How Is Betrayal Shown In The Kite Runner

French philosopher, Albert Camus, expressed this thought: “…I don’t believe there is a single person I loved that I didn’t eventually betray.” This truth is shown in The Kite Runner through the complex relationships within and between two families in different tribes. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini suggests that people who are close to each other, ultimately will betray each other in one form or another; through the relationships between parents and children, Baba and Ali, and Amir and Hassan.
Relationships between parents and children can be complicated. This is shown in the novel through Baba, who felt like he could not openly love Hassan because he was a Hazara. Amir expresses his envy of Baba and Hassan’s relationship with this memory:”

…Hassan’s not going anywhere, he’d barked. He’s staying right here with us, where he belongs. This is his home and we’re his family. He had wept, wept, when Ali announced he and Hassan were leaving us” (Hosseini 225). Even though Baba and Hassan are from different tribes, Baba loved his son and wanted to keep him close. Hassan never knew Baba was his real father, he had been lied to his whole life. Baba lied to not only Hassan but to his other son as well. Amir thinks to himself “How could he have lied to me all those years? To Hassan?... I was learning that Baba had been a thief. And a thief of the worst kind…” (Hosseini 225). Amir spent years wondering why he was never good enough for Baba just to find out Baba had another son. Hassan was Baba’s focus from the start, not Amir. Baba stole the truth from Amir and Hassan and that made him a thief of the worst kind. Both Hassan and Amir lost their mothers at a young age and were left with only their fathers to raise them. Amir betrays his mother when she hemorrhaged to death whereas Hassan was betrayed by his mother when she left him (Hosseini 6). Amir feels responsible for his mother’s death while Hassan feels like his mother does not love him. Betrayal between a parent and a child is one of the most hurtful and hard to accept incidents one can experience.
Ali was more than just a servant to Baba, he was family.

They grew up together like siblings and now find themselves breaking each others trust in betrayal. Baba’s affair with Ali’s wife put Ali in a horrible position. Amir reflects on Baba’s pride and Ali’s loyalty with this: “… How had Baba brought himself to look Ali in the eye? How had Ali lived in that house, day in and day out, knowing he had been dishonored by his master in the single worst way an Afghan man could be dishonored?” (pg. 225). Baba had dishonored Ali in the worst way possible yet Ali stayed loyal to him. Ali stayed true to Baba even after the affair lead to the birth of Hassan. Insult is added to injury when the affair between Baba and Ali’s wife results in a child (Hosseini 222). Baba’s betrayal was hurtful enough and Ali having a constant reminder of his friend’s betrayal made him suffer. Baba had watched out for Hassan as long as he could until he was taken away from him. Ali betrays a life long relationship with Baba by leaving Kabul and taking Baba’s beloved son with him (Hosseini 106). When Ali announces that he and Hassan are leaving Amir says that was the first time he’s seen Baba cry. Friends can betray each other and remain

friends.
Hassan thinks Amir and him are friends but their relationship is more one-sided than he thinks.

Amir contemplates: “I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan- the way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past- and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran” (Hosseini 77). Amir was too scared to stand up for himself let alone stand up for someone else. He made a life changing decision that will haunt him forever. Guilt ridden, Amir makes another horrendous decision: to get rid of Hassan. Hassan’s loyalty is contrasted by the disloyalty Amir shows him when he frames Hassan for theft (Hosseini 104). Amir could not face Hassan after what he had done, it was depressing to think about it. Amir has always looked down on Hassan and looked up to Baba. He ponders this: “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba. Was it a fair price? The answer floated to my conscious mind before I could thwart it: He was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” (Hosseini 77). Amir tries to justify his actions by telling himself that Hassan was just a Hazara and nothing more. He does this to feel better and less guilty about letting Hassan get raped. Amir’s betrayals are his selfish attempts to gain the love and attention of his

father.
Through the relationships between parents and children, Baba and Ali, and Amir and Hassan; Khaled Hosseini explains that people closest to each other will inevitably betray one another. Parents and children have the most complex relationships with the most hurtful betrayals because they love each other the most. Betrayal among friends tends to have on of two outcomes: friendships dissolve or friendship remain loyal. Jealousy between siblings often leads to an act of betrayal to win the affection of a parent. Every relationship a person has is unique and plays a part in who they will become.