The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

1155 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Metaphor for redemption in the kite runner

According to the Free Dictionary, redemption means the deliverance upon payment of ransom; rescue. Redemption is a very human thing, and most of us feel the need to redeem for something we feel guilt; because of this, redemption is a very used topic in many books. This makes the reader feel a bigger connection to the book and to its characters. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is one example of a book including this topic. The author uses the idea of redemption a lot throughout the book to give it importance and especial meaning. Many of the characters regret about many of the actions that they made in the past, actions that in a violent city like Afghanistan in the 80’s can create a great impact in one’s life. Hosseini is constantly giving an important theme of redemption in The Kite Runner; though redemption can´t change the events in the past, it can bring peace to someone who regrets about those events.

One of the characters that helps prove this theme is Amir. Amir feels the need to redeem to Baba because his mother died while giving birth to him therefore, he thinks the main reason why Baba hates him is because his mother’s death was in part his fault. Because of this, Amir thinks if he wins the kite contest, his dad will hate him less and will give the kite contest more importance forgetting his hate towards Amir. This event isn’t just the event that “redeems” Amir for killing his own mother but it is also the same event that leads to most of the story’s plot twist. Amir permits this event, he will later regret the most, because of the price he was looking to give Baba, the last kite that fell for his glory. When Hassan runs that kite for Amir and later meets with Assef, Amir lets Hassan get raped because he wanted that ...

... middle of paper ...

...hange the event. In The Kite Runner though Amir won the kite contest, his mother still remained dead, though Baba was loving and caring with Amir. Baba wasn’t fully proud. Though Baba treated Amir harshly and paid Hassan expensive gifts, Hassan still was son of another woman that wasn’t his wife. Though Amir saved Sohrab and adopted him, Hassan still got raped and murdered. Redemption doesn’t change what happened but brings closure and peace to those events and the guilt involved in them

Works Cited

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead, 2003. Print.

"The Kite Runner; Themes, Motifs, & Symbols." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 27
Jan. 2014. .

Mifflin Company, Houghton. "Redemption." The Free Dictionary. Farlex,
2009. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. .

Show More
Related

  • Kite Runner Theme Essay

    1380 Words  | 3 Pages

    Betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness are all major themes in The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini. The novel also focuses around the theme of a broken relationship between father and son as well as facing difficult situations from ones past. Amir and Hassan are best friends with two completely different personalities. Each character in the novel faces their own hardships and eventually learns to overcome those difficulties. Beginning with betrayal then the characters have to make their way to gaining redemption and forgiveness from others, as well as their self, is carried on throughout the novel. It is a continuous story of the relationships between Amir and his father Baba and facing their challenges from the past every day of their present.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Lying And Deceit In The Kite Runner

    810 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, shows how lying and deceit is a counterproductive route when trying to live with a dreadful past, exhibited through the actions of Amir. Amir’s decision to withhold the truth and blatantly lie in several situations due to jealousy and his desire for Baba to be proud of him amounts to further pain and misery for himself and those he deceives. Because of Amir’s deceit towards Baba and Hassan, his guilt from his past manifests itself into deeply-rooted torment, not allowing him to live his life in peace. The guilt from Amir’s past is only alleviated when he redeems his sins by taking in Sohrab, contributing to the theme that the only way “to be good again” is through redemption, not shunning the past.

    Read More

  • Kite Runner Redemption Quotes

    964 Words  | 2 Pages

    Redemption is defined as the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil. Throughout life, individuals are faced with numerous incidences of redemption that can be taken up or ignored. Those who choose to take the opportunity are often able to grow mentally and accelerate much further than those who do not. However, what must be taken into account is that true redemption is for oneself rather than for others. For example, redemption by finally getting a well-deserved promotion which impresses others is not truly beneficial redemption. What must occur is happiness for the promotion within. In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the employment of redemption as a central idea prevails throughout the novel, specifically in the life

    Read More

  • Kite Runner Analysis

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    Redemption is a capacity that both Amir from the remarkable novel Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseni along with Walt Kalwoski the main character of the unforgettable movie Gran Tornio, directed by Clint Eastwood, withhold. Both Walt and Amir were collided with life changing events that later shaped the individuals they are today. Nevertheless, throughout both stories, the protagonists are faced with opportunities to redeem themselves, often at the risk of hurting their loved ones more than they already have. “There is a reason for everything” and in Walt and Amirs case that saying is quite evident. Walt and Amir are two completely divergent characters with opposite personalities. However, this doesn’t interfere with the fact that both carry the weight of guilt and regret upon their shoulders. In spite of that, both characters atone to their faults by PUT POINTS HERE. Kite Runner and Gran Torino, both, break the ice with introducing the characters and efficiently showcasing their complications. As mentioned earlier, Amir is the protagonist of the novel. Typically, a main character that discusses their problems in the opening of a novel, catches the readers attention, let alone makes the reader them self feel sympathetic for this character. However, Amir is far beyond that statement. Amir expresses his feelings about his relationship with his father, Baba, and his shenanigans with Hassan. Amir struggles with his selfish conscious. Nevertheless, his adult view point when recollecting memories of the past, reminiscing on childhood events, isn’t as different. Running away is the one thing Amir tends to be best at. Running from his problems, people, past etc, As for Walt, Walt Kowalski is the main character of the film Gran Torino. ...

    Read More

  • A Quest for Redemption by The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    The other source of tension in Amir’s life is his relationship with Baba, his hard-driving and demanding father. Desperate to win his father’s affection and respect, Amir turns to the sport of kite flying, and at the age of 12, with the assistance of Hassan, he wins the annual tournament in Kabul. Amir’s victory soon is tarnished when he witnesses a vicious assault against his friend, who raced through the streets of Kabul to retrieve the last kite, Amir had sliced from the sky, and fails to come to his aid. Amir’s cowardness is compounded by a later act of betrayal that causes Ali and Hassan to leave their home, and he now faces the nightmare, bearing the burden of his poor choices for the rest of his life.

    Read More

  • Kite Runner

    1586 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, follows the maturation of Amir, a boy from Afghanistan, as he discovers what it means to stand up for what he believes in. His quest to redeem himself after betraying his friend and brother, Hassan, makes up the heart of the novel. For most of the book, Amir attempts to deal with his guilt by avoiding it and refusing to own up to his mistakes. Because of his past, Amir is incapable of moving forward. His entire life is shaped by his disloyalty to Hassan and his desire to please his father over helping his friends. Throughout the novel, his attempts to atone for his sins end in failure, as neither physical punishment nor rescuing Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from Assef prove to be enough for Amir to redeem himself. Only when he decides to take Sohrab to the United States and provide his nephew with a chance at happiness and prosperity that was denied to his half-brother does Amir take the necessary steps toward atonement and redemption. Khaled Hosseini uses a series of symbols to reinforce the message that atoning for one’s sins means making up for past mistakes, rather than simply relying on forgiveness from either the person one betrays or from a higher power.

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    In The Kite Runner a theme that is present is, your past will always haunt you; in order to redeem oneself and move forward, one has to go back to the past and make things better. In present time if one is charged with something, they have to go to court and plead guilty or not guilty; most people plead not guilty. Although people don’t like to admit it, they feel guilty deep down, which forces them to take drastic measures. Until the truth comes out and one redeems his or herself, their past will always haunt them.

    Read More

  • Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner

    1589 Words  | 4 Pages

    Writer Ayn Rand once said that, “Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self-indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values.” This happiness is not what a person feels when common pleasures occur in their lives, such as the purchase of a new car, or a promotion at work and an increase in salary. The feeling of genuine inner well-being and peace is a completely separate state of being that can be witnessed in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner. The two key characters to the story, Amir and Hassan, share a very unique relationship. They achieve the deepest longing of humanity to achieve happiness through the different choices they make and experiences they have. Hassan proves to be on the proper path to happiness early on with a strong moral conscience in his life, sense of purpose to serve others, and the self-confidence to be independent. On the other hand, Amir struggles to achieve these same qualities as Hassan; to do the right thing, to think of others, and to carry his own weight with confidence.

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    In my view The Kite Runner is an epic story with a personal history of what the people of Afghanistan had and have to endure in an ordinary every day life; a country that is divided between political powers and religiously idealistic views and beliefs which creates poverty, and violence within the people and their terrorist run country. The story line is more personal with the description of Afghanistan's culture and traditions, along with the lives of the people who live in Kabul. The story provides an educational and eye-opening account of a country's political chaos. Of course there are many things that are unsaid and under explained in this tragic novel which, in my observation, is an oversimplification. There is also a heavy use of emotional appeal, and an underlying message. This is a flag for propaganda.

    Read More

  • The Power of Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

    2126 Words  | 5 Pages

    Kite Runner depicts the story of Amir, a boy living in Afghanistan, and his journey throughout life. He experiences periods of happiness, sorrow, and confusion as he matures. Amir is shocked by atrocities and blessed by beneficial relationships both in his homeland and the United States. Reviewers have chosen sides and waged a war of words against one another over the notoriety of the book. Many critics of Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, argue that the novel would not have reached a lofty level of success if the U.S. had not had recent dealings with the Middle East, yet other critics accurately relate the novel’s success to its internal aspects.

    Read More

  • The Odyssey: A Tale of Redemption

    2140 Words  | 5 Pages

    What exactly does the term redemption actually mean? M. Wayne Clark, in his editorial titled “Redemption: Becoming More Human” in Expository Times, gives his own thoughts and ideas on what this word really means. Clark says that this word has several specific meanings. One of these is that “‘redemption is salvation from the states or circumstances that destroy the value of human existence itself’” (76). This is saying that this term is about being forgiven for past sins and crimes that someone has committed. Sins and crimes are known to be very fragile to someone’s right to exist as a human. Clark says another way that redemption can be defined is that it is a type of forgiveness that removes someone’s sha...

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner Compare And Contrast Essay

    2060 Words  | 5 Pages

    The story The Kite Runner is centered around learning “to be good again.” Both the movie and the book share the idea that the sins of the past must be paid for or atoned for in the present. In the book, Amir can be seen as a troubled young boy who is struggling with a tremendous amount of guilt. It is easy to blame Amir’s actions on his guilt and his father’s lack of love for him.

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner: Loss of Innocence & Redemption

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    The themes of the loss of innocence and redemption is used throughout the novel The Kite Runner to make a point that one can lose innocence but never redeem it. Once innocence is lost it takes a part of oneself that can never be brought back from oblivion. One can try an entire life to redeem oneself but the part that is loss is permanently gone although the ache of it can be dampened with the passing of time and acts of attempted redemption. Khaled Hosseini uses characters, situations, and many different archetypes to make this point.

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner Theme Essay

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a very interesting novel that has a very bold and challenging theme. This theme is seen early on in the novel, but becomes increasingly more and more intricate throughout the reading. The Kite Runner is a novel based on a man named Amir, who grew up in Afghanistan and lives his whole life dealing with betrayal and redemption. Throughout this book, Amir has a gigantic flashback describing his whole intoxicatingly sad life. Hosseini creeps into a dark emotional depth as he talks about all the struggles of an Afghani child during the 1970’s who’s father treated him like less of a child than his servant. He talks about the struggles of a boy that betrays his best friend, only later finding

    Read More

More about The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Open Document