Ashley Hade
Mrs. Fegan
AP Lang
30 July 2014
The Cowardly Afghan Boy “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who won’t stand up to anything,” Baba noticed of his young son, Amir. It was the winter of 1964 when Hassan was born in a little shack outside of the father and son’s home that would change the rest of the immature Afghani’s life. Baba, an honorable and praised man, maintained unorthodox beliefs and courage to last his entire country an eternity. He grew up with a Hazara servant, Ali, who remained loyal throughout his entire service. Hassan lived as his only offspring, yet later discovered to be Baba’s child, grew up with Amir like a brother, always happily obeying and defending him. Throughout The Kite Runner, Baba’s statement about courage proved extremely significant. The evidence of which presented itself when Amir ignored Hassan’s attack, pleaded his father not say anything to the taunting Russian checkpoint soldier, and when he nearly
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Baba saw no justice in being an onlooker whilst a crime took place, which is exactly why he confronted the soldier, saying he would rather die than let a married mother be violated. Amir was selfish though, begging his father to sit back down and be quiet. Unlike Baba, Amir had little bravery and would not stand up for himself, let alone a strange woman. In his mind, sacrificing the good-mindedness of a fellow passenger seemed far better than being held there. Throughout the book, Amir explains himself as not understanding women for he never had a mother or sisters. He grew up around men and therefore never learned proper respect and treatment towards women. He recalled on his wedding night, “All my life, I’d been around men. That night, I discovered the tenderness of a woman.” He was scorned for not learning what Baba had tried to teach him all of his life:
In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini the, main Protagonist is a man that goes by the name Amir. Some argue that he is an anti-hero, or not a hero. No. Amir is a hero. Amir is just another person who was lost at one point and needed direction and needed clear the guilty feelings he had. Through these actions he creates a heroic journey, he follows a hero’s path.
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
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. 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 help a
As a child Amir grew up with a young servant Hassan, who he considered his friend only in private, and treated him as a worker around others. Despite this poor treatment Hassan remained extremely loyal and kind. Amir then witnessed something horrific happen to Hassan and had the ability to stop the act from happening, but chose to run away out of a selfish fear of what would happen to him. “[Amir] ran because [he] was a coward…[he] was afraid of getting hurt”(Hosseini 77). With the heavy guilt this caused him to live with he framed Hassan for theft, the “one sin”(Hosseini 17). Hassan eventually chose to move away, which resulted in little relief for Amir. Amir continued his life attempting to forget from what he had done but realized “It’s
Some relationships with others can either have a positive or negative affect on you. In The Kite Runner, this can be proven, through the relationships Amir and others. Through his childhood Amir had one true friend, Hassan. Hassan always had his back when he would say “For you a thousand times over!” (67). Hassan always stood up for Amir whether it was to Assef or Baba. When it came to Baba, Amir wanted him all to himself. Amir says, “He asked me to fetch Hassan too, but I lied and told him Hassan had the runs. I wanted Baba all to myself,” (13). Amir had a close relationship with his father, Baba, but could feel the close relationship between Baba and Hassan too (14).
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
The Kite Runner, he struggles to earn the approval of his father. In his conquest, the goal often obscures his ability to form proper choices and take the right course of action in response to external factors. Amir’s envy for Hassan and admiration for Baba detriment his idea of self-acceptance and accordingly effectuate his motivation to remove the loyal servant from his life; in doing so, he neglects to see the negative effects on the people closest to him. The need for sons to feel approval from their fathers plays a crucial role in determining the true nature of men. Amir’s wish to be the supreme son in his father’s eyes steers him to win over Baba at all costs, even if it means he must betray the person who would do anything “for [him], a thousand times over” (67).
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.
Amir is convinced Baba hates him because his mother died during his birth. Winning the kite competition would allow him to “finally be pardoned for killing [his] mother”. The fact that Baba has made Amir feel like his mother’s death is his fault shows just how unconnected they are. Amir has been longing for his father’s forgiveness for 12 years, and for something that he had no control over at the time. Baba has never made Amir feel special, and now Amir is set on earning Baba’s endearment once and for all. After winning the kite competition, Hassan says he would go running for the kite, so Amir can give it to Baba and finally receive his affection. After a while, Hassan has not returned and Amir starts to look for him. He finds Hassan cornered in an alley by Assef, the town bully, and his friends. Amir stays back and watches from a place where no one can see him. Not wanting to face Assef himself, Amir watches as Hassan gets raped. While watching, Amir thinks “nothing is free in this world. Maybe Hassan is the price[he]has to pay, the lamb [he] has to slay, to win Baba. Is it a fair price?... He’s just a Hazara isn’t he?”
