Betrayal, redemption, and acceptance play a big role in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini,
most of the book is based around these notions. Throughout The Kite Runner, the protagonist Amir, has to deal with the guilt of betrayal, trying to find redemption for what he did, trying to get acceptance from others and even trying to accept himself. As Rahim Khan said. “There is a way to be good again.” (Hosseini, 2) But Amir has to overcome his fears to try to correct everything that he has done wrong.
The act betrayal plays a big role throughout The Kite Runner, most notably when Amir betrays Hassan, in a few different ways. Somewhat early into The Kite runner Amir and Hassan are in the big kite fight, when Amir cuts the last kite down Hassan
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goes to retrieve it. After a while Amir goes to look for Hassan, he came across Hassan being cornered in an alleyway by Assef and his friends, Assef beat up Hassan then raped him right after. Amir just watched as his best friend got tortured, instead of going into the alleyway to help Hassan, Amir just ran away, and waited for Hassan to come out the alleyway. “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. Was it a fair price?” (Hosseini, 82), After this incident Amir acts hostile toward Hassan, and tries to drive him away, Amir and Hassan later take a walk up to their favorite pomegranate tree on the hill, Amir asks what Hassan would do if he threw a pomegranate at him, and soon starts hitting Hassan with the pomegranates, trying to get Hassan to hit him back, but instead Hassan hits himself with it. Ths act shows how Amir is not sure how to deal with his emotions at the time, and resorts to physical violence, instead of just trying to talk to Hassan about what happened in the alleyway. Soon after when Amir is outside working with his father Baba, he asks Baba if they could hire new servants and fire Ali and Hassan, Baba reacts by getting mad at Amir and telling him they are family, he tells him to never ask that again. Amir decides that he could possibly get Hassan kicked out, if he made it look like he did something wrong. Amir’s thirteenth birthday had just passed, so he waited for Hassan and Ali to leave, and decided to take the watch his father gave to him, and take some money he got from other people.
And hide it under Hassan's bed to make it look like he stole it from Amir, and tried to hide it. Amir tells his father about how he believes that Hassan stole it. When Hassan and Ali returned from doing their work Baba confronted Hassan about stealing Amir’s watch and birthday money, Hassan lies and agrees to stealing it, even though he did not, Baba forgave Hassan for what he did. “Then I understood: This was Hassan's final sacrifice for me... He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again.” (Hosseini, 111) Ali and Hassan had decided to leave, they already had their bags packed. Baba demanded them to stay but they made their decision. This was the Amie had ever seen Baba cry. “That was when I understood the depth of pain I had caused . the blackness of the grief i had brought onto everyone, that not even Ali’s paralyzed face could mask his sorrow.” Ali and Hassan had left, Amir never saw Ali or Hassan again, he regrets everything he did, and continues to regret it for life. Baba also betrayed Ali, but in a different way than Amir. After Baba had died, Amir found out that Ali was not actually Hassan's biological father, but was actually in fact Baba. Since Ali
was sterile, Baba impregnated Sanaubar, and they passed it off as Ali’s own child. “As it turned out, Baba and I were more alike than i’d ever knows we had both betrayed the people who would have given their lives for us.” (Hosseini, 238) This is a reason why Baba treated Hassan so well, which Amir did not understand. In some ways this is not totally an act of betrayal, as it gave Ali his own son, since he was unable to have his own, It also gave Amir a friend that was like a brother, which he technically was. Baba would talk about how theft was a sin, and lying was a form of that,”When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth.” (Hosseini, 19) So in a way, Baba stole from Ali, by keeping him away from the truth, however it could have been a good thing for Ali to not find out. Redemption is another important notion in The Kite Runner. Early on Amir always tries to redeem himself in the eyes of his father, since Amir’s mother died in childbirth, Amir tries to redeem himself in a few ways to make him worthy to his father, like by winning the kite battle, and bringing home the final losing kite. This made Baba happy and reminded Baba of when he was a kid, but the kite battle led to the betrayal of Hassan, because of what happened to Hassan in the alleyway after the kite fight, Amir had been looking for a way to redeem himself, but he was not sure how. After he betrayed Hassan, by leaving him alone with Assef and his friends, and by trying to frame him for stealing his watch and birthday money, Hassan and Ali decided to leave and move to another small town, Afterwards Amir had no way to apologize for everything he did to Hassan and Ali. He ended up going on trying to suppress his memory of Hassan, and everything bad he did to him in the past, but it always came back to haunt him. When Amir and Baba leave Afghanistan and go to America, Amir goes through school, gets married, and becomes a writer. Years later after Baba’s death Rahim Khan calls and says “Come. There is a way to be good again,” (Hosseini, 202) Amir thinks about it, and decides this could be his chance to finally redeem himself after all these years. In Pakistan Rahim Khan teaches Amir of Baba’s betrayal of Ali, and realized that everything he did like constructing the orphanage, and doing charitable activities, was all a way to try to try to redeem himself for what he did to Ali. Amir now has the chance to redeem himself from what he did to Hassan, by traveling back to Kabul in Afghanistan, to save Hassan’s son Sohrab, since Hassan and his wife were murdered. Amir’s driver, Farid, took him back into his house to stay for the night. He overhears Farid’s family talking about how after feeding Amir, they did not have enough food or money left to support the family, so Amir tries to repay them for their hospitality by leaving another wad of money underneath of someone else's bed, like he had done to Hassan in the past to frame him, but for a positive reason this time. Amir met with the man who had taken Sohrab from the orphanage, he learned that the man who had taken Hassan’s son, was also the man who had raped Hassan in the past, and was also doing questionable things to Sohrab. They begin to have a bloody one sided fight, with Amir laying on the floor being beaten by Assef, and all AMir can do is laugh, because for years he had wanted so badly to feel pain and punishment for what he had done, which in this fight was a redeeming moment for Amir. After the confrontation with Assef, Amir adopts Sohrab and brings him back to the United States. For a while when Sohrab was in America, he never smiled. Amir eventually took him kite flying, they cut down a kite in a battle, which made Sohrab smile, only a tiny bit though, but this still made Amir feel good. Acceptance is another big part of The Kite Runner. A few characters like Amir, and Hassan, usually look for Acceptance from other people. Early in the book Amir is constantly trying to get his father to accept him for who he is, however his father has trouble understanding, Baba was a popular and like to play sports when he was a child, but Amir keeps a bit more to himself and likes to read and write, so Baba has trouble accepting Amir, until he does things like how Baba used to, most notably when Amir had cut the final kite in the kite tournament, this made Baba see Amir as a winner of sorts, which Baba enjoyed. After the kite battle Amir and Baba generally got along better than before. While Amir was trying to get his father to accept him, Hassan was trying to get Amir to accept him, Hassan would do almost anything for Amir to make him happy, even eat dirt. “If you asked, I would,” (Hosseini, 58) Even after Hassan got raped, he still tried to achieve Amir’s acceptance, but instead of growing it faded away. When Amir and Baba move to the United States, Amir had a few new people who he wanted acceptance from, mainly from General Taheri, and his daughter Soraya. He really liked Soraya, but because of Afghan culture he couldn't just walk up and talk to her directly, even though he did, he gave her a book that General Taheri threw into the trash but she still read it, eventually Baba asked the General if Amir could marry Soraya, he agreed and they had the marriage soon after, due to the declining health of Baba. After Baba's death, Amir had to accept the fact that he could no longer follow, and rely on his father anymore, he was now his own man, who had to make his own decisions. When Rahim Khan had called many years later, Amir had to come to accept himself for the betrayal that he had caused in the past, and accept that this was the time to redeem himself and save Hassan’s son, which would be the only way to really repay Hassan for everything he did. When Sohrab was adopted and brought back to the United States, Amir had problems getting Sohrab to be happy, and feel comfortable, he was slowly working his way to getting Sohrab to accept him. In conclusion The Kite Runner has lots of incidents of betrayal, redemption, and acceptance, or in some, cases lack of acceptance. The main character Amir, was in the middle of almost all of these acts of betrayal, redemption, and acceptance. In some ways, he created the problem, or made it worse, but in other ways he helps, or at least tries to help the situation. Hassan’s life only went downhill after the kite tournament, after getting raped, then framed for theft by his only friend Amir, then moving and starting a new life in a small village, years later his father died, and eventually Hassan and his wife were both murdered by the the Taliban, only to have his son taken by them. Hassan's outcome of life could have been different if Amir and Hassan stayed friends, Hassan and Ali possibly would have been able to move to the United States, with Amir and Baba, but it is uncertain. Almost all the rest of the characters were included in someway with the notions of betrayal, redemption, and acceptance.
The Kite Runner is a book about a young boy, Amir, who faces many struggles as he grows up in Kabul and later moves to America to flee from the Taliban. His best friend and brother , Hassan, was a big part of his life, but also a big part of guilt he held onto for many years. The book describes Amir’s attempt to make up for the past and resolve his sins so he can clear his conscious. Amir is worthy of forgiveness because although he was selfish, he was very brave and faced his past.
The way our friends treat us in the face of adversity and in social situations is more revealing of a person’s character than the way they treats us when alone. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, ethnic tensions, nationality, and betrayal become the catalyst that drives and fuels Amir, Assef, and other characters to embark on their particular acts of cruelty. Serving as a way to illustrate the loss of rectitude and humanity, cruelty reveals how easily people can lose their morals in critical circumstances. Through Amir, Assef, and the Taliban’s actions, cruelty displays the truth of a person’s character, uncovering the origin of their cruelty. Amir’s cruelty spurs from his external environment and need for love from his father, choosing
Throughout The Kite Runner this theme is shown many times without this aspect and understanding of this part of the book it would be incomprehensible. Amir eventually learns how to cope with his own guilt and his
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, follows the maturation of Amir, a boy from Afghanistan, as he discovers what it means to stand up for what he believes in. His quest to redeem himself after betraying his friend and brother, Hassan, makes up the heart of the novel. For most of the book, Amir attempts to deal with his guilt by avoiding it and refusing to own up to his mistakes. Because of his past, Amir is incapable of moving forward. His entire life is shaped by his disloyalty to Hassan and his desire to please his father over helping his friends. Throughout the novel, his attempts to atone for his sins end in failure, as neither physical punishment nor rescuing Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from Assef prove to be enough for Amir to redeem himself. Only when he decides to take Sohrab to the United States and provide his nephew with a chance at happiness and prosperity that was denied to his half-brother does Amir take the necessary steps toward atonement and redemption. Khaled Hosseini uses a series of symbols to reinforce the message that atoning for one’s sins means making up for past mistakes, rather than simply relying on forgiveness from either the person one betrays or from a higher power.
The theme of loyalty is widespread throughout "The Kite Runner". Hassan is a very loyal character in this story, he is loyal to his brother Amir this is demonstrated from the start he tells Amir “for you a thousand times over” often to mean he would do anything for Amir when the situation calls for it. Amir on the other hand is jealous and feels entitled to his father’s love and care, he does not understand Baba’s love for Ali and Hassan and as such he does everything to discredit Hassan and put himself on better grounds with his father. Hassan’s loyalty is juxtaposed with Amir’s betrayal, for in every act of kindness demonstrated by Hassan he receives and equal or greater amounts of betrayal from Amir. Nonetheless Hassan remains
Novel The Kite Runner Essay In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, there are several major themes. One of the themes that stands out the most is redemption. This theme is shown through the thoughts and actions of the protagonist of the novel, Amir. He is seeking redemption for betraying his childhood best friend and half-brother Hassan.
The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, shows how lying and deceit is a counterproductive route when trying to live with a dreadful past, exhibited through the actions of Amir. Amir’s decision to withhold the truth and blatantly lie in several situations due to jealousy and his desire for Baba to be proud of him amounts to further pain and misery for himself and those he deceives. Because of Amir’s deceit towards Baba and Hassan, his guilt from his past manifests itself into deeply-rooted torment, not allowing him to live his life in peace. The guilt from Amir’s past is only alleviated when he redeems his sins by taking in Sohrab, contributing to the theme that the only way “to be good again” is through redemption, not shunning the past.
Whenever Amir would ask Hassan to do something he was reluctant to do, Hassan would still agree if he begged because “[he] never denied [Amir] anything” (Hosseini, 4). Hassan loves Amir an extraordinary amount, so much that he would commit an action that he otherwise would never have wanted to commit. Even when Hassan figures out that Amir has betrayed him, he still sacrifices himself for the safety of Amir. When Hassan lies and tells Baba he stole the watch Amir had framed him for stealing, Amir says Hassan’s lie stung “like [he’d] been slapped… [Hassan] knew [he] had betrayed [him] and yet he was rescuing [him] once again” (Hosseini, 111). Hassan knew what would happen to Amir if Baba caught him trying to get rid of his servants, so he lied to protect Amir, even when Amir had wronged him. Baba and Amir flee to America, yet Hassan remains loyal to them while still in Afghanistan. Rahim Khan asks Hassan and his family to move into Amir’s old house, as he can not maintain the house by himself, but instead they move into the mud hut Hassan used to live in. Hassan’s reasoning is “’what will [Amir agha] think when he comes back to Kabul after the war and finds that I have assumed his place in the house?’” (Hosseini, 219). Not even during the war, when he does not expect Amir to come back, does he temporarily take residence in Amir’s old house. Out of loyalty and respect, he lives where he always had, even when Rahim Khan is
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.
“There is a way to be Good Again”: Past Actions and Redemption in Hosseini’s The Kite Runner
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.
The world-renowned novel, The Kite Runner was written by Afghanistan born American novelist Khaled Hosseini. Hosseini was born into a Shia Muslim family in Kabul that later in life decided to move to Paris. Hosseini was unable to return to Kabul due to the Taliban take over, this cause the Hosseini family to seek political asylum in America. The actions that Hosseini witnessed of his beloved home country influenced his novel with the themes of guilt and redemption. “The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness.” – Victor Hugo. In The Kite Runner the theme of guilt and redemption is shown through the character development of the protagonist Amir. Hosseini used Amir’s guilt of his past to grow the impression that with regret lies a hope for redemption.
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.
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.