More handpicked essays just for you.
The kite runner essay father son relationship
Critical essay trauma in the kite runner
Importance of fathers in the kite runner
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In his novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini shows that while fatherly relationships can be filled with tension, they are unbreakable. There are many different fathers in the novel, from General Taheri to Baba. The two most prominent father figures by the end of The Kite Runner are Baba and Amir. Baba has contrasting relationships with both of his sons. Also, while Amir is not his biological father, Sohrab develops a fatherly bond with him. The Kite Runner proves that love between a father and son is unconditional, as evident through Amir and Baba, Baba and Hassan and, finally, Amir and Sohrab.
The first father-son relationship seen in The Kite Runner is between Amir and his Baba. Amir is very proud of his father, and wishes to be more like
…show more content…
him. Amir’s veneration towards his father is shown in the quote “He motioned to me to hold his hat for him and I was glad to, because then everyone would see that he was my father, my Baba” (Hosseini 16).
Despite Amir’s admiration for his father, Baba does not reciprocate his feelings. Therefore, Amir desires more than anything to have his dad’s affection. Amir’s yearning for his father’s love is so intense that he betrays his own brother in order to acquire it. After witnessing Hassan get raped, Amir runs away. Later, he thinks to himself, saying “I was afraid of getting hurt. That's what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan. That's what I made myself believe. I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win …show more content…
Baba” (82). Through this quote, Amir is saying that cowardice would be a better reason for running than his actual motivation. Amir’s real logic behind running away was so that he could obtain the kite and show it to Baba. Despite their strained relationship, however, Baba and Amir eventually become close. This is evident later in Baba’s life in America. He acts as a true father to Amir when he does things like ask General Taheri about Soraya despite being sick. Therefore, while Amir and Baba’s relationship was tense at times, and caused Amir to betray Hassan, it prevailed throughout their whole lives. Another fatherly relationship evident in The Kite Runner is between Baba and Hassan. It is revealed later in the plot that Hassan is Baba’s illegitimate son. Despite this, Baba still cares very much for him. Baba’s affection toward Hassan is shown through buying him special birthday gifts every year. One year, Baba’s gift to Hassan is plastic surgery to fix his cleft lip. This present is meaningful, and suggests that Baba looks at Hassan as more than a servant. Another example of Baba’s deep attachment to Hassan is when Ali is forced to leave with him. “Then I saw Baba do something I had never seen him do before: He cried. It scared me a little, seeing a grown man sob. Fathers weren't supposed to cry. ‘Please,’ Baba was saying, but Ali had already turned to the door, Hassan trailing him. I'll never forget the way Baba said that, the pain in his plea, the fear” (93). Demonstrated through this passage, it is clear that Baba regards Ali and Hassan as family. Years after Hassan leaves, they are still connected. Baba feels tremendous guilt later in life when he thinks about his misbegotten son. Also, when Hassan learned that Baba had died, he cried like a son would for his father. “Then he asked me about your father. When I told him, Hassan buried his face in his hands and broke into tears. He wept like a child for the rest of that night” (218). Therefore, after years of being apart and parting on bad terms, Baba and Hassan still loved each other, indicating unconditional love. Finally, Amir acts as a father to Sohrab.
