Betrayal In Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner

451 Words1 Page

The Kite Runner is filled with many secrets that are uncovered throughout the story. Readers find out that Amir is not the only one who has a big secret, but his father, Baba, did as well. Although there is a balance between Baba and Amir’s lives, it is possible that Baba’s secret does not contain betrayal the same way Amir’s does. Baba did indeed sleep with Sanubar and as a result have Hassan. For the most part Baba’s deed seems like an act of betrayal, unless he did it on purpose. It can be assumed that Baba deliberately slept with Sanubar to give Ali a child. The most prominent reason for this belief is that Ali could not have children. Rahim Khan tells Amir, “Ali was sterile” (Hosseini 308). This would be the sole reason that Baba slept with Sanaubar. However, Rahim Khan never tells Amir that this was the reason. Instead he only explains how shameful the …show more content…

Sanaubar is described as a seductive woman, who had a dishonorable reputation. "I have heard that Sanaubar’s suggestive stride and oscillating hips sent men into reveries of infidelity” (Hosseini 26). Furthermore, when Hassan gets taunted by soldiers they make crude remarks about his mother. “I knew your mother, did you know that? I knew her real good. I took her from behind by that creek over there” (Hosseini 25). Sanaubar’s reputation supports the belief that Baba slept with her for purely pleasure. Additionally, Sanaubar did not love Ali, which can explain why it would be so easy for her to be unfaithful to him. She refers to Ali saying “this is a husband? I have seen old donkeys better suited to be a husband” (Hosseini 28). Everyone knew their marriage had been arranged. The last time Sanaubar is seen for years is after giving birth to Hassan.“She ran off with a clan of travelers singers and dancers” (Hosseini 24). Perhaps leaving her sins in

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Critic Roland Barthes's 'The Kite Runner'

    1354 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Moral Ambiguity In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    Moral ambiguity is lack of clarity in decision making. Basically, moral ambiguity is when you have an issue, situation, or question that has moral or ethical elements, but the morally correct action to take is unclear, due to conflicting. The author of The Kite Runner is Khaled Hosseini, the book is about a boy named Amir and how much of a easy life he has at first, but near the middle of the book his life is horrible from there to the end of the book.

    Read More

  • Foil In The Kite Runner

    420 Words  | 1 Pages

    Baba is overtly masculine, often described as a “bear of a man.” He is physically powerful with broad shoulders and exude. He exudes this energy to come across more powerful and assertive. Rahim Khan, appears wise and softer, in comparison to the rough Baba. To Amir, this represents a positive vs. negative battle in his life. Rahim Khan is the light, and Baba the dark. Amir, who desperately seeks Baba’s attention, is conflicted between following his dreams and making Baba proud. This contrast is highlighted by their opposite behaviors and mannerism. This good vs. evil resonates throughout the book. When it is revealed that Baba had “stolen the

    Read More

  • Redemption In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amir then decides to forget about his sin because he thinks nothing can be done now that it is already committed. A while later, Amir and Baba moved to America because of the ongoing war in Afghanistan. . He tries to start a new life over there, “For me, America was a place to bury my memories.” (129).

    Read More

  • Belief In The Kite Runner

    1304 Words  | 3 Pages

    Three times Amir goes to great lengths to get Baba’s love. First, Amir doesn’t intervene when Hassan is getting raped because he doesn’t want to ruin the glory he will receive from Baba. He wants the approval and love of his father so bad that he validates what he did by saying “he was just a Hazara” (Hosseini 77). Amir is so infatuated with

    Read More

  • Kindness In The Kite Runner

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    Baba betrays his friend, Ali, by impregnating Ali’s wife when he was young, but he is regretful for it and spends a life-long time redeeming himself. As a result, Baba does a lot of good things, like feeding the poor on streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need, and even bravely protecting a woman against a soldier who wants to rape her. Doing all of these things, he comes to be a kind person and gradually earns people’s respect. Yes, he successfully redeems

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Redemption In Rahim Khan's The Kite Runner

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    Baba is first depicted as an unreachable man who was well respected in the community. Amir recalls his birthday party where he was “scanning over the invitation list a week before my birthday party and not recognizing at least three-quarters of the four hundred [. . .] Then I realized they weren’t really coming for me. It was my birthday, but I knew who the real star of the show was” (94). Amir did not know it at the time, but Baba had sins he was trying to absolve. Through his actions toward redemption, Baba touched the lives of many. Regardless of their social status, Baba would lend a he Amir recalls how Baba “always carried an extra handful of Afghani bills in his pocket just for them; I’d never seen him deny a peddler” (245). Baba would offer his wealth to every beggar he came across. Along with this, he also built an orphanage with his own money, planning, and time. Baba did everything in his power to redeem himself and eradicate himself of the guilt in his heart. Some say he was redeemed; others disagree. Rahim Khan tells Amir of Baba’s dilemma:

