More handpicked essays just for you.
Narrative essay about forgiveness
A narrative essay on the importance of forgiveness
Narrative essay about forgiveness
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
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
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.
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.
Amir goes through many events that take place in the book that change him, and the way he is perceived within the book. Amir is a young boy, who is tortured by his father’s scrutinizing character. Amir is also jealous of Hassan, because of the fact that his father likes Hassan instead of Amir. Amir fights for his father’s approval, interest, and love. This is when Amir changes for the good as he deals with the guilt of the rape of Hassan. Amir witnessed Hassan getting raped, but decides to nothing in order to win over his father’s interest. The guilt that Amir builds up is carries from his premature times as a child to his mature times. From Afghanistan to
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...
(2) The Kite Runner follows Amir on his odyssey to redeem himself for his hurtful actions. Through this journey, Khaled Hosseini delivers the message that sin and guilt can always be atoned for. At the beginning of The Kite Runner, young Amir wins a kite fighting tournament. He feels like he has finally redeemed himself for his father.
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
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.
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
Repay evil with good, this the lesson Hassan teaches his son(Housseini 276), but is this always the right way, even in the face of overwhelming odds. Throughout The Kite Runner Hassan is seen as a moral compass smiling even in the worst of times. On the other hand, Amir the protagonist, struggles with who he is as a person and his past actions. Hassan is the person that Amir wants to be as Hassan is Amir’s idea of a good person. The example Hassan sets for Amir changes him from a bad person to a good person.
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...
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.
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
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.
...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.
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.