Guilt is a strong emotion that affects many people around the world. It can either lead people into a deep and dark abyss that can slowly deteriorate people or it can inspire them to achieve redemption. Guilt and redemption are two interrelated subjects that can show the development of the character throughout a novel. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, are two literary works that convey the connections between guilt and redemption and show the development of the character by using theme and symbolism that are present in the novels. The themes that are similar in both of the novels are that guilt is detrimental to oneself and that redemption is key to happiness. These points are especially …show more content…
However, Dimmesdale is negatively affected by not facing any consequences. Dimmesdale becomes incredibly diseased and is not in a correct state of mind as he was “suffering under [a] bodily disease”(Hawthorne 66) and “looked now more careworn and emaciated” (Hawthorne 103) than ever before. These descriptions prove that Dimmesdale’s health is deteriorating at a very fast rate and that he is a very depressed man at this point because of all the guilt piling up inside of him. In addition to his disease, Dimmesdale is adversely affected by the punishments that he puts on himself. He begins to flog himself and deprive himself of sleep and food as a way to get rid of his guilt. He even draws a red mark on his chest as a way to punish himself. This red mark proves to be an important symbol in the novel as it symbolizes Dimmesdale’s own way of revealing his sin to the outside world and the extent of how far one person would go to get rid of sin and guilt. However, none of his techniques prove to get rid of the guilt and sin in his soul. Because of his emaciated stage and the guilt in his soul, Dimmesdale finally …show more content…
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. Because Hassan did not give the kite, Assef decides to rape Hassan as a “punishment”. Instead of helping his friend out, Amir just walked away from the scene and let Hassan get violated in one of the most vulgar ways. After this incident, Hassan quietly walked back home and gave Amir the kite for which he was confronted by Assef for. The kite in this situation proves to be an important symbol. Whereas earlier in the novel the kite represented happiness and fun to Amir, in this situation it represented sin and guilt to Amir. The only reason that Hassan got raped was that he was trying to get a kite for Amir. Now the kite acts a reminder to Hassan of his wrong-doing and it will now begin to haunt him for a long time. Although when in America, Amir does not get reminded about Hassan, deep inside he still feels guilty. Amir immediately begins to feel the most guilt when he goes to Iran when Rahim Khan, Amir’s childhood friend, asks him to come. He feels that Rahim Khan has reminded him of his “past of unatoned sins”(Hosseini 2).
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
Hassan agrees and gives chase for the kite with Amir follow some time later on. However, during that time Hassan is corner by Assif and several others children. Hassan is then punished by Assif for protecting Amir, as well as being a different type of Afghani. In one swift motion, Assif performs a horrifying sexual act on Hassan, all the way Amir watch it far down a street. And what does Amir do? Well he ran as he put it, “I ran because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt” (77).
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini has many references of guilt in it, the book it reveals in order to keep a clean conscience you must do the right thing.
In Amir’s early childhood, kites represented happiness. Flying kites was his favorite pastime, as it was the only way that he connected fully with Baba, who was once a champion kite fighter. However, the kite takes on a different significance when Amir doesn’t stop Hassan's abusers from raping him in order to prevent the kite from being stolen. The kite serves as a symbol of Amir’s guilt throughout the novel. Hechose his fragile relationship with his father over the well-being of his best friend and half-brother: “Baba and I lived in the same ...
Redemption is gaining honor and self-forgiveness through a selfless act that reflects off of one’s regretful actions of their past. In the novel, The Kite Runner, Amir is the main character who goes through many life struggles and mistakes, then finds himself on a road to redemption. Amir and Hassan were best friends throughout their childhood and Hassan was the honorable, trusting best friend, the one to always take a stand for what he believed was right. Amir’s lack of courage caused him to stay silent in the worst of times, letting Hassan get tortured for the things he did not deserve. The themes of sacrifice, honor and redemption are carried out in many ways throughout this novel being shown through the actions of Hassan, Baba, and Amir.
The most evident motifs in both novels are madness, nonacceptance and the concept of betrayal. that
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.” (2) The Kite Runner follows Amir on his odyssey to redeem himself for his hurtful actions. Through this journey, Khaled Hosseini delivers the message that sins and guilt can always be atoned for.
One of the most tragic and tear-jerking moments in the entire novel surrounds the moment when Amir decides to not help Hassan while he is getting raped. Reading this part, it is very hard not to get furious with Amir because obviously what he did was wrong, but he did have reasoning behind not helping his brother. Amir stands there for a few reasons; one of the reasons being his desire for his father approval, which he knows he can receive by coming home with the kite. When Assef says this, “I've changed my mind; I'm letting you keep the kite, Hazara. I'll let you keep it so it will always remind you of what I'm about to do.
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.
The kite is a piece of allegory throughout the book. It symbolizes the way for Amir to be good enough for his father and reminder of his happiness. After Hassan was raped the meaning of kite changed reminding Amir that he betrayed Hassan. At the end of the book Amir is flying a kite with Sorab symbolizing his hope that he has redeemed himself.
When Assef and his friends cornered Hassan and Amir, Hassan threatened them even though he is outnumbered. Hassan suppressed his fears with the intent to protect Amir. This heroic act, truly shows how Hassan prioritizes Amir’s safety. Hassan and Assef once again met after the kite competition, when Hassan went to ran the kite that Amir ordered him to. Assef cornered Hassan and sexually assaulted him. Hassan allowed Assef to do it, because it is the only way to obtain the kite that Amir wanted. It took a substantial amount of determination and courage for Hassan to let Assef sexually assault him. Hassan’s desire to make Amir happy, can be plainly seen on this incident. It seems though that Hassan’s unwavering loyalty is still inadequate to prevent Amir from betraying Hassan again by framing him for theft. When Baba asked Hassan if he really took Amir’s money and watch, Hassan said yes. Hassan did this, knowing that their is a possibility that Baba will punish him. This act of courage truly expresses Hassan’s desire to protect Amir. Hassan’s feats of bravery certainly defines his identity and plainly exhibits his loyalty to
Guilt is the emotion someone experiences after they have done something they believe is morally wrong. People feel guilt when they do something wrong and despite knowing better cause someone else harm, or disappoint someone. People deal with guilt in various ways, but do not necessarily admit what they have done, so they try to overcompensate and do good later on to make up for their mistakes from the past. In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini a young boy named Amir, is haunted by the sins of his past and follows his struggle with the resulting guilt. Guilt causes people to make irrational decisions because it impairs judgment and consumes a person’s life.
In order to completely redeem himself, Amir has to tell the truth and apologize directly to Hassan. However, now that Hassan has passed, Amir doesn’t have a chance to do that. Amir saves Sohrab's life by rescuing the boy from Assef, but that is what he does for Sohrab, not Hassan. His half-brother had still been assaulted by Assef, shot and is now dead. That truth is unchangeable, so Amir will never be able to completely atone for his past sins. Despite the fact that he can never completely erase the sins in his childhood, he is changing as a person and is becoming stronger. When fighting Assef, he narrates, “... What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden nook in a corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this…” (Hosseini 289). Although he hasn’t fully redeemed himself, he’s at least facing his past, trying his best to fix as much as he could what he did wrong. He even says that he was looking forward to that, knowing that by tolerating the pain, he’s one step closer to paying off his crimes. At the end of the book, Amir again, after 26 years, flies a kite, this time with Hassan's son, Sohrab. The kite is the symbol of his past sins. Amir, who can never close the door on his past of guilt and mistakes, rather reestablishes his memory of
The lamb is an important symbol to the novel. In Islam the lamb is a symbol of innocence and sacrifice.Amir describes Hassan looking like a lamb ,Amir says “I caught a glimpse of his face...It was a look I had seen before. It was a look of a lamb”(77).Hassans innocence was sacrificed by being raped. In this case Amir sacrifices Hassan over a blue kite by not stepping in. Amir also describes Sohrab ,Hassan's son,as looking like a lamb. Sohrabs’ innocence is also sacrificed by being raped by the same person his father was. But, in this event Amir saves him in order to feel guilt free by not helping his friend.In this case innocence is the sacrefice. The blue kite is also a significant symbol of the novel.The kite is symbol of Amir’s happiness and his guilt. Flying kites is what he liked most, not because it was the only way he could redeem himself to his father. But the kite takes a different significance when Amir allows Hassan to be raped because he wants to bring kite back as proof he had won the contest. His memory after that leaves the kite as a sign of his betrayal to Hassan. Amir doesn't fly a kite again until he he is with Sohrab at the end of the novel. Because Amir has already repented his sins himself, the kite isn't a symbol of his guilt. Instead, it a reminder of his childhood, and it becomes the way he is able to connect with
The basic ideas of the two novels are also similar. They have to do with rebellion against the so-called perfect new world and the sanctuary