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Symbolism in the kite runner by khaled hosseini
Symbolism in the kite runner by khaled hosseini
Symbolism in the kite runner by khaled hosseini
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Betrayal is considered a form of sin by the characters of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. One of the major events in the novel that deals with betrayal is Amir’s silence about Hassan’s rape. Amir attempts to deal with his guilt of ignoring Hassan’s rape by avoiding the subject, but this clearly does nothing toward redeeming himself, therefore his guilt endures. Amir’s could shoulder towards the topic is why he still cringes every time Hassan's name is mentioned. But when Amir finds out about Baba's betrayal of Ali, he realizes that everything he thought he knew and understood about his father was false, and Amir himself feels the same betrayal that Hassan would have had he known Amir witnessed his rape. The betrayal of a loyal friend by …show more content…
a wealthier more corrupt “master” is a recurring motif throughout the novel. One of the central betrayals comes when Amir watches and does nothing as Hassan, who has always stood up for Amir in the past, gets raped by Assef. Hosseini prepares us for Amir's major betrayal of Hassan while explaining a conversation between Amir and Hassan displaying Amir’s insensitive superior teasing of Hassan; “"Would I ever lie to you, Amir agha?" Suddenly I decided to toy with him a little. "I don't know. Would you?" "I'd sooner eat dirt," he said with a look of indignation. "Really? You'd do that?" He threw me a puzzled look. "Do what?" "Eat dirt if I told you to," I said.
I knew I was being cruel, like when I'd taunt him if he didn't know some big word. But there was something fascinating – albeit in a sick way – about teasing Hassan. Kind of like when we used to play insect torture. Except now, he was the ant and I was holding the magnifying glass.” (Hosseini, Page 47). Hosseini has Amir betray Hassan – or at least be cruel to Hassan – in all sorts of small ways, to display the motif of a corrupt master to his servant. Amir does not defend Hassan from the neighborhood boys, and when asked about their friendship, he almost blurts out that Hassan is only his servant and not a friend, essentially betraying what Hassan may have thought was his loyalty to their friendship. Amir, decades after betraying Hassan’s loyalty, learns Baba also betrayed his own best friend and servant by fathering a child (Hassan) with Ali’s wife Sanaubar. When finding this out, Amir asks Rahim Kahn; “ "Did Hassan know?" I said through lips that didn't feel like my own. Rahim Khan closed his eyes. Shook his head. [...] "Please think, Amir Jan. It was a shameful situation. People would talk. All that a man had back then, all that he was, was his honor, his name, and if people talked...We couldn't tell anyone, surely you can see that." He reached for me, but I shed his hand.”
(Page 195). This knowledge comes as another kind of betrayal for Amir. He has always hero-worshipped Baba and is shocked to learn of his father’s flaws, even more that his father even had flaws. Baba has been dead for fifteen years when Amir finds out Hassan is his half-brother, and Amir can do nothing about the situation because Baba is dead. These feelings of betrayal and punishment are not enough to redeem Amir, and tries to redeem himself for betrayal by rescuing Sohrab from Assef. Amir takes what seem to be the necessary steps toward redemption. By providing his nephew a chance at happiness and prosperity that was denied to his half-brother, it seems Amir is showing success on his journey of self-forgiveness. The low points in the two men’s lives create sense of tension and guilt throughout the novel. The betrayals of Amir and Baba lead to quests for redemption that bring about some good in the end; Baba leads a principled, charitable life, while Amir rescues Sohrab from Assef and begins to see the similarities between himself and his father. He now knows he was not the only one walking around with secret guilt, which is comforting to know his father made similar mistakes. Amir's betrayal of Hassan brings him closer to Baba in ways he couldn't have predicted, and although the two don't share the same secrets, they do share the secrecy of unfulfilled forgiveness for their betrayals.
