Baba In The Kite Runner

Throughout Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, Hosseini depicts a character unlike any other, Baba. Baba is portrayed throughout the novel as a tough man who is always willing to help someone in need. Baba seems to love and care for everyone in the novel except his son, Amir. Amir is always trying to pursue eminence in Baba’s eye and give Baba a reason not to loathe him. Amir thought Baba hated him because when Amir was born, it killed his mother, Baba’s “princess.” Baba’s transformation throughout the novel is very clear as he transforms from a father who despises his son, to accepting his son and finally being a true father to Amir. At the beginning of the novel, Amir and Baba do not get along. Amir sees Baba as “a force of nature,

After Amir wins, he turns back to look at Baba and he sees Baba “pumping both of his fists. Hollering and clapping. And that right there was the single greatest moment of my twelve years of life, seeing Baba on that roof, proud of me at last”(66). Baba now had something to be proud of in Amir. Baba had now accepted his son but Baba’s true transformation would come later when he and Amir leave Kabul and go to America. Baba leaves all his wealth, his power and all the respect he gained in Kabul to escape to America where he would end up working at a gas station and making close to minimum wage. Even though Baba moves to America, he never changed his principles; he just changed the way he acted around Amir. When Baba goes to the social services office, he “dropped the stack of food stamps on her desk. "Thank you but I don 't want," Baba said. "I work always. In Afghanistan I work, in America I work. Thank you very much, Mrs. Dobbins, but I don 't like it free money" (130). Baba acting differently in America was not all contributed to not having his wealth, but rather the way he lived. Baba did not feel as guilty living in America as he did in Kabul. While Baba was in Kabul, he could not share his wealth with his other son, Hassan, but now that Baba was in America with no wealth, he could focus on his relationship with Amir. On Amir’s graduation day, Amir says, “This was his day (Baba) more than mine. He

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