In the novel The Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini writes about Amir a young Afghan child who is a coward and who later as an adult seeks redemption from past mistakes. These characteristic effects Amir’s live throughout the novel from childhood to present. However, these are just words on a paper without some proof and the novel happily supports this either through the events or the behavior of other characters. Now let’s start with Amir’s past childhood.
Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, grew up in prejudiced Afghanistan during the 1960’s as a middle-class Pashtun living with Hazaras working for his family. His move to America after the Communist Coup proved difficult for his family, especially his father. In his novel, Hosseini writes through a young boy, Amir, very similar to himself, who grows up with his father and two Hazara servants in Afghanistan at the time of the Taliban attacks. Both Amir and his father, Baba, treat their servants, Hassan and Ali, like family. Society, however, does not approve of such relationships between Pashtuns and Hazaras. As Amir hides and watches horrified, another Pashtun boy rapes Hassan. This leads to the continuation of Amir’s internal conflict about the treatment of Hazaras by the public, and also makes him feel guilty and self-conscious throughout his entire life. In addition, Amir strives for affection and attention from his rather indifferent father. Amir’s outward conformity to societal values in his relationships with both Hassan and Baba, as a result of his inner struggle and guilt, contribute greatly to the significance of The Kite Runner.
In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, the author follows the development of protagonist Amir through a life filled with sorrow, regret, and violence. Amir encounters numerous obstacles on his path to adulthood, facing a new test at every twist and turn. Amir embarks on the long journey known as life as a cowardly, weak young man with a twisted set of ideals, slowly but surely evolving into a man worthy of the name. Amir is one of the lucky few who can go through such a shattered life and come out the other side a better man, a man who stands up for himself and those who cannot, willing to put his life on the line for the people he loves.
Now yes, there are multiple excuses for why Amir did not do anything to stop it. Some of them include that he was too young, too inexperienced, and too weak but even with all of those there is no reason that Amir should have let that happen. Amir fully agrees with his cowardliness when he says “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.” This quote brings up Amir’s final major flaw. How badly he tries to make his father happy. Everything that Amir does revolves around making his father proud of him. This is easily shown by an early quote saying, “Baba and Rahim Khan were drinking tea and listening to the news crackling on the radio. Their heads turned. Then a smile played on my father's lips. He opened his arms. I put the kite down and walked into his thick hairy arms. I buried my face in the warmth of his chest and wept. Baba held me close to him, rocking me back and forth. In his arms, I forgot what I'd done. And that was good.” (pg 148) Baba’s happiness with Amir is all that Amir wants in his life and that is what dictates a lot of his decision in his young and older
As a foreword, the story of The Kite Runner focuses on a man named Amir. In his childhood, he enjoyed a high-class life in Kabul, Afghanistan, living with his father Baba. They have two servants, Ali and his son Hassan. They are Hazaras, a lower class ethnic minority in Afghanistan. In one Winter of their childhood, Amir and Hassan participate in a kite-fighting tournament; the goal is to be the last kite flying. When a kite is cut, boys chase after it as a trophy. Amir wins the tournament, and Hassan flies to catch the losing kite. Later, following Hassan's path, Amir comes upon a neighbourhood bully named Assef about to rape Hassan who has the trophy, the blue kite. Amir does not interject, believing this will secure him the kite. Thus, Amir sets forth a chain of events he must redeem in his adulthood.
When Amir takes Baba to the doctors, the doctor suggests chemotherapy for Baba to prolong the cancer but Baba did not want any medication. Amir tells the reader, “He had the same resolved look on his face as the day he’d dropped the stack of food stamps on Mrs. Dobbins’s desk” (156). Baba did not want help even if his life was on the line. Baba also starts to take pride in Amir when he tells General Taheri, “Amir is going to ne a great writer,” Baba said. I did a double take at this” (139). Amir is starting to realize that his father who was untouchable and was a legend in Kabul was truly human. When Amir tells Baba that he wants to marry Soraya, Baba calls General Taheri to set up a meeting between the two men. As Amir dropped off Baba at the Taheri’s for the meeting, he says, “Baba was hobbling up the Taheri’s driveway for one last fatherly duty” (163). In this instance, Amir sees Baba as a true father. Amir feels Baba’s acceptance when Baba tells Amir on lafz, “It’s the happiest day of my life Amir” (166). Baba is telling Amir that through everything in his life from him marrying Sophia, to Amir winning the kite tournament, all the way to Amir graduating high school, Baba has never been prouder. After Baba’s death, Amir says, “As words from the Koran reverberated through the room, I thought of the old story of Baba wrestling a black bear in Baluchistan. Baba had