Although Hassan is his best friend, there are many instances where Amir reveals his jealousy, most notable when Baba sees Hassan as the stronger boy, "self-defense has nothing to do with meanness. You know what always happens when the neighbourhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fends them off. I 've seen it with my own eyes…” (Hosseini 24). Clearly, Amir hears how his father compares the two, and unlike Hassan who manages to meet Baba’s expectations, Amir grows bitter towards Hassan. He is unable to fight off his envy which later causes him to sacrifice his best friend’s innocence: “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (82), and this is all because he realizes “his shame is complicated by his own realization that in part he doesn’t help his friend precisely because he is jealous of him” (Corbett, 2006). From here, Amir develops strong feelings of guilt that induces him to perform even more destructive acts, such as having Hassan and his father evicted from the house. Amir not only loses a close friend, but now he has to continue to live with remorse as he dwells on these memories. The only way for Amir to redeem himself of his repercussions is through a challenging process of sacrifice and self-discovery. Although one is unsure at this point whether Amir succeeds at his endeavors, it is clear that this story
In the book “THe Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, betrayal is is one of the big themes that occurs in this book. Amir shows the most betrayal of all, like him witnessing Hassan's rape and not helping him at all. That was his cowardly thing that he did and experiences guilt from it. Many years pass since that event he starts to feel what other people felt when he would betray them, like when he was betrayed by his father and Rahim Khan, because he found out that Hassan was his brother and he felt betrayal of trust just as he made the people he betrayed feel.
After watching Hassan be raped, Amir tries to atone for his cowardice. According to Hosseini, “‘Get up! Hit me!’ I said. Hassan did get up, but he just stood there, looking dazed like a man dragged into the ocean by a riptide when, just a moment ago, he was enjoying a nice stroll on the beach.” (Hosseini 92). Hassan still does not want to hurt Amir, so Amir did not get any chance to atone. At last, Amir decide to frame Hassan to make him angry, so that Hassan may do something bad on Amir to make Amir feels better. According to Hosseini, “Baba cam right out and asked. ‘Did you steal that money? Did you steal Amir’s watch, Hassan?’ Hassan’s reply was a single word, delivered in a thin, raspy voice: ‘Yes.’” (Hosseini 92). Amir was shocked when Hassan said that. He can not believe Hassan still chooses to protect him when he did such bad thing to Hassan. Hassan knows all the cause and effect of what Amir does. He knows if he tells Baba that Amir is framing him, Baba will believe him and start to accuse Amir. Since Ali and Hassan decided to leave, Baba may also attribute their leaving to Amir’s fault. So Hassan chooses to be the scapegoat for Amir’s mistake again. Leaving from Baba means Hassan and Ali’s fate is good to change, but Hassan still thinks about Amir at that
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.
Redemption of Guilt Guilt is a result of sin, and sin is a result of misaction. In the novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the protagonist, Amir, goes on a journey to redeem himself for his sins. When Amir was 12, he witnessed his best friend, Hassan, get raped in an alley. Instead of standing up for his friend, Amir ran away in selfishness and cowardice. The guilt of his choice plagues Amir for the rest of his life, until one day, he gets a call from an old uncle, who tells him that “there is a way to be good again.”
Amir takes advantage of Hasan because he is a Hazara and his servant. “When it comes to words Hassan is an imbecile” (29). This is when Amir first starts to belittle Hassan knowing that he is a Hazara therefore illiterate. Instead of helping his friend, Amir chooses to instead downplay him and mock Hassan. “What would you do if I hit you with this?” (92). Amir pelting Hassan with the pomegranate after he asks this question continues his betrayal because Amir knew Hassan would not do anything about it. “A loyal Hazara. Loyal as a dog” (72). Assef of all people acknowledged that Hassan was loyal to Amir. This in some ways makes Amir as disgusting as Assef but it there are worse instances of betrayal by Amir.
Amir also committed a sin that affected him negatively throughout his life. This sin occurred when Hassan, Amir’s best friend during his childhood, was getting raped by Assef. This situation occurred when the children were chasing kites. Hassan got the kite first, but Assef insisted that he wanted the kite. Assef also had a racial and religious prejudice against Hassan.