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Amir And Baba In The Kite Runner

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 helping a friend. He shows his unconditional love when he suddenly packs up and leaves all he has ever known, “‘[Ali and Hassan] can’t live [there] anymore.life here is impossible for [them] now”’

    Read More

  • Kite Runner Redemption

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 his betrayal of his loyal friend and does so after saving Hassan’s son Sohrab. On the other hand, Baba betrays Ali and Hassan through his adultery and tries to redeem himself through his strong principles and acts of charity. Finally, Sanaubar ultimately hurts Hassan, as she abandons him at birth, but returns years later to

    Read More

  • Betrayal In The Kite Runner

    744 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to dictionary.com betrayal means "an act of deliberate disloyalty,”. Betrayal is something that is very prevalent throughout the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini which is a story about the betrayal that a young boy named Amir does to his friend Hassan. Amir shows that he is a betrayer to Hassan when he belittles, plots, refuses to acknowledge their friendship, and walks away from Hassan. With each betrayal listed they progressively get worse and worse as Amir continues to show how little he really cares for Hassan.

    Read More

  • Perfect Heroes In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

    1866 Words  | 4 Pages

    Baba is displayed as an immoral man while at home because he is not loving to his son and he cheated with his friends’ wife and had a child. Even some of Baba’s good qualities such as his care for Hassan and Ali, his father, seem to have a selfish motive behind them because he wants to keep his son close to him. While Baba is never the fatherly figure in the first part of the book, once they leave their home, Baba seems to care a lot more about Amir. This may happen because he does not always have Hassan around to remind him of the terrible mistakes that he made in the past. However, even when Hassan is leaving, Baba still cares about him. Even though Hassan may be a symbol of past mistakes, he is still Baba’s son in the end and family always has a strong bond. Therefore, Baba’s character shows his moral side because instead of hating his illegitimate son, he cares for him as much as he can given the cultural standards of the two opposing religions. By healing his cleft lip and remembering Hassan’s birthday every year, Baba is able to show his caring side that is seldom seen with his relationship with

    Read More

  • Baba In The Kite Runner

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Symbolism of the Bear in the Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini

    712 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the story Baba is shown as brave and powerful through symbolism of the bear, while Amir is found to have no connection with the bear. In the story Amir states that, “I have imagined Baba's wrestling match countless times, even dreamed about it. And in those dreams, I can never tell Baba from the bear” (12). Amir, not being able to tell the bear from Baba shows his strength and power. The way Amir is imagining and dreaming about Baba wrestling the bear shows how he looks up to Baba and adores him. But also how Amir is unable to identify who is who shows that how Baba’s powerful characteristics also make others fear him. As Amir was reflecting he thinks, “In the end, I ran. I...

    Read More

  • Baba's Betrayal

    323 Words  | 1 Pages

    I believe that Baba was truly a good man. The Baba’s betrayal, hurt Ali and it left Baba with a son he couldn’t love due to society; this act ate away at his conscious and filled him with such guilt. In Rahim’s letter he states, “ You are still angry and I realize it is far too early to expect you to accept this, but maybe someday you will see that when your father was hard on you, he was also being hard on himself. Your father, like you, was a tortured soul, Amir jan” (301). Baba tortured himself for what was done in the past, showing how our guilt can end hurt others in so many ways. Baba’s guilt, in a way, forced to perform many charitable acts to atone for the sins he committed. “ Sometimes, I think everything he did, feeding the poor

    Read More

  • The Kite Miserables, And 'Les Miserables' By Khaled Hosseini

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    After losing his wife while she was in labor, he was burdened until the end of his life. Even his own son could not bring him joy due to the fact that he was not athletic, nor could he stick up for himself. He as well as society looked down upon Amir for his lack of manliness. Baba was constantly dealing with his own self conscience, yet did good deeds to cover them up and hide them from society so they also would not see how broken he was. He later on died with cancer, but was happy for his son. He did not feel dishonored, he was proud of Amir. Like Rahim Khan said “ Children are not coloring books. You don’t get to fill them with your favorite colors.” (pg. 21). This really spoke to Baba before his passing and made him realize that Amir was doing what he wanted to do, take his own path. Baba found peace in himself with his son and therefore died with no regrets. Some parents passed with grief for their children.

    Read More

More about Betrayal In Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner

Open Document