Foils serve a great purpose in literature by enhancing the work. In Khaled Hosseini’s, The Kite Runner, Rahim Khan serves as a foil for Baba through his attitude/actions toward Amir, revealing that good friends have their differences. On example of contrast between Baba and Rahim Khan, is their attitudes toward Amir’s writing. Baba feigns interest in Amir’s writing, refusing to read his story. Rahim, contrasting Baba’s views, supports and praises his writing. He writes Amir a letter urging him to continue with his passion. Amir reflects on this saying “As always, it was Rahim Khan who rescued me.” The reason for Baba’s disapproval stems from the sexist belief that creative writing is not masculine enough. Baba is overtly masculine, often described as a “bear of a man.” He is physically powerful with broad shoulders and exude. He exudes this energy to come across more powerful and assertive. Rahim Khan, appears wise and softer, in comparison to the rough Baba. To Amir, this represents a positive vs. negative battle in his life. Rahim Khan is the light, and Baba the dark. Amir, who desperately seeks Baba’s attention, is conflicted between following his dreams and making Baba proud. This contrast is highlighted by their opposite behaviors and mannerism. This good vs. evil resonates throughout the book. When it is revealed that Baba had “stolen the …show more content…
Rahim Khan bends to survive, whereas Baba is stubborn and rooted. Rather than suffer at the hands of the Taliban, Baba moves to America. Unlike Baba, Rahim Khan remains in the Middle East, simply allowing life to continue. Similarly, he understands the people are not “coloring books! You don’t get to fill them in with your own colors.” Baba desperately wants Amir to be like him, rather than the way he is. Amir isn’t physically tough and is not competitive. Baba, perpetually stubborn, wants to be proud of his son for strength and honor like he was as a
In the book Rahim Khan gives Baba a his famous nickname “ Toophan agha “ (page 12). At times in the book Baba seems unreachable or untouchable. He towers over other men and children, like his one Amir. Baba is the man that Amir dreams of Baba wrestling a bear, the man who builds an orphanage, and tell Amir “ there is only one sin, only one.” (page 29). Babas physical presence is matched with his beliefs in the principles nan and nammos which translate to honor and pride. Baba tries to send good examples for Amir to follow he does not want Amir to do the sins that he had done it the past.
(Whether we read about different people in literature to broaden our knowledge about others, or whether we do it as an interest, we cannot overlook the use of foils in stories. While many people can be similar to each other, others can be complete opposites. One character may do something virtuous, while the other may do something heinous; this in turn makes the virtuous character seem exceedingly better than the other character.) (In literature, many writers use foils to highlight one’s true nature and make it more noticeable; when characters are compared side by side, one character is always superior to the other. In the classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee undoubtedly uses pairs of characters to emphasize and demonstrate the themes of prejudice, racism and inequality of characters.)(This writing technique is especially evident with the characters: Atticus and Mr. Gilmer; Miss Maudie Atkinson and Miss Stephanie Crawford; and, finally, Walter Cunningham Sr. and Bob Ewell.)
A foil is a character who serves as a contrast to another character. Writers often use foils to emphasize differences and traits of characters. Such an author would be William Shakespeare, author to many plays, including “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”. William Shakespeare uses foiling to emphasize one of the main character’s traits and differences. This “ foiling” relationship is between the main character Romeo and Paris.
Baba, is what Amir called his father. Amir always looked up to Baba. He never wanted to disappoint him. Amir always wanted to be the only boy in the eyes of his father. He was jealous and would do anything for Baba to look up to him or respect him, as his son. Hence, the kite and alley incident. Through all the lies and deception, Baba still viewed Amir as innocent in many ways. Though Baba always wanted Amir to be athletic, play soccer, and display a talent of kite running and flying like Hassan and himself, he still loved Amir and saw his talents as a
A foil is a minor character that helps the audience better understand a major character. A foil may exist as a comparison character, with similarities between the two, as well as differences that bring to light an important contrast between the foil and the main character. A foil may also just be someone for the main character to talk to, so we can know and understand their thoughts and feelings. Foils help us understand the obvious as well as the arcane. In the classic tragedy Hamlet, we see William Shakespeare employ foils to illustrate both examples. They become important literary tools that help the reader rationalize the concurrent theme of the play - deceit.
