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Narrative essay about forgiveness
A narrative essay on the importance of forgiveness
Narrative essay about forgiveness
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The only thing that separates humans from the savagery of mere animals is our ability to distinguish right from wrong. Throughout thousands of years of evolution and our own constant road towards an unstable future, humans have long grappled with morals and ethics. It is up to the individual to determine what they believe to hold true in situations that test their values. Literature shows us scenarios to interpret without the risk of real experiences - literature tests our ideas of what it means to be “a good person”. Critic Roland Barthes describes literature as “the question minus the answer”. In the novel The Kite Runner by Hoseinni, we see through the eyes of an Afghan boy named Amir as he continuously makes selfish decisions fueled by …show more content…
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? When thinking of a “good person”, a common example often comes to mind. Usually, it is someone that makes decisions selflessly and has only pure intentions even when faced with the temptation of sin. These traits are often seen in the stereotypical hero or main character in a story. However, in The Kite Runner, these are only seen in the protagonist’s best friend, Hassan. Hassan is a servant to Amir, substandard in every way on the outside; …show more content…
Amir is, to be put bluntly, a coward. He is led by his unstable emotions towards what he thinks will plug his emotional holes and steps over his friends and family in the process. When he sought after Baba’s invisible love, Amir allowed Hassan to be raped in an alleyway just so that the blue kite, his trophy that would win his father’s heart, could be left untouched. In the end, he felt empty and unfulfilled with the weight of his conscience on his shoulders comparable to Atlas’ burden. Unable to get over his fruitless betrayal, he lashes out and throws pomegranates at Hassan before stuffing money and a watch under his loyal friend’s pathetic excuse for a bed, framing Hassan for theft and directly causing the departure of both servants from his household. Even after moving to America, finding a loving wife, and creating a career for himself in writing, he still feels hollow when thinking of his childhood in Afghanistan. Many years later, he is alerted of Hassan’s death and sets out on a frenzied chase to find his friend’s orphaned son. He feels that he can somehow ease his regrets from all of those years ago if he takes in Hassan’s son, Sohrab. He finds Sohrab as a child sex slave for Assef, who coincidentally was the one to rape Hassan all of those years ago. After nearly dying in his attempt to take back Sohrab, he learns that he can take the damaged child back to the states with him. Sadly, Hassan’s son is so
...and not self-sacrifice, giving a wide array of consequences. Amir serves as a way to show that it is possible to move from one end of the spectrum to the other. Jesus said in the bible, “There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends” (John 15:13), and an easy contrast to that made by the novel is “There is no greater sin than to lay down one's friends for one's life.” Whether as small as Wahid giving up some food to treat Amir like a guest, or as significant as Amir abandoning Hassan in his time of need, in The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini teaches that self-sacrifice brings wholeness while sacrificing another brings only guilt.
While Amir is a Sunni, his childhood friend Hassan is Shi’a, an inferior division of Islam. Simultaneously, Amir and Hassan belong to different ethnic groups-Amir is Pashtun while Hassan is Hazara. During his childhood, Amir would constantly mock Hassan’s illiteracy and poke fun at him. But, the pivotal demonstration of pressure from his surroundings that makes Amir commit his own act of cruelty is when he watches Assef rape Hassan for refusing to give him the kite that Hassan caught for Amir. To this, Amir describes the look of Hassan’s face to “a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb” (76). Throughout his upbringing, Amir constantly believed that his father blamed him for killing his mother in childbirth. To Amir, Hassan’s rape is a sacrifice that Hassan has to pay the price, the lamb to kill, in order to win his father over. To justify his refusal to intervene, Amir reminds himself that “[Hassan] was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” (77). Amir’s surroundings cause him to have a negative outlook on people that his society deem lower. Amir knows he is morally wrong for not helping Hassan, but his need for his father’s love overpowers his friendship. Adding to his pressures, Amir believes that Baba prefers Hassan over him, a belief that further drives him to be cruel to Hassan. As a result, Amir’s motivation for validation and love from his father
Redemption is gaining honor and self-forgiveness through a selfless act that reflects off of one’s regretful actions of their past. In the novel, The Kite Runner, Amir is the main character who goes through many life struggles and mistakes, then finds himself on a road to redemption. Amir and Hassan were best friends throughout their childhood and Hassan was the honorable, trusting best friend, the one to always take a stand for what he believed was right. Amir’s lack of courage caused him to stay silent in the worst of times, letting Hassan get tortured for the things he did not deserve. The themes of sacrifice, honor and redemption are carried out in many ways throughout this novel being shown through the actions of Hassan, Baba, and Amir.
