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The kite runner literary essay
The kite runner literary theories
The kite runner literary theories
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First and foremost, Amir making Hassan think that they are friends is already an act of betrayal. Hassan treats Amir as his friend, best friend and his brother unlike Amir who shows that they are friends but in his mind Hassan is just a Hazara, just a slave nothing more. Not only does betrayal affects their friendship but also class status. Amir treats Hassan as a low class servant and shows him that he is superior than Hassan by saying “My favorite part of reading to Hassan was when we came across a big word that he didn't know. I'd tease him, expose his ignorance.” (pg.30). It shows that for Amir, Hassan is not really his friend just someone who he uses in order for his own gain.
This quote, an excerpt from the letter Rahim Khan wrote to Amir, reveals the inner torment Baba faced regarding his two sons, whom he didn’t know how to love fairly, and the guilt he carried for fathering an illegitimate son, guilt that is reminiscent of Amir’s guilt for betraying Hassan. All his life, Baba had been hard on Amir, withholding the fatherly affection Amir longed for, but, as Rahim reveals, this was also hard on Baba. Baba wanted to be able to show affection to both of his sons, but didn’t know how when one of his sons was illegitimate and the other represented everything that made him feel guilty. In this quote, it is also apparent that Baba is much more like Amir than either of them thought. Baba harbored guilt for betraying Ali, just as Amir suffered guilt for betraying Hassan.
In the book “THe Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, betrayal is is one of the big themes that occurs in this book. Amir shows the most betrayal of all, like him witnessing Hassan's rape and not helping him at all. That was his cowardly thing that he did and experiences guilt from it. Many years pass since that event he starts to feel what other people felt when he would betray them, like when he was betrayed by his father and Rahim Khan, because he found out that Hassan was his brother and he felt betrayal of trust just as he made the people he betrayed feel.
Happiness is everyone’s main goal in life; however, one cannot define happiness, nor how it is achieved. Happiness plays a pivotal role in the novel “Kite Runner”, written by Khaled Hosseini. The main character, Amir, is on a quest for happiness and strives for it throughout his entire life; however, it is not without struggle and hardship. Amir achieves many accomplishments in this novel which ultimately lead up to him becoming truly happy. One of Amir’s accomplishments that contributed in his quest for happiness is his marriage with his love, Soraya. Another one of Amir’s accomplishments that also contributed in his quest for happiness is the discovery of his father’s flaws. Furthermore, Amir also gained happiness by giving his orphaned nephew,
The Kite Runner is a book about a young boy, Amir, who faces many struggles as he grows up in Kabul and later moves to America to flee from the Taliban. His best friend and brother , Hassan, was a big part of his life, but also a big part of guilt he held onto for many years. The book describes Amir’s attempt to make up for the past and resolve his sins so he can clear his conscious. Amir is worthy of forgiveness because although he was selfish, he was very brave and faced his past.
‘The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies… It comes from friends and loved ones’ 1 this quote is quite competent here. What is betrayal? Betrayal is a very menial act of breaking the trust or the social contract with someone. It is probably the most devastating loss a person can experience. It is utterly copacetic that not all friendships are meant to last but it is very heartbreaking when bonds meant for eternity break due betrayal. In true friendship there is an ear to hear, and shoulder to lean on; there is a sense of safety, affinity, and acceptance. The ease and comfort. All of which was there between Amir and Hassan but there was also a sense of prominence that caused all predicament.
At times Amir had trouble realizing that they were best friends because Hassan was a Hazara, he was of Asian descent and of the Shiite tribe, he resembles his ancestors, the Mongols. Amir is a Pashtun, of the Sunni tribe, a majority group in Afghanistan. Hassan was loyal and showed endless amounts of respect and praise to Amir. Though Hassan knew what Amir had witnessed and done to him, he covered up for him. He did not ever let Amir get into trouble with Baba, his father. Hassan was also the half brother of Amir, neither knew until Rahim Khan, a friend of Baba’s informed Amir. He and Hassan had a connection, both as friends but also as brothers.
