Conflict Leads To Growth In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

Conflict Leads to Growth
"How people deal with conflict shows you the kind of people they are". When a person faces conflict, there are many ways as to how they can deal with it. The way in which they deal with that conflict can define who they are. In the novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the author demonstrates that the process through which we we deal with internal conflict can precipitate growth.
Amir’s struggle with the morality of his decisions allows him to grow as a character. Amir had always feared Assef and was not able to bring himself to stand up to him. Baba always criticized this inability claiming that “‘a boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything’” (Hosseini, 24). In the alley,

Amir was unable to stand up to Assef but, when Amir has to face Assef in order to bring home Sohrab, he decides that it is now his turn to stand up to him. As a result of facing his conflict, Amir was able to face his fear and confront Assef. After Hassan’s rape, Amir is haunted by his choice to abandon Hassan for “in the end, [he] ran” (82). Amir’s fear of Assef and inability face him prompted his desertion. At the end of the novel, as a result of his guilt, Amir is able to face all of his fears and when asked to run the kite for Sohrab, “[he] ran” (391). The author uses this parallelism of Amir running to demonstrate how, ultimately, his growth changes his character. The author also uses the symbol of the kites to illustrate Amir’s development. Before making things right and retrieving Sohrab, Amir sees “a pair of kites, red with long blue tails” (1). The red kites represent Amir’s inability face his problems and grow. However, at the end of the novel, following Assef’s defeat and the recovery of Sohrab, Amir fights a green kite and subsequently runs it, representing Amir’s growth. With this symbolism of the kites, Hosseini indicates that Amir’s experiences allowed him to grow. Through Amir’s struggles, the author shows that a confrontation of one’s conflict can cause growth.
Sanaubar’s eventual effort to resolve the complications that resulted from her leaving allow her to grow. During her later years in life, Sanaubar begins to realize that abandoning Hassan was a mistake and does her best to compensate for it. When Hassan, who was said to have came out smiling, was just born,"she had refused to even hold him" (11) upon seeing his cleft lip. However, when she sees Hassan again, she asks him to smile for him and weeps when he does so. The author's use of parallelism is once again used to depict a character's development expressing Sanaubar's new appreciation for her son. Following Hassan's birth, Sanaubar had run off with a clan of traveling dancers and singers, abandoning Hassan. However, when Hassan's son, Sohrab was born, "he became the center of her existence" (222). Previously, Sanaubar had abandoned her newborn child before the pressures of war. However, when Sohrab is born, he never leaves her side. By staying by Sohrab's side, Sanaubar showed her character development. When Sanubar was young, she "sent men to reveries of infidelity" (8) and taunted Ali for his physical disabilities. However, when Sanuabar comes back at the end of the novel, she is a frail old lady, no longer beautiful. The irony comparing Sanaubar as a beautiful woman changing into a unattractive old woman symbolizes Sanaubar's eventual growth into a nurturing mother. By directly confronting her conflicts, Sanaubar was able to grow.
The internal process through which Baba attempts to redeem himself prevents him from developing.

When Baba is faced with the issue of trying to resolve his conflict, he ultimately chooses the wrong way. Rather than telling everyone what he had done, he decided to hold it in and take his secret to the grave. In order to attempt to redeem himself, Baba sets up orphanages and gives Hassan and Amir equal treatment. Although Baba does try to fix his problem, it is not in such a way that he is able to grow. Before Baba and Amir moved to America, Baba had always been a man of great pride. When Baba and Amir are in America, Baba claims that honor and pride are "the tenets of Pashtun men'" (153). Although Baba had thought of his actions as being an indignity, he still remained remained a man of great pride because he did not deal with this conflict. This overwhelming pride prevented Baba from directly addressing his issue. The author is able to show his unchanging character with the metaphor of the bears that Baba had wrestled. The Baba “had wrestled bears his whole life” but his biggest bear was the secret he kept with him (183). The metaphor of the bears show that he had always struggled with obstacles but he never directly addresses them. When Baba was diagnosed with cancer, he refused to get treatment and even directly address his problem. Because Baba did not resolve his conflicts in an outward way, he is not able to grow and as a result takes his secret to the

grave.
In this novel, Khaled Hosseini proves that how one deals with conflict may lead to growth. Amir is able to directly confront his problem, which allows him to grow as a character. Sanaubar is also given this opportunity when she returns back to Hassan. By doing so, she is able to make amends and develop. However, Baba does not resolve his issues in a reasonable way. This prevents him from growing and has negative effects on everyone. Any sort of conflict, can help one grow if they deal with it in the proper way.