To atone for his past sins, he embarks on a journey back to Afghanistan to redeem himself to Hassan for not treating him the way he was treated. He redeems himself by saving Sohrab and giving him a safer and enjoyable life in the Untied States. Amir tyres to attain redemption to baba for being the cause of his mother’s death as he believes. Gaining his fathers love and care will make him feel redeemed from all of the resentment and lack of care that his father shows to him. He must prove to Baba that he is worthy of spending time with everyday because he feels the hatred that his father shows to him. One way how he gets redemption from his father is by winning the kite running tournament to prove to him that he is worthy of being his son. Amir’s path of redemption is not only directed to other people but personal redemption for himself. He attempts to redeem himself by building an orphanage with his wife Soraya and giving Sohrab the childhood that is safer and more suitable for a young boy to grow up in. Amir has to realize that the past doesn’t define who someone is although you can’t forget the past, the actions that they decide to do to redeem themselves from the past mistakes defines who someone is. If Amir’s mother did not die at birth would he be resented from his father greatly and have to make great
“There is a Way to be Good Again”: Past Actions and Redemption in Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. In The Kite Runner, Amir, Baba and Sanaubar’s past actions all negatively affect those that are close to them, yet it is not their past that defines them, rather it is how they decide to amend their wrongdoings that reflects more on their character. After Hassan’s rape, Amir spends the rest of his life trying to redeem himself for the betrayal of his loyal friend and does so after saving Hassan’s son Sohrab.
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.
To begin, The Kite Runner expresses the continuous redemption of Baba and Amir that they try to achieve. People face their problem in different ways; some people face their problem and errors head on by admitting to or by fixing it while others decide to do so by doing more good to others which may balance out their sins. There are also other ways to accomplish redemption to oneself, in Baba's condition he strives to succeed in doing so by doing more good things to other people and to the Afghan community. Rahim Khan acknowledges the presence of Baba's guilt toward his faults and so he makes up for it by being a benefactor to his son, Hassan. Whom he cannot acknowledge due to the conflict of t...
Amir finds him with an old childhood acquaintance of his, Assef. In their childhood, Assef is the bully of the town and often gives Amir and Hassan a hard time with everything they do and often corners them on the streets or roads while they are alone. This cornering leads to Hassan’s rape at the hands of Assef. When Amir finally comes face to face with him again after all these years, he is both terrified and fuming. He and Assef finally agree to fight for the ownership of Hassan, as they always swore they would do as children. As they fight, Assef easily has the upper hand and is at the verge of hurting him almost to the point of death. As Amir is beaten, he can’t help laughing because he realizes that “I hadn’t been happy and I hadn’t felt better, not at all. But I did now. My body was broken – just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later – but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed” (Hosseini 289). After all these years of the pain and guilt building up and finding no way to release, Amir finally feels the guilt leave him. He sees this as the payback he has wants and needs in order to move on from him life. To live without guilt for the rest of his life. Sohrad eventually stops the fight as he shoots a brass ball into Assef’s eye. Amir is hospitalized for a couple weeks as he heals from his injuries and he and Sohrab sort out the details of them going back to America together. Although there are a couple major bumps in the road, Amir adopts Sohrab and they live together with Soraya back in America. Amir seems to feel that he has redeemed himself from his childhood mistakes once he adopts Sohrab and after the fight with Hassan. The pain has left him that he has been feeling all these years and he can finally live without the cloud of guilt over his
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.
As kids we are always taught to be kind and generous, but not all children follow the golden standards. In the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, we learn through Amir that some children are rude and relentless. As the main character, Amir takes us on a journey from childhood to adulthood. He goes from a childish boy to a mature man. A major contribution to this change is his move from Afghanistan to America and all the struggles that came along with it. Amir goes from having everything to nothing and with that he learns and grows. He has to decided whether or not to let the past slip into his new life and, how to deal with the bad acts he committed as a kid living in Afghanistan. Amir becomes a whole new person when he becomes an adult, and it is for the better.
