Betrayal In The Kite Runner

How does it feel to betray a family member whom you love or have a special feeling for? Most people live their whole life feeling guilty of what they have done in past. They search for redemption to forgive themselves. Betrayal has the power to bring people close together as well as breaking relationships. In Khaled Hosseini's novel, The Kite Runner, the idea of betrayal hunts the main character Amir and his father. The act of betrayal in family breaks the relationship of two brothers, as a result Amir fails to protect Hassan. The idea of being betrayed by family is also evident in “The Real Story of my ‘Cool’ Aunt” by Bea Hogan. The article highlights how a secret and a lie kept two sisters away from each other. A 2010 article, “Transgressions,

Guilt and Forgiveness: A Model of Seeking Forgiveness” by Blake M.

Riek, brings the point of how feeling guilt can be a motivator for a person looking for forgiveness from a sin. The problems relating to betrayal can impact a person’s life both positively and negatively. It breaks relations and people lead their life with guilt inside them. Betrayal in family affects people's lives many different ways because it breaks relations, leads to guilt, and eventually people search for redemption.

Betrayal of trust in a family has the power to break the relation of closed one. A secret truth leads to a person betraying other people. In The Kite Runner, Amir betrays his brother Hassan, unaware that he is his half-brother. He sees Hassan being raped and he runs like a coward, making himself believe that he is afraid. But the truth is that he wishes to win Baba’s heart by making Hassan weak (Hosseini 77). The lack of true knowledge about relations leads to jealousy and failure to protect family members. Betrayal has the power to make a child motherless. A week after Hassan was born, his mother, “ran off with a clan of

traveling singers and dancers” (Hosseini 6). Hassan’s mother abandons both Hassan and his father, Ali. A mother’s duty is to take care of her children and husband. But, when one fails to fulfil the act of a mother, the child lacks the love of a mother figure. A family is incomplete without parents. Lying separates individuals that are close to each other and considered as part of a family. Amir’s father Baba losses his son Hassan and Ali, whom he considered as his brother. His grief is evident when he states, “You’re the brother I never had, Ali, you know that. Please don’t do this” (106) The lie that Amir tells Baba destroys the relationships between the characters. The false accusation pulls apart a son from a father. Two sisters have been separated for years because of one secret truth kept by their mother. According to the author “relationships are built, not claimed” (Hogan 191). The act of betrayal keeps family members away from each other even though they want to stay together. Dishonesty poisons the whole family and the new generations (191). Relationships starts to fall apart as fighting becomes a consistent part of the life. Betrayal is what gives rise to conflict within families. As a result people senses the guilt inside them.
Betraying a family member results in guilt and the need for redemption.

The feelings of guilt is highlighted throughout The Kite Runner. Amir’s and his Baba’s guilt affect them everyday in their life. Both of the characters want to remove their sins of betrayal by atonement. Baba was “feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need” and that is what “true redemption is...when guilt leads to good” (Hosseini 302). People try to lessen their burden by helping others. The guilt inside them drives them to search for redemption and to find a way of forgiveness. Feeling guilt after betraying a closed one is an important emotion. According to Riek, through guilt, “one is made aware of one’s sins and the need for forgiveness both from God and from others” (Riek 247) When guilt is absent after betraying a family member, seeking forgiveness is not common. People do not realize the value of forgiveness until they feel guity of their wrongdoings. Amir was able to experience that guilt for twenty six years, as a result he searches for redemption throughout his whole life. Aamir feels peace and laughs when Assef beats him (Hosseini 303). By taking the beatings from Assef he is redeeming himself and standing up for Hassan’s son. The need for redemption here is given more importance because people are more likely to seek forgiveness when they have done something wrong to their closed ones. This idea is also highlighted by Riek, he writes, “Those who

are close and highly committed to a victim are likely to have a stronger motivation to repair the relationship since they have most likely invested a great deal of effort into the relationship” (Riek 248) People who betray someone that they love truly are more likely to rebuild their relationships by looking for forgiveness. Also in most cases building relationships back again is impossible, as a result people find other ways of redeeming themselves.
Betrayal in family, highlighted in The Kite Runner, affects people's relationships, and causes an individual to search for redemption as guilts grows inside. Betraying a family member is a big issue because it weakens and breaks the relationships that people have. However, most people are able to remove their past sins through seeking forgiveness from others. These minority of people who redeem themselves have a feeling of guilt inside them. This guilt troubles them every moment; as a result they try their best to liberate themselves for that sin. However, it is time that every human being understands the consequences of betraying others, and are able to stay connected together with family. Betrayal between families needs to be stopped before more relationships breaks apart.