Because Amir longs for his father’s affection, he betrays his friend, Hassan, by leaving him to get raped in an alley. As a child, Amir grows up wealthy in Afghanistan. His mother dies during childbirth, so all he has for a family is Baba. His father, Baba, constantly ignores Amir and makes him feel left out, making Amir long for his father’s love. Whenever Baba shows Hassan, Amir’s friend and servant, affection and not him, Amir gets envious. When the kite competition rolls around, Amir knows he has a chance to finally make Baba proud of him. He decides that he has to win the competition to show Baba “his son is worthy. Then maybe [his] life as a ghost in this house would finally be over… and maybe, just maybe, [he] would finally be pardoned …show more content…
for killing [his] mother ” (Hosseini 56). Amir knows that winning the kite competition is the only way to win Baba’s affections. The phrase “life as a ghost” explains how Amir doesn’t really seem to be recognized in his own house. People can’t see ghosts, and Amir feels like Baba can’t see him. After all the years of being overlooked by his own father, Amir wasn’t going to fail him this time.
Amir is convinced Baba hates him because his mother died during his birth. Winning the kite competition would allow him to “finally be pardoned for killing [his] mother”. The fact that Baba has made Amir feel like his mother’s death is his fault shows just how unconnected they are. Amir has been longing for his father’s forgiveness for 12 years, and for something that he had no control over at the time. Baba has never made Amir feel special, and now Amir is set on earning Baba’s endearment once and for all. After winning the kite competition, Hassan says he would go running for the kite, so Amir can give it to Baba and finally receive his affection. After a while, Hassan has not returned and Amir starts to look for him. He finds Hassan cornered in an alley by Assef, the town bully, and his friends. Amir stays back and watches from a place where no one can see him. Not wanting to face Assef himself, Amir watches as Hassan gets raped. While watching, Amir thinks “nothing is free in this world. Maybe Hassan is the price[he]has to pay, the lamb [he] has to slay, to win Baba. Is it a fair price?... He’s just a Hazara isn’t he?”
(77). By not standing up for Hassan when he gets raped, Amir betrays Hassan. He thinks of Hassan as less than a human being by referring to Hassan as “just a Hazara” and as a “price”. He uses the fact that Hassan is a Hazara, the lowest class in Afghanistan, to degrade him and act like what he did was adequate. Amir always thought that he was superior to Hassan because he was in a higher class, and had more money. When he uses the saying “the lamb [he] had to slay”, he is referring to the innocence of the lamb in the Muslim culture. Hassan was always loyal to Amir, and never did anything wrong. On the other hand, Amir betrayed Hassan and hardly ever was a good friend. Amir believes he is trading in his friend to finally be connected to his father, and thinks it might be a fair price. It all goes back to Amir trying to win Baba’s affection. One’s lack of parental love will make them go to extremes for desired affection, even if that means betraying a loyal friend.
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
Happiness is everyone’s main goal in life; however, one cannot define happiness, nor how it is achieved. Happiness plays a pivotal role in the novel “Kite Runner”, written by Khaled Hosseini. The main character, Amir, is on a quest for happiness and strives for it throughout his entire life; however, it is not without struggle and hardship. Amir achieves many accomplishments in this novel which ultimately lead up to him becoming truly happy. One of Amir’s accomplishments that contributed in his quest for happiness is his marriage with his love, Soraya. Another one of Amir’s accomplishments that also contributed in his quest for happiness is the discovery of his father’s flaws. Furthermore, Amir also gained happiness by giving his orphaned nephew,
Life in America for Baba and Amir is much different than their life in Afghanistan. Specifically, Amir adapts well to America. He completes high school and college. Furthermore, he follows his dream of becoming a writer. In American Amir becomes a young man who marries Soraya. The reader witnesses a kinder, non-vindictive Amir.
In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini the, main Protagonist is a man that goes by the name Amir. Some argue that he is an anti-hero, or not a hero. No. Amir is a hero. Amir is just another person who was lost at one point and needed direction and needed clear the guilty feelings he had. Through these actions he creates a heroic journey, he follows a hero’s path.
Assef's vow comes true during the day of Amir's favorite sport: "kite fighting". In this sport, children fly their kites and try to "slice" each other's kite. Amir wins the tournament, and Baba's praise, with his kite the last one flying, but when Hassan goes to fetch the last cut kite, a great trophy, Assef and two henchmen are there instead. Hassan tries to protect Amir's kite, but Assef beats Hassan and brutally rapes him. Amir hides and watches Hassan and is too scared to help him. Afterwards, Hassan becomes emotionally downcast. Amir knows why but keeps it a secret, and things are never the same between the two. After hearing a story from Rahim Khan, Amir decides it would be best for Hassan to go away. Amir frames Hassan as a thief but Baba forgives him, even though he admits to committing
To atone for his past sins, he embarks on a journey back to Afghanistan to redeem himself to Hassan for not treating him the way he was treated. He redeems himself by saving Sohrab and giving him a safer and enjoyable life in the Untied States. Amir tyres to attain redemption to baba for being the cause of his mother’s death as he believes. Gaining his fathers love and care will make him feel redeemed from all of the resentment and lack of care that his father shows to him. He must prove to Baba that he is worthy of spending time with everyday because he feels the hatred that his father shows to him. One way how he gets redemption from his father is by winning the kite running tournament to prove to him that he is worthy of being his son. Amir’s path of redemption is not only directed to other people but personal redemption for himself. He attempts to redeem himself by building an orphanage with his wife Soraya and giving Sohrab the childhood that is safer and more suitable for a young boy to grow up in. Amir has to realize that the past doesn’t define who someone is although you can’t forget the past, the actions that they decide to do to redeem themselves from the past mistakes defines who someone is. If Amir’s mother did not die at birth would he be resented from his father greatly and have to make great
On the day of the kite running competition, Amir vows to win the entire competition in Baba’s honor. To end the competition, Amir cuts down the last remaining kite in the air, at which point in time Hassan runs after the falling blue kite. In hopes of retrieving the last cut kite for Baba, Amir follows Hassan on the run. However, Assef and his two sidekick bullies corner and rape Hassan. Amir watches the entire occurrence in
Over the course of the novel, Baba implies that he is not proud of Amir and the only reason he knows Amir is his son, is because he witnessed Amir 's birth. He states to Rahim Khan that he thinks Amir needs to stand up for himself more often. Countless times during the novel, Amir feels like he has to fight for his affection, that he has to earn Baba’s love. In order to prove himself worthy of affection and to redeem himself for not being a son Baba could be proud of, Amir yearns to win the kite runner competition. He reminisces on a memory, when all “I saw was the blue kite. All I smelled was victory. Salvation. Redemption” (65). In the aftermath of Hassan’s rape, Amir got rid of Hassan so he would not have to face the cause of his guilt on a daily basis. Amir buries the secret of the rape deep within him, where he hopes that it will not come back to haunt him, which is not the case. “We had both sinned and betrayed. But Baba had found a way to create good out of his remorse. What had I done, other than take my guilt out on the very same people I had betrayed, and then try to forget it all? What had I done, other than become an insomniac? What had I ever done to right things?” (303). As mentioned earlier, Amir is not one who stands up for himself. In order for Amir to redeem himself for betraying Hassan, and not standing up for him earlier,
As a foreword, the story of The Kite Runner focuses on a man named Amir. In his childhood, he enjoyed a high-class life in Kabul, Afghanistan, living with his father Baba. They have two servants, Ali and his son Hassan. They are Hazaras, a lower class ethnic minority in Afghanistan. In one Winter of their childhood, Amir and Hassan participate in a kite-fighting tournament; the goal is to be the last kite flying. When a kite is cut, boys chase after it as a trophy. Amir wins the tournament, and Hassan flies to catch the losing kite. Later, following Hassan's path, Amir comes upon a neighbourhood bully named Assef about to rape Hassan who has the trophy, the blue kite. Amir does not interject, believing this will secure him the kite. Thus, Amir sets forth a chain of events he must redeem in his adulthood.
Amir and Hassan’s relationship is a recurring theme throughout the novel. In the ethnic caste system, Amir is a Pashtun and Hassan is a Hazara. Pashtuns are placed in a much higher caste than Hazaras, therefore Hazaras are treated as servants to the Pashtuns. Every morning, Hassan prepares Amir’s breakfast, makes his clothes and cleans his room for him. In the annual kite tournament, at least two people must work together in order to properly maneuver the kite, one to lead the kite, and another to feed the kite’s glass string. Hassan’s role is the latter. His role is to feed the kite’s string for Amir and run after any fallen kites. The glass string attached to the kite is dangerous as it is coated with shards of glass and leaves bloody marks and cuts on the hands. Although Hassan catches the fallen kites, he must always bring it back to Amir. One winter, when Hassan and Amir were waiting under a tree for the kite to come to them, Hassan asks Amir “Would I ever lie to you, Amir agha?” (Ho...
Besides, later in the novel, Hassan portrays his love and loyalty towards his Amir by promising to bring back his blue kite after the kite tournament and not handing it over to Assef, when he was cornered by them. He shows courage by saying, “Amir agha won the tournament and I ran this kite for him. I ran it fairly well. This is his kite” (Hosseini 77). As a result, he gets raped by Assef for his courage and bravery.
The other source of tension in Amir’s life is his relationship with Baba, his hard-driving and demanding father. Desperate to win his father’s affection and respect, Amir turns to the sport of kite flying, and at the age of 12, with the assistance of Hassan, he wins the annual tournament in Kabul. Amir’s victory soon is tarnished when he witnesses a vicious assault against his friend, who raced through the streets of Kabul to retrieve the last kite, Amir had sliced from the sky, and fails to come to his aid. Amir’s cowardness is compounded by a later act of betrayal that causes Ali and Hassan to leave their home, and he now faces the nightmare, bearing the burden of his poor choices for the rest of his life.
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.
Amir committed several terrible acts against his servant "friend," Hassan, in Khaled Hosseini's novel “The Kite Runner”. It is true that Amir never fully accepted Hassan as an equal or as a friend or as a member of the household. This is an additional guilt with which Amir has had to live. But the two specific acts for which Amir feels guiltiest concern, one was Hassan's rape at the hands of Assef; and the second Amir's planting of money and a watch in Hassan's room and then claiming that they have been stolen. On the other side Baba, who betrayed his friend Ali, by having relationship with wife and also a child. The child was none other than Hassan. He never confronted the truth and felt guilty about it every
He always provides for Ali and Hassan, but he never educates him. Amir and Hassan go down the road and sit under a pomegranate tree and Amir read to him. For Hassan’s birthday, Baba gets him an Indian surgeon to fix his cleft palate. Amir has never been interested in playing sports, which Baba is known for. Since Amir is seeking approval and kindness that he sees given to Hassan, he wants to compete in the annual kite flying tournament.