Forgiveness and redemption make up considerable parts of our lives, as we all make mistakes. For some of these mistakes, we need to atone ourselves and gain forgiveness of either ourselves or another individual. Many times, we make big decisions based receiving forgiveness for the past mistakes we have made. This theme of forgiveness and atonement is also conveyed in the Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini. Forgiveness and atonement is a significant theme throughout the Kite Runner because it causes many of the major events in the story, which is illustrated when characters do certain actions or make decisions driven by the possibility of atonement or forgiveness.
At first Hassan is one of Amir’s joys in life from all the times that they play together. Unfortunately, after Hassan is raped by Assef, all that had changes. Amir feels extremely guilty about not doing anything to save Hassan from Assef. Out of guilt, Amir resolves to get rid of Hassan in an attempt to remove his guilt, Amir goes on to say “One of us had to go,”(Housseini 86). Afterwards Amir would live with the guilt of what he had done for a large portion of his life, he would regret his actions to the point of having insomnia and nightmares. It is not until the day Rahim Khan called Amir and tells him “a way to be good again,”(Housseini 166) that Amir takes his first steps to redemption. In order to make things up to Hassan, Amir goes to Kabul in order to rescue Hassan’s son Sohrab. It is not until Assef had begins beating up Amir, Amir admits that he feels healed(Housseini 248). After Amir takes Sohrab back to the U.S, when Amir is flying kites with Hassan’s son Sohrab, Amir finally feels free of the guilt that had been tormenting him for many years. Amir then makes a personal oath to make things better for Sohrab”For you, a thousand times over,”(Housseini 328). Amir had finally forgiven himself and becomes a new
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.
Born in a rich Afghani family as the only child, Amir was brought up by his father, a wealthy businessman and a philanthropist who had built up an orphanage. However, Amir didn't feel be loved by his father because his father was stringent and not appreciated Amir’s bashfulness character. Amir had a friend, Hassan - who is the son of Ali, the servant in his family. Amir not only played with Hassan but also envied him because Amir presumed that his father loved Hassan better than himself. One day, Amir was intercepted by the antagonist of the novel, Assef, because Amir and Hassan won the competition of flying a kite. Hassan passed by and saved Amir by shooting Assef’s face with his catapult. Thus, Hassan’s action enraged Assef and bred Assef’s revenge - Assef insulted Hassan in a remote alley. Amir witnessed the process but didn't stand out. Amir felt guilt of his behavior and, therefore, told his father that Hassan has stolen something in the house to fire Hassan. Although Amir’s father didn't believe Amir’s words but Hassan still left. A few years later, to escape for the war, Amir and his father left Afghan for America. Amir became a writer and married with Soraya, daughter of an Afghan officer, yet he still felt guilt of his offense about Hassan. One day, unfortunately, Amir heard that Hassan was killed by Assef and Hassan’s child, Sohrab, was captured. Told that Hassan was actually his brother, his father’s child with Ali’s wife, Amir decided to return Afghan to save Sohrab. Exper...
Amir’s anguish is put on hold after he receives a call from his father’s close friend Rahim Khan who informs him that “there is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 2). This news comes a shock to Amir because at this point in his life he has felt that what he had done in the past will cause his life to continue in disrepair until his death. Amir rushes to Pakistan to meet Rahim Khan and upon his arrival he finds that Hassan, the person whom his guilt is focused upon had been murdered by the Taliban. Amir learns why he has been brought to Pakistan after learning about Hassan’s Sohrab has been orphaned due to his lack of parents. Amir hunts down Sohrab and to do so he must go to the orphanage and find him. After arriving at the orphanage, Amir is told by the Zaman, the head of the establishment, that they regularly sell children to a Taliban leader for extra cash. Amir is shocked by his driver, Farid, in a fit of rage begins choking Zaman. Amir yells for Farid to stop because “the children are watching” (Hosseini 256). This is the first instance of AMir truly asserting himself because it marks the first time that someone is being physically hurt and he stands up for the victim. Once Amir finally tracks down his long lost nephew his final obstacle is to rescue him from Assef, the man who took away Amir’s best