Baba is a very high standing man in Kabul, but seems to be extremely harsh to Amir when he was a child. He is a very large, tough man who was very well known in the town and as Amir stated in the novel, “Lore has it my father once wrestled a black bear in Baluchistan with his bare hands” (Hosseini 12). This small detail of Baba makes it known to the reader that Baba is a man of great courage and strength. Some may think that an honorable man is one with no flaws, but many disagree. Every human being makes mistakes, including Baba. When Amir grows up and goes back to visit Rahim Khan in Afghanistan, he finds out that his father lied to him his entire life about Hassan being his half-brother. He also finds out from Rahim Khan that all Baba had back then “was his honor, his name” (Hosseini 223). He did not tell Amir and Hassan that they were brothers because they had a different mother and that would have made their entire family be looked down upon in the town. He did it for their own good, and wanted for them both to grow up as honorable men, like himself. There is a difference in making mistakes and trying to do what’s best to fix them, rather than making the same mistakes over and over again, which is what Amir seemed to do in the novel. Amir was the exact opposite of his father, which made it very hard for them to have a
Much like Amir has a friend who is as loyal as Hassan, Baba actually has a friend who is just as loyal to him and his name is Rahim Khan. Rahim Khan is Baba’s best friend and has been with Baba for as long as he can remember and one can see that he values their friendship through his loyalty to Baba through his word. One example is when Rahim Khan finally tells Amir the truth about the relationship between Hassan and Baba where we see Rahim’s Khans true loyalty. Rahim states, “Please think, Ami Jan. It was a shameful situation people would talk. All that a man had back then, all that he was, was his honour, his name, if people talked… we couldn’t tell anyone, surely you can see that” (Hosseini 233). Rahim Khan shows his loyalty to Baba by not proclaiming Baba’s misfortunate actions to the public. Rahim knew that if people were to find out about what Baba had done, all that he has worked for would be of no use anymore. The Orphanage, Baba’s name and the respect he receives from the people of Afghanistan would be worthless. A second example to present Rahim Khan’s loyalty is when Baba “sells” the house to Rahim Khan before him and Amir leave for Pakistan and eventually to America. Here Amir narrates, “Baba had ‘sold’ the house to Rahim Khan shortly before he and I fled Kabul… So he’d given the house to Rahim Khan to keep watch over until that day”
Baba is first depicted as an unreachable man who was well respected in the community. Amir recalls his birthday party where he was “scanning over the invitation list a week before my birthday party and not recognizing at least three-quarters of the four hundred [. . .] Then I realized they weren’t really coming for me. It was my birthday, but I knew who the real star of the show was” (94). Amir did not know it at the time, but Baba had sins he was trying to absolve. Through his actions toward redemption, Baba touched the lives of many. Regardless of their social status, Baba would lend a he Amir recalls how Baba “always carried an extra handful of Afghani bills in his pocket just for them; I’d never seen him deny a peddler” (245). Baba would offer his wealth to every beggar he came across. Along with this, he also built an orphanage with his own money, planning, and time. Baba did everything in his power to redeem himself and eradicate himself of the guilt in his heart. Some say he was redeemed; others disagree. Rahim Khan tells Amir of Baba’s dilemma:
Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a well known play. Shakespeare uses foils in Hamlet to further create and explain Hamlet’s character. Foils are created in a play to help the audience better understand a major character by giving the character someone to talk to and compare the major character to. [Using the definition as the thesis was not a good idea in this paper. The assignment said not in the first paragraph, i.e., the paper was to be about how foils affect the meaning of this play.]
*Baba is somehow ashamed to have Amir as a son, he's skeptical because they are so different and Amir is like his opposite in so many ways.
While Baba attempts to live his life according to the Afghan saying, “Life goes on, unmindful of beginning, end.crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty caravan of kochis [nomads]” (Hosseini 356), Amir strays from this traditional perspective. Baba chose to continue his life unmindful of his past, while Amir, eventually decides to confront him. Although both Baba and Amir have acted immorally, the choices they make find redemption affect the success of their individual attempts. In the novel, Amir’s quest for atonement is more effective than Baba’s because he acts virtuously, while his father, acts selfishly. Ultimately, Amir is the more successful of the two because, in opposition to Baba, he seeks holistic atonement and is willing to make sacrifices to achieve redemption.
When people are given a chance to redeem themselves they will try to use their best abilities to accomplish their objective. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is a historical fiction that follows Amir from childhood to adulthood. Amir, a socially awkward kid, lives in Kabul, Afghanistan with his father, Baba, a successful businessman, with his best friend, Hassan. Baba is discouraging towards Amir for not being confident in himself, but Amir finds a passion in writing. When Amir and Hassan win a kite fighting tournament, it causes Baba to accept Amir, but ultimately Hassan leaves Baba’s household because Amir betrays Hassan by not defending him when he is raped by local bullies. Due to turmoil rising in Afghanistan, Amir and Baba travel to America, where Amir becomes a successful writer and has a wife. Then Amir receives a call that can help Amir redeem his friendship with Hassan. As the book progresses, Hosseini proves that anything can be fixed through redemption. Amir’s pursuit of writing in America demonstrates the freedom found there, exemplifying the endless freedom found in America compared to Kabul. In a quest to save Hassan’s son, Sohrab, Amir fights Assef, an adversary of Amir since childhood; as Amir is losing the brawl, he goes through a similar pain that he made Hassan go through. When settling in America, Amir and Baba’s relationship improves as compared to their poor affliction in Kabul.
Amir begins his life as a meek boy who desperately clambered to earn his father's’ affection. He was a cowardly, selfish, short minded boy who would even stab his childhood friend in the back for a slim chance at bonding with his dad. He was outshone by his best friend, who would stand between the bullies and Amir, and fight Amir’s battles for him. His father noticed this, and told Rahim Khan “A
Amir knew that it hurt Baba severely when Hassan and Ali left. When Amir asked for new servants before Ali decided to leave, Baba responded with: “why would I ever do that?”. Baba seemed irritated with Amir once he asked the question, but he had caught on to strange behavior they were projecting towards each other. Baba told Amir “ I know there 's something going on between you two, but whatever it is, you have to deal with it, not me. I 'm staying out of it." Baba knew that there was something more to the story, but Amir was hiding it. It hurt Baba years later when him and Amir moved to California. At Amir’s graduation, Baba said “I wish Hassan had been with us today.” That symbolized that Baba was still hurt about the situation and still thought about it years later. Hassan suffered severely too. He damaged himself emotionally and still got penalized for sticking up for Amir. Amir learned that through the revelation of Hassan’s true identity that he should treat everyone equal. When Amir travels back to Middle East, he changed his outlook on things. When Amir was younger he grew up with everything being handed to him. Hassan was his servant, so he never had to do any hard work. He fled to America to escape the Russian Rule, but he still managed to live a better life than those stuck in his homeland. In chapter 19, the frustration on why Amir decided to return is shown through a
After losing his wife while she was in labor, he was burdened until the end of his life. Even his own son could not bring him joy due to the fact that he was not athletic, nor could he stick up for himself. He as well as society looked down upon Amir for his lack of manliness. Baba was constantly dealing with his own self conscience, yet did good deeds to cover them up and hide them from society so they also would not see how broken he was. He later on died with cancer, but was happy for his son. He did not feel dishonored, he was proud of Amir. Like Rahim Khan said “ Children are not coloring books. You don’t get to fill them with your favorite colors.” (pg. 21). This really spoke to Baba before his passing and made him realize that Amir was doing what he wanted to do, take his own path. Baba found peace in himself with his son and therefore died with no regrets. Some parents passed with grief for their children.