The boy is actually Hassan’s son, but Amir still loves him as a father. With Soraya diagnosed as infertile, Amir is willing to risk his life to retrieve Sohrab after he is orphaned and take him in. “You are in a hospital in Peshawar. You've been here two days. You have suffered some very significant injuries, Amir, I should tell you. I would say you're very lucky to be alive, my friend” (310). In order to take Sohrab, Amir literally almost gave his life after confronting the Taliban and Assef. After Sohrab is retrieved, Amir develops a close bond with him. Their relationship continues to grow and emulates the affection which Amir always craved from his Baba. However, when Amir neglects Sohrab, a tragedy occurs, as was the case with Amir and Baba with Hassan so many years ago (Letwin). When Amir threatens to break his promise to Sohrab regarding sending him back to an orphanage, Sohrab is devastated. The boy is so terrified by the thought of Amir putting him in an orphanage that he attempts to take his own life. When Amir finds him, he is crushed. “Suddenly I was on my knees, screaming. Screaming through my clenched teeth. Screaming until I thought my throat would rip and my chest explode. Later, they said I was still screaming when the ambulance arrived” (Hosseini 361). It is clear through this quote that Amir has a deep, fatherly love for Sohrab. While he recovers, Amir prays and cares for him. When Sohrab is well, Amir takes him
to America to live with Soraya. Traumatized, the boy does not speak a work to his new family. Amir and Soraya are disappointed, as they were expecting Sohrab to be the son they never had. “Sohrab's silence was hard on Soraya too. Over that long distance line to Pakistan, Soraya had told me about the things she was planning for Sohrab. Swimming classes. Soccer. Bowling league. Now she'd walk past Sohrab's room and catch a glimpse of books sitting unopened in the wicker basket,the growth chart unmarked, the jigsaw puzzles unassembled,each item a reminder of a life that could have been. A reminder of a dream that was wilting even as it was budding. But she hadn't been alone. I'd had my own dreams for Sohrab” (381). While Baba’s love for Amir was unbreakable, he usually distanced himself from Amir in his youth as he was not the son he had hoped for. With Amir and Sohrab, however, not living up to Soraya’s and his expectations does not mean giving up on Sohrab, thus displaying unconditional love. In sum, Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner proves that fatherly relationships are unconditional. In Baba and Amir’s case, Baba realizes the lack of affection and mistakes he made and reconnects with Amir later in his life. With Hassan and Baba’s relationship, the two are separated, but share an unbreakable bond despite being socially illegitimate. Thirdly, with Amir and Sohrab, a father-son relationship is developed through suffering and care. Overall, Khaled Hosseini shows despite tension, bonds between a father and son are unbreakable.
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
We see a innocent boy who is struggling to be himself. His father that goes by the name of Baba continuously makes Amir feel unworthy and shameful. In a scene Amir eavesdrop and Baba unapologetically proclaims, “If I hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe he’s my son” (Hosseini 23). Baba bluntly insinuates that he doesn’t understand Amir. He doesn’t understand why he spends so much time reading books and why every time there’s an opportunity to fight with the local boys he doesn’t. From the genesis, the audience can tell that the protagonist will have an issue with his identity. By not being accepted by Baba, Amir selfishly watches his dear friend Hassan get raped because he knew if he stood up for him that there will be a chance that the kite would be tarnished and as a result he wouldn’t receive the affection that he always craved from Baba. As soon as this occurred, Hassan and Amir’s relationship drastically alters. Hassan later tells Rahim Khan what happened. His unforgettable scar haunts him and this scar is later passed on to his offspring. Amir’s identity issue is what forced Hassan and Ali to depart. This could’ve been changed if Amir didn’t doubt himself from doing what is moral because at the end he ends up doing just that. If he knew that his identity truly lied in the decision that he makes the regret he suffered wouldn’t have exist.
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.
After some misgivings, Amir agrees to rescue Hassan's son, Sohrab, from an orphanage in Kabul. Amir even squares off against a Talib official who is actually Assef. In order to save Sohrab, Amir has to fight Assef, but Amir get beaten up badly by Assef. Amir can be seen as good because of what he done, he risked his life and almost got killed by Assef, but Sohrab saved Amir by shooting him in the eye with a slingshot. Even though Amir didn’t do anything good in his childhood and most of his adulthood too. He could have only saved Sohrab out of guilt and maybe some good intentions of actually being thought of as a good person for once, “Sometimes, I think everything he did, feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need, it was all his way of redeeming himself. And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good.” (302). Amir is trying to redeem himself after all these years of being a coward and it pays off in the long
instance of The Kite Runner, one of the most notable aspects of the story is the relationship between Baba and Amir. The feelings between father and son are deeply
Despite living majority of his life with the guilt of not helping Hassan, Amir’s nemesis is yet to come. Destiny plays a huge game with Amir and reveals to him that Hassan is his illegitimate brother during his visit with Rahim Khan. Reacting with various emotions, Amir first decides to head back about to America, but in the end makes the first brave decision in his life by going back to Kabul “…to atone not just for [his] sins, but…Baba’s too” (198). Amir tries to compensate for his sin by rescuing Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from the brutality occurring in Kabul. Amir puts his entire life in jeopardy by facing the oppression in Kabul so he could make a genuine effort in eliminating his sins. In an ideal world, when one truly makes an effort to redeem themselves for their wrongdoings, they are usually gifted with forgiveness. However, in reality, Amir’s heroic act of saving Sohrab, did not free him of sorrow because he still has to live with his nemesis for the rest of his life. By taking Sohrab to America with him, Amir constantly is reminded of his hamartia by envisioning Hassan through Sohrab. This shows how the guilt from a cowardly act leads one into a lifelong feeling of
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
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,
Fathers have a remarkable influence on their children. Every son looks up to their dad, and dreams of becoming a man just like them. In the novel Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Ali and Baba play a tremendous role in their sons lives: Hassan and Amir. Both boys strive to become the man their father is, and would go to any measures to mirror their fathers. All children need a father figure in their lives, and even though Ali and Baba raised their children differently, they were both loved unconditionally.
