the kite”(pg.116). Amir would never have stood up for the lady, comparable to how he never stood up for Hassan in the alleyway. Back in the alleyway Amir had been given the perfect chance to stand up for Hassan, relatable to how Hassan had stood up for Amir innumerable times before. Instead, in a time that he could have proven to his father that he was a man, he was a boy. Not necessarily as a result of not been taught to stand up for others, but by cause that the idea of proving himself to Baba was more appealing than sacrificing the kite. “Sometimes, I too wondered if I was really Baba’s son.” (pg.116). Both Amir and Baba cannot understand how they are related. Baba fits his nickname“Toophan agha, or “Mr. Hurricane”...my father was a force of nature, a towering pushton specimen” (pg. 12) vs. Amir, a shy scrawny child who cannot stand up for himself, let alone …show more content…
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
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...
Amir’s redemption is a large part of the novel and is carried out almost entirely until the end of the story. He travels to rescue Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from the orphanage he was placed in after the death of his parents. He promises to find him a safe home with someone but after time passes he feels like this is not enough. He then speaks to his wife and decides to take Sohrab back to the United States with him and take care of his as if he was one of his own. Earlier in the novel when Baba is speaking Amir over hears his conversation as he is referring to him stating, “A boy who won 't stand up for himself becomes a man who can 't stand up to anything” (Hosseini, 22). Thus meaning that if he is able to stand up for himself as a young boy, when he is grown he will not be able to stand up for anything that is in his future. This is true throughout the story until he stands up for himself and Sorhab when he is arguing with his life long bully, Assef. Amir lacked the courage to defend himself in the novel until he finally took charge and went against
*Baba is somehow ashamed to have Amir as a son, he's skeptical because they are so different and Amir is like his opposite in so many ways.
Baba, is what Amir called his father. Amir always looked up to Baba. He never wanted to disappoint him. Amir always wanted to be the only boy in the eyes of his father. He was jealous and would do anything for Baba to look up to him or respect him, as his son. Hence, the kite and alley incident. Through all the lies and deception, Baba still viewed Amir as innocent in many ways. Though Baba always wanted Amir to be athletic, play soccer, and display a talent of kite running and flying like Hassan and himself, he still loved Amir and saw his talents as a
Baba is a very high standing man in Kabul, but seems to be extremely harsh to Amir when he was a child. He is a very large, tough man who was very well known in the town and as Amir stated in the novel, “Lore has it my father once wrestled a black bear in Baluchistan with his bare hands” (Hosseini 12). This small detail of Baba makes it known to the reader that Baba is a man of great courage and strength. Some may think that an honorable man is one with no flaws, but many disagree. Every human being makes mistakes, including Baba. When Amir grows up and goes back to visit Rahim Khan in Afghanistan, he finds out that his father lied to him his entire life about Hassan being his half-brother. He also finds out from Rahim Khan that all Baba had back then “was his honor, his name” (Hosseini 223). He did not tell Amir and Hassan that they were brothers because they had a different mother and that would have made their entire family be looked down upon in the town. He did it for their own good, and wanted for them both to grow up as honorable men, like himself. There is a difference in making mistakes and trying to do what’s best to fix them, rather than making the same mistakes over and over again, which is what Amir seemed to do in the novel. Amir was the exact opposite of his father, which made it very hard for them to have a
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”’
It is difficult to face anything in the world when you cannot even face your own reality. In his book The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses kites to bring out the major themes of the novel in order to create a truly captivating story of a young boy’s quest to redeem his past mistakes. Amir is the narrator and protagonist of the story and throughout the entire novel, he faces enormous guilt following the horrible incident that happened to his closest friend, Hassan. This incident grows on Amir and fuels his quest for redemption, struggling to do whatever it takes to make up for his mistakes. In Hosseini’s novel, kites highlight aspects of Afghanistan’s ethnic caste system and emphasizes the story’s major themes of guilt, redemption and freedom.
He writes Amir a letter and tells him not to feel guilty about what he has done. Even in person, Rahim Khan says to Amir “[insert quote here].” Rahim Khan has no reason to care about Amir and be nice to Amir and yet unlike Baba, he does. He shows that love and care do not need a reason. This is something that both Amir and Baba seem to struggle with throughout the book.
Throughout the story Baba is shown as brave and powerful through symbolism of the bear, while Amir is found to have no connection with the bear. In the story Amir states that, “I have imagined Baba's wrestling match countless times, even dreamed about it. And in those dreams, I can never tell Baba from the bear” (12). Amir, not being able to tell the bear from Baba shows his strength and power. The way Amir is imagining and dreaming about Baba wrestling the bear shows how he looks up to Baba and adores him. But also how Amir is unable to identify who is who shows that how Baba’s powerful characteristics also make others fear him. As Amir was reflecting he thinks, “In the end, I ran. I...
As he grows into a man and pushes his regrets to the side - though not ever completely out of his mind - he learns to live through and accept the pain he caused both himself and his best friend, Hassan. Towards the end of the novel, Amir goes to great lengths to earn the redemption he feels he needs in order to finally be at peace. The Kite Runner asks the audience what it truly means to be a good person - do we need to be born with goodness in our hearts, do we live the way that is comfortable and right according to ourselves, or do we have to constantly fail and prove that we are good?
The longing for parental acceptance is often what leads to childhood downfall. At some point a child strives to make their parent proud. When a lack of attention is displayed in a parent child relationship there is a lack of communication and support. In The Kite Runner this type of relationship is shown through Baba and Amir's interactions. Throughout The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Amir and Baba’s relationship takes many turns. Their relationship affects the plot through many situations such as when Baba acts uninterested in Amir's life, When Baba fails to treat Amir the same as Hassan, and when Baba takes his guilt and anger out on Amir.
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 him. 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.
Not only did Amir ran away, but he never told anyone what he saw, this including Hassan. However, this is not his last sin, for in a few months later Amir frames Hassan for thief. Hassan, when faced with Baba, say that he stole the items in question to protect Amir. And shorty leaves Baba’s service with his father against Baba insistent to stay with them and solve the issue in a differ manner… In the end, Amir got the bonding time he what with his father, however, at a cost of not helping Hassan in his greatest time of
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,
In the beginning Amir is a coward who cant defend himself and through out the book this begins to change and finally he fully changes in the end of the book. Amir never was the type of boy to fight or stand up for himself. For example, Amir over hears Baba say to Rahim Khan, “You know what happens when the neighborhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fend them off…Im telling you Rahim, there is something missing in that boy” (Hosseini, 23). Baba is complaining to Rahim and he doesn't understand why Amir lacks the courage to stand up for himself. He puzzles that Hassan is the one to step in and defend Amir. He also is very confused over the fact that a hazara is more courageous than his son. Baba knows that Amir is not violent and he wishes that he would just stand up for himself. Amir overhears this and is very troubled that Baba doesn’t approve of him. To Amir this is a realization that he is a coward and his father notices it. Later in the book, Amir sees Hassan being raped and he is contemplation jumping in and being courageous because he says, “I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide ...