Betrayal In The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is a novel written by Khaled Hosseini. It is a story about friendship, betrayal, guilt and redemption. The story takes place in Afghanistan and revolves around two friends named Amir and Hassan. Amir is born in a Pashtun family and is respected across Kabul because of his heroic father Baba. They are a part of the Sunni Muslim religion. In contrast, Hassan is part of the Hazara tribe and they are persecuted in Afghanistan for taking part in the Shiite religion. Added to Hassan’s disgrace is that his father is crippled and his mother’s reputation for tempting lots of men into sin. The two became friends because they were born in the same household and nursed by the same maid. They took their first steps together in the same backyard, watched the cinema together and were inseparable growing up.
Guilt is a common feeling of regret after doing one does something wrong. There is

a variation in the aftermath of guilt. Those who feel guilt tend to never forget it until they do something to redeem themselves. According to Psychology Today “Unresolved guilt is like having a snooze alarm in your head that won’t go off” (Winch). Due to Amir never acting on his guilt,
At the beginning of the book Amir feels guilty for his mother’s death. His mom died due to hemorrhaging during childbirth. In the book Amir says, “I always felt like Baba hated me a little. Why not? After all I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess” (Hosseini 19). Due to Amir feeling like his father hated him, he tried his best to impress him. One of the ways Amir tries to impress Baba is by winning the annual kite-fighting tournament. After Amir wins the tournament, Hassan decides to run the kite for him. Once Hassan gets the kite, a bully named Assef tries to take it from him. Since Hassan was very loyal to Amir he decided not to give it up. Because he did not give up the kite, Assef sexually assaults Hassan. Amir was watching the entire time the assault happened and betrayed Hassan by deciding not to do anything. After Amir betrays Hassan, his behaviors represent guilt and his seek for redemption.
After the betrayal, Amir begins to act very rude to Hassan.

Amir begins to immediately isolate himself from Hassan because he felt guilty every time he saw Hassan. One day when Amir and his Baba were out in the garden he asks Baba if he would ever hire any new servants. A few pages later Amir and Hassan take a walk to the pomegranate tree. While they were there, Amir throws a pomegranate at Hassan. Amir begs Hassan to hit him back. The reason Amir begs of this is because he feels like it would be punishment for his betrayal. Instead of hitting Amir, Hassan crushes the pomegranate against his forehead. Later on in the book, Amir sets Hassan up by putting money and a watch under his mattress. Amir then goes tell his Baba that Hassan stole his gifts. The whole point of Amir doing this was so Baba would ask Hassan to leave. Instead of Baba getting angry and asking him to leave, he ends up forgiving Hassan. Even though Baba forgives him, Hassan and his father decide to leave in the end. Amir realizes the reason they are leaving is because Hassan told his father about the

assault.
Years later Amir is still living with unresolved guilt. One day he gets a call from an old friend named Rahim Khan. On the phone call Rahim tells Amir, “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 3). In order to get redemption, Amir goes back to Kabul to save Hassan’s son Sohrab. After the death of his parents, Sohrab was taken to an orphanage. While at the orphanage, Sohrab was sold to some man. It is revealed later on that the man who took Sohrab, is Assef, which is the boy who assaulted Hassan. Whe