In the beginning Amir is a coward who cant defend himself and through out the book this begins to change and finally he fully changes in the end of the book. Amir never was the type of boy to fight or stand up for himself. For example, Amir over hears Baba say to Rahim Khan, “You know what happens when the neighborhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fend them off…Im telling you Rahim, there is something missing in that boy” (Hosseini, 23). Baba is complaining to Rahim and he doesn't understand why Amir lacks the courage to stand up for himself. He puzzles that Hassan is the one to step in and defend Amir. He also is very confused over the fact that a hazara is more courageous than his son. Baba knows that Amir is not violent and he wishes that he would just stand up for himself. Amir overhears this and is very troubled that Baba doesn’t approve of him. To Amir this is a realization that he is a coward and his father notices it. Later in the book, Amir sees Hassan being raped and he is contemplation jumping in and being courageous because he says, “I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide ...
In The Kite Runner, Amir and his father, Baba, display lives of contradictions while Hassan and Rahim Khan live lives of purity. Baba is displayed as an immoral man while at home because he is not loving his son and he cheated with his friends’ wife and had a child. Even some of Baba’s good qualities, such as his care for Hassan and Ali, his father, seem to have a selfish motive behind them because he wants to keep his son close to him. While Baba is never the father figure in the first part of the book, once they leave their home, Baba seems to care a lot more about Amir.
Betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness are all major themes in The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini. The novel also focuses around the theme of a broken relationship between father and son as well as facing difficult situations from ones past. Amir and Hassan are best friends with two completely different personalities. Each character in the novel faces their own hardships and eventually learns to overcome those difficulties. Beginning with betrayal then the characters have to make their way to gaining redemption and forgiveness from others, as well as their self, is carried on throughout the novel. It is a continuous story of the relationships between Amir and his father Baba and facing their challenges from the past every day of their present.
His father was a role model in the way that he was always looking out for others. When they are escaping Afghanistan, Baba stands up for the lady in the truck at the possible cost of his own life. “Tell him I’ll take a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place” (pg.116). Amir’s conscience travels back again to the alley way. “Some hero I had been, fretting about the kite”(pg.116). Amir would never have stood up for the lady, comparable to how he never stood up for Hassan in the alleyway. Back in the alleyway Amir had been given the perfect chance to stand up for Hassan, relatable to how Hassan had stood up for Amir innumerable times before. Instead, in a time that he could have proven to his father that he was a man, he was a boy. Not necessarily as a result of not been taught to stand up for others, but by cause that the idea of proving himself to Baba was more appealing than sacrificing the kite. “Sometimes, I too wondered if I was really Baba’s son.” (pg.116). Both Amir and Baba cannot understand how they are related. Baba fits his nickname“Toophan agha, or “Mr. Hurricane”...my father was a force of nature, a towering pushton specimen” (pg. 12) vs. Amir, a shy scrawny child who cannot stand up for himself, let alone
The longing for parental acceptance is often what leads to childhood downfall. At some point a child strives to make their parent proud. When a lack of attention is displayed in a parent child relationship there is a lack of communication and support. In The Kite Runner this type of relationship is shown through Baba and Amir's interactions. Throughout The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Amir and Baba’s relationship takes many turns. Their relationship affects the plot through many situations such as when Baba acts uninterested in Amir's life, When Baba fails to treat Amir the same as Hassan, and when Baba takes his guilt and anger out on Amir.
The characters of Kite Runner are all craving power in their own individual way, and all express it in different ways. The most delicate power balance is between our narrator, Amir, and his complex relationship with father. Baba takes advantage over his power over Amir. He remains aloof, showing Amir that he is not to Baba’s standards. This act fills Amir with indignation. There is nothing Amir wants more than his father’s approval. Baba realizes that he is wreaking havoc on his impressionable son’s life. This fuels him. This adds to the unscrupulous Baba’s already large ego by making him feel even more powerful. Amir reacts vehemently again and again to try to obtain Baba’s love, but fails each time.