In great literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. Certain tragedies have to occur to enliven and drive the plot. The book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a story of the relationship between two friends, Amir and Hassan, living in 1975 Afghanistan, a country on the brink of war. The events in Afghanistan mirrors what is happening between Hassan and Amir. Violence erupts both in the outside environment and within the relationship. The reader is confronted with many important scenes of violence in this story, but one particular scene stands out. This one scene of violence is the turning point and driving force of the novel, helps with character development and creates many themes, adding to the overall meaning of the book …show more content…
It is the climax and turning point in the novel. It creates a domino effect to unravel the next series of events. Amir is too full of guilt to see Hasan every day, so he accuses him of stealing and Hassan and his father have to leave. This separates the 2 families that spent their lives together. Also, It helps develop the character that Amir is and shapes him into who he becomes. This scene makes Amir realize the darkness and evil that he is capable of, darkness which stems from his jealousy and cowardice. He tries to overcome these traits throughout the story. When making the decision whether to save Hassan's son or not he remembers “ Baba saying that my problem was that someone had always done the fighting for me” (Hosseini 227). His desire to overcome his cowardice is in part what pushes him to go find Hassan's son. After the incident, Amir is also constantly full of guilt. His life continues on, his father dies, he gets married but he still lives with the burden of what he has done. One day, Amir is presented with the option to go back to Afghanistan and make up for what he has done by saving Hassan's orphaned son. Rahim khan, Amir's father's dying friend, tells Amir that “there is a way to be good again” ( Hosseini 192). The rest of the novel is essentially Amir trying to make up for his actions. The scene of violence sets a story of a man trying to find redemption, trying to be “good again.” Rahim Khan tells Amir that “...and that, I believe is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good” (Hosseini 302). That is exactly what Amir has done, he’s lived with guilt all his life and turned that to good by saving Hassan's son, which shows that the feeling of remorse is the difference between a good person like him, and an evil one like Assef. The scene also sets many other themes, such as the theme of forgiveness. A letter from Hassan to Amir says shows that he has forgiven Amir despite all that he
Despite living majority of his life with the guilt of not helping Hassan, Amir’s nemesis is yet to come. Destiny plays a huge game with Amir and reveals to him that Hassan is his illegitimate brother during his visit with Rahim Khan. Reacting with various emotions, Amir first decides to head back about to America, but in the end makes the first brave decision in his life by going back to Kabul “…to atone not just for [his] sins, but…Baba’s too” (198). Amir tries to compensate for his sin by rescuing Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from the brutality occurring in Kabul. Amir puts his entire life in jeopardy by facing the oppression in Kabul so he could make a genuine effort in eliminating his sins. In an ideal world, when one truly makes an effort to redeem themselves for their wrongdoings, they are usually gifted with forgiveness. However, in reality, Amir’s heroic act of saving Sohrab, did not free him of sorrow because he still has to live with his nemesis for the rest of his life. By taking Sohrab to America with him, Amir constantly is reminded of his hamartia by envisioning Hassan through Sohrab. This shows how the guilt from a cowardly act leads one into a lifelong feeling 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...
Because of Amir’s extreme desire to receive the attention and affection from Baba, he begins to subconsciously sacrifice his relationship with Hassan in order to fulfill his interests. However, as Amir continuously matures and begins to recognize his initial ignorant, detrimental actions towards Hassan, he no longer “worship” his father like he did in the past. This causes him to ensure a sense of independence because of his ability to quickly adapt to a completely new, unfamiliar environment and remain adamant on pursuing their own aspirations.
The Kite Runner, is the first novel written by Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner is set in Afghanistan before the war in the city of Kabul, and then eventually in America. The novel relays the struggles of Amir (A young Shi’ boy), Hassan (a young Hazera servant boy) and Baba (Amir’s father) as they are growing up in an ever-changing Afghanistan. The young boys face difficult challenges most adults will never have to experience. Amir, Hassan, and even Baba must overcome cruelty in every aspect of their lives.
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
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
Amir learns of many things going on in another world that will hopefully help with his guilt once and for all. In Rahim Khan's call he says “there is a way to make things good again,” this may be the most powerful quote in the book as it shows both the reader and Amir that there is a solution to his guilt. Amir eventually finds out from Rahim that Ali was sterile: “she left him childless after three years and married a man in Khost. She bore him three daughters”. Amir puts the dots together and is outraged, but not only that it adds a major connection to the theme of guilt. Baba carried around the guilt of having sex with the wife of what he viewed as his brother, it shows a deeper theme that it's a generational thing starting with Baba betraying Ali and Amir betraying Hassan. Amir shows him coming to see Rahim as: “a way to end the cycle”. Amir recognizes this as his only way to relieve himself of his guilt and also Babas.
Amir begins to feel redemption when he goes to Pakistan and Rahim Khan has letters from Hassan to Amir. In the letters, Hassan begins talking about his wife and
Amir’s development from being “a boy who won’t stand up for himself,” to a man that stands up for the morally responsible thing to do (22, Hosseini). When Amir was a child, he tried to escape from his sins in the past by hiding them with lies. However, this only made it worse for Amir, causing him to be an insomniac for much of his life and putting himself through constant torment. Only when Amir became a man, like Baba wanted him to be, was Amir able to face the truth of what he done and put himself on the path of redemption. Even when Amir was suffering a violent beating from Assef, Amir was able to laugh because he knew he was doing what he should have for Hassan years ago. Amir’s development from a child, who lies in order to cower from their own mistakes, into a man, someone who is not only able to admit his sins, but atone for them, is essential to communicating the theme of redemption being the only way to settle with your
Hosseini constructs parallels between Amir’s relationship with both Hassan and Sohrab in order to provide Amir with the chance to redeem himself. He heads Rahim Khan’s advice as he finds a way “to be good again” (226). Amir builds a new relationship with Sohrab and ultimately earns the redemption he longed for. Without the connection between Sohrab and Hassan, Amir would never have been able to make amends for his past. He not only earns Hassan’s forgiveness, but also his own, which is what truly allows Amir to move on.
Amir’s core conflict in the novel is an internal conflict between himself and guilt. From the day he is born Amir is tainted with guilt, he admits to this guilt when he says “I always felt like Baba hated me a little. And why not? After all, I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn’t I?” However his greater guilt comes from his two betrayals of Hassan: watching him get raped and framing him for stealing his birthday money to get him fired. For the next 25 years Amir carries with him the shame and guilt from the winter of
Amir is a man who is haunted by the demons of his past. This is first shown in the opening lines of the novel “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but 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 pg.#) These opening lines of the novel foreshadow what is yet to come. You can see that Amir looking back at the past with an attempt to justify why he is the man he is today. In the winter of 1975 it was the final round of the Kite Running tournament when Hassan choice to run the last kite for Amir. In doing so Hassan is corner by Assef and his gang who question Hassan’s loyalty to Amir. They give Hassan the choice to give them the kite in exchange to do no harm to him or to...
The only reason that Hassan got raped was that he was trying to get a kite for Amir. Now the kite acts a reminder to Hassan of his wrong-doing and it will now begin to haunt him for a long time. Although when in America, Amir does not get reminded about Hassan, deep inside he still feels guilty. Amir immediately begins to feel the most guilt when he goes to Iran when Rahim Khan, Amir’s childhood friend, asks him to come. He feels that Rahim Khan has reminded him of his “past of unatoned sins”(Hosseini 2).
In retrospect, as time progresses and the burden of redemption increases, Amir goes to the further extremes to receive forgiveness from Hassan. He acknowledges that Hassan will only be truly happy and exonerate him once Sohrab, his son, is. This is why when at the end of the novel Amir states, 'It was only a smile, nothing more... but I'll take it' is so significant. As previously Sohrab attempted to commit suicide, he is now finally content. As the novel concludes the pressure is removed from Amir which is why his narration is at its most reliable.
With the combination of Amir learning of Hassan and Farzana’s death, leaving Sohrab and orphan, and seeing Hassan’s forgiveness and loyalty in this letter, he has no choice to try and fix up his broken past he had with Hassan through Sohrab. Because of Hassan’s loyalty, it was able to make Amir see that it was finally time to show some loyalty to Hassan and bring his own family together by collecting Sohrab, who is his own nephew. Together all of these quotes show some of the different acts of loyalty that different characters had shown throughout the book. If Hassan had not shown compassion, forgiveness and loyalty in his letter to Hassan, it most likely would not have mended their friendship and brought together their family. All relationships in the world whether it is family or friends, need to have a strong base of loyalty shown from both sides, in this novel, it tells about the different relationships and different acts of loyalty different characters had shown, which in the end helps bring family and friends back together. This can be a real life lesson to always be loyal to close friends and family because in the future