On multiple occasions, Amir deceives and betrays Hassan’s trust because of his jealousy towards Hassan’s relationship with
Hassan would do anything for his friends and treat everyone, even bullies, with respect because his respectful dad, Ali, taught him to always be loyal to all, and never hurt anyone. Ali was Baba’s servant and long-time friend, and stayed close to him throughout their childhood and adulthood. Amir's actions showed how much of a coward he was. Amir suffered his whole life living with the guilt of knowing that Hassan was raped, much like Baba lived his whole life in guilt knowing that he stole the truth from Ali by committing adultery.
This embarrasses and frustrates Amir. This frustration is one reason for Amir to slowly but surely push Hassan out of his life. Although it is not the most obvious reason, it is an underlying one. This is a mistake on Amir’s part because Hassan does so much for Amir, being the loyal friend that he is, and for Amir to push someone of such good moral and character out of his life, is a tremendous mistake on his behalf. It is quite obvious that Hassan would give his life for Amir, but, because of where Hassan comes from, Amir struggles throughout his childhood, to find a way to accept the friendship Hassan gives him.
Mistakes can be extremely influential to the person who made the mistake’s life. Khaled Hosseini uses multiple forms of conflict involving Amir, a character from his book The Kite Runner to show that mistakes can haunt a person’s life and have monumental effects on them in the future. Amir’s mistake was fatal and continued to affect him many years later, even into his adulthood. The internal and social conflicts occurring when Amir made his mistake clarify the gravity of his mistake as well as show why his mistake haunts him even as an adult. Hosseini uses internal and social conflict to show the fatality of Amir’s mistake which shows why this mistake haunts him and affects his choices years later.
Amir takes advantage of Hasan because he is a Hazara and his servant. “When it comes to words Hassan is an imbecile” (29). This is when Amir first starts to belittle Hassan knowing that he is a Hazara therefore illiterate. Instead of helping his friend, Amir chooses to instead downplay him and mock Hassan. “What would you do if I hit you with this?” (92). Amir pelting Hassan with the pomegranate after he asks this question continues his betrayal because Amir knew Hassan would not do anything about it. “A loyal Hazara. Loyal as a dog” (72). Assef of all people acknowledged that Hassan was loyal to Amir. This in some ways makes Amir as disgusting as Assef but it there are worse instances of betrayal by Amir.
In the begging we see that Hassan has always stuck up and covered for Amir no matter how much trouble Hassan knew he would have to face for it. Like in this passage where Amir suggests that Hassan fire walnuts into their neighbor's one eyed German shepard's eye, "I talked Hassan into firing walnuts with his slingshot at the neighbor's one-eyed German shepard. Hassan never wanted to, but if I asked, really asked, he would never deny me. Hassan's father, Ali, used to catch us and get mad . . . yes, father,' Hassan would mumble, looking down at his feet. But he never told on me. Never told that the mirror, like shooting walnuts at the neighbor's dog, was always my idea."(4) From this Amir should believe that Hassan is a good friend but because of Amir's failure to accept Hassan because of his standing in society and more focused on his standing with Amir's own father.
Hassan was too scared to tell anyone, even though this was a serious matter. Because of that, Amir and Hassan’s relationship grows far apart, like they barely even ne each other. So all because of Amir’s cowardice, a friendship has been
Throughout the novel Amir repeatedly betrays those close to him. One example is when Hassan was getting raped and even after that tragic event. The novel states “I could stand up for Hassan-the way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past... In the end I ran.” (Hosseini 77.)
Amir's blunt rejection to Rahim Khan’s request to bring Sohrab is an act of betrayal to Hassan. He betrays Hassan one more time, even when Hassan dies as a loyal friend. Through the book, Amir’s ongoing troubles haunt him as the years go by, but I believe he would take any opportunity to redeem himself.