Guilt In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

Guilt is the emotion that a person feels when they are responsible for an action that has violated some set of standards. Khaled Hosseini conveys this through his novel, The Kite Runner, by following a young Afghan boy and the events that surround him with the build up of guilt that continue to follow him as he ages.The consequence of guilt is that it stays with the person for the rest of their life, but one way of getting rid of its weight is to use the past to make the future better by acting upon it in the present. As seen in both Baba's and Amir's actions throughout the novel, guilt can propel actions in order to ease the burden the person had experienced.
Amir's reluctance to face his troubles is the chief cause for guilt and throughout

his life he tries to cope with it through different methods. After the kite tournament and Amir finds Hassan being raped, he flees and reasons that Hassan "was just a Hazara" and he "actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative [..] was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world" (Hosseini 77).

Amir is literally running away from the situation because he panicked and froze. By trying to come up with a reason to justify his way of dealing with the situation, he is legitimizing his action of running away to try to make himself feel better and to cover up for the true reason for him to run away, which people sometimes do when they are under high stress. After a week or so of avoiding Hassan, Amir tries another method by attempting to permanently remove the source of guilt- Hassan. Amir has contradicting emotions about Hassan's false confession of stealing the money and watch because he thinks, "I wasn't worthy of this sacrifice [...] except part of me was glad. Glad that this would all be over soon" (105). Once more Amir finds a different way to defer any encounter with Hassan, this time by using his father to dismiss Hassan and Ali. Amir convinced himself that he would be "glad" after this would be over, that the stress and guilt he was feeling would reduce once Hassan and Ali would leave. This way of managing stress mirrors those who take actions because of their emotions.

Finally after Amir has moved and then traveled back to Afghanistan to bring Sohrab to America does he makes his last attempt of removing the lifelong guilt. After cutting down the green kite, Amir asks Sohrab if he wanted him to chase the kite for him; when seeing Sohrab nod, Amir says the words Hassan had once said to him. "For you, a thousand times over"(371). Amir is making a promise to Sohrab, a promise that he did not make to Sohrab's father. This is the last piece of dialog represents the changes Amir has made even since he had betrayed Hassan. He has finally come with terms with his past and is ready to move on by taking the place of Hassan in Sobrab's life. By not running away from his past, Amir is able to face it and is able to breathe again.
Baba uses an indirect approach of reducing his guilt through charitable work with the community and family. Baba's guilt with Hassan is that he is his father but because of the culture and social norms, it would be unsuitable to tell him. So instead Baba tries to make up for this by providing Hassan with things that Ali may not be able to provide him. Such as on Hassan's birthday one year, instead of toys, Baba surprises him by inviting a plastic surgeon to repair his harelip and saying, "It's an unusual present, I know. And probably not what you had in mind but this present will last you forever"(46). This present, unlike the previous ones, was not something Hassan would play with then grow out of, but something that would change literally change other's first impression of Hassan. This gift also shows Baba's affections for Hassan because of Amir's reactions to it. During the kite tournament whatever kite Amir chooses to get, Baba would also buy the same for Hassan though Amir "wished he wouldn't do that [and that] he'd let [him] be the favorite"(51). Baba does not chose "favorites" between the two boys because both are his son and even though one may not be known to the world that he is Baba's son, Baba still treats Hassan as his son instead of ignoring him like some do. Guilt that is mixed with other emotions pushes Baba to take the actions he does as people who are driven by guilt.
The Kite Runner's Baba and Amir both try to reduce their guilt by taking action about it. Because Amir dragged his feet in confronting his fear and guilt, he came up with many methods of coping with the guilt though in the end he has; Baba confronted his but with an indirect approach. All in all, Hosseini has conveyed with his novel that everyone has their own different ways of coping and overcoming their guilt that comes in different forms and patterns.