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.
“There is only one sin. And that is theft… When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth,” (Hosseini 225). The main character's father would say this to him try set a good example and try make the best of his son. Betrayal is an, unintentional or intentional, act of disloyalty and distrust. Throughout The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, there are constant, unintentional acts of betrayal. These characters believe they are doing what is best for them but in the end they realize they have been cheated of the truth. Being betrayed can affect people’s personalities and relationships with others. Amir’s betrayal of Hassan is a direct result of Baba’s original betrayal of both his sons.
No matter how big or small a sin is, achieving redemption is a great success. Everyone will go through some sort of betrayal, although they may be the one causing the betrayal, or the one being betrayed. The main theme of Khaled Hosseini's novel "The Kite Runner" is about the journey from sin to redemption. The main character who plays the role of the narrator, is Amir, who needs to be saved from the betrayal that he caused twenty-six years ago. In the first chapter Amir says: “[l]ooking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years” (Khaled Hosseini, pg 1). He feels this way because the betrayal haunts him, makes him crave ways to be good again. Amir has one more chance to redeem himself of sin from the past to save the life of a boy, by taking him away from the streets of where he grew up to America for a better life.
Betrayal is probably the most devastating loss someone can experience. To get betrayed, one has to place their trust on someone else and it hurts considerable when the person they trusted put their self-interests first and tore their trust. It not only breaks people’s hearts but also their trust. Betrayals also have unintended effects because everyone reacts with different levels of emotion when someone they trusted and loved broke their implicit trust of always being there for them. It also changes the deceiver because guilt drives them to change in order to redeem themselves. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, there are many betrayals found in the book and it affects the characters differently.
In The Kite Runner Amir makes a poor decision which will haunt him and cause him shame throughout the rest of his childhood and adulthood. When Amir was a kid an incident took place where Hassan had gotten assaulted. Amir says, “ I could step into that alley stand up for Hassan, in the end I ran” ( Hosseini 77). When he had the chance to step in for his friend he did not do anything he ran and didn’t look back. The shame of that incident paralyzed him throughout the novel. The shame behind the incident is because Amir understood that if he was in that position Hassan would have done everything and anything to help him get out of the predicament. The overpowering emotions that arose when he thought about his childhood or Hassan had an a negative impact on him. The destructive force that presented itself while Amir thought about Hassan and the assault consisted of sadness, guilt and shame.
A past full of guilt-drenched events does not compare to the realization of living one's entire life, in a prolonged lie.
The only reason for Amir to feel guilty for staying silent except for the fact that he knew that it was morally unjust to not protect Hassan during the rape. Because of this, when Amir moves to America, he takes his past and guilt and tries to start anew and forget about his sin; however, the moment Rahim Khan mentions Hassan and reminds Amir of what he had failed to do, he “broke a spell” and “set [the barbs of guilt] free.” Hosseini uses this to give the reader a further understanding of Amir-- more specifically, during Amir’s time in America, he stays stagnant as a character, unable to build morals of his own due to the fact that instead of confronting his sins, he does the exact opposite. He does not fight against the guilt he feels during those peaceful years in America; instead, he hides and “live[s] on in [his] oblivion” so that when the topic resurfaces, his pain “[bears] into [him] once more,” “torment[ing] [him] anew,” forcing Amir to finally stand face to face with his own past (Hosseini 227, Hosseini 202). Rahim Khan then tells Amir that although Hassan has passed away now, “there is a way to be
When people sin they go to great lengths to seek redemption after being tormented from their guilt. In “The Kite Runner”, Hosseini writes about the life of Amir, who sinned at a young age and was left with psychological, emotional, and physical struggles that put him on a journey to find redemption. Betrayal is one of the many sins that can create pain and suffering in a person caused by their guilt which leaves them seeking an important healing process called redemption.