In the novel “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini is about Amir, and his life. Through most of the noel we learn to dislike his character. His actions toward people as well as his thoughts toward them. But what makes Amir do the things that he does? He was raised by his Baba because his mother passed away giving birth to him. The relationships Amir has in his life are significant, and explains more about his actions. Nature versus nurture is portrayed through Amir, Assef, Sorhab, and Hassan. Amir’s mother died during birth which means that the relationship between him, and Baba became magnified. Rahim Khan was more of a father figure to Amir than Baba was. He thought of him as a father and a friend. Amir would share some of his writing with Baba, and he would not acknowledge him, but “As always, it was Rahim Khan who rescued [him]" (Hosseini 31). Amir finds one of his mother’s books, it had a section about Hazara’s. Amir made an effort to tell his history teacher about what he found, and he paid no attention to him. At his party Rahim Khan shared a story about how he was going to marry a Hazara. His family disagreed with the …show more content…
idea, and began making life threatening comments. In the end they never got married, but it shows how he thinks of them as equals. Later in the novel, Amir goes back to his hometown to search for Hassan’s son Sorhab. As they get to know each other and encounter hardship with one another, Amir begins being a father to Sorhab. What once destroyed the relationship between Hassan and Amir was the opposite for Sorhab and Amir. Flying kites rekindled the relationship between them. Sorhab lived almost the same life his father did, which allowed Amir to fix things by becoming his father, and treating him better than he did Hassan. Assef has no parental figure. His figure is Hitler. He knows no discipline and controls everyone and everything around him including his parents. Amir describes Assef as a sociopath, this being a description of nature. He was born with an illness, this gives reason for his actions, but does not give him an excuse. For example Assef rapes Hassan, ad feels no remorse for his actions. “Perhaps Assef simply doesn't see Hazaras as equal to Pashtuns” (Shmoop), and this being his reason for what he did although it still does not make it right. His parents have no control over him making him have no adult figure to learn from. Hassan’s situation is different.
He has two father figures, them being Baba, and Ali. Baba knows that Hassan is his real son, so he takes in Ali and him in making them his servants, but he treats them like family. Ali knew that Baba was Hansans real father, but he still raised him as his own. Amir craved the bond that they shared. Hansan did have his share of humiliation. When his mother gave birth to him she did not hold him, and went away with another man. He did not only lose his mother, but his mother rejected him “Sanaubar had taken one glance at the baby in Ali's arms, seen the cleft lip, and barked a bitter laughter. [...]. She had refused to even hold Hassan, and just five days later she was gone” (Hosseini 10). She despised everything about Ali. He wanted that same relationship with Baba. Hansan was the good character in the
novel. These characters all share some similarities. Not all of them were nurtured by the people they should have been nurtured by. It was only when Baba was about to die he became father like to Amir. Same goes for Amir, he only began to think of others instead of himself when Sorhab came into the picture. Hassan was always a true father. Whereas Assef never changed or became a father figure.
Khaled Hosseini’s direct and indirect characterization of Amir in chapters twenty through twenty-three of The Kite Runner are used in order to advance the plot and Amir’s personality.
In the novel The Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini writes about Amir a young Afghan child who is a coward and who later as an adult seeks redemption from past mistakes. These characteristic effects Amir’s live throughout the novel from childhood to present. However, these are just words on a paper without some proof and the novel happily supports this either through the events or the behavior of other characters. Now let’s start with Amir’s past childhood.
Kite Runner depicts the story of Amir, a boy living in Afghanistan, and his journey throughout life. He experiences periods of happiness, sorrow, and confusion as he matures. Amir is shocked by atrocities and blessed by beneficial relationships both in his homeland and the United States. Reviewers have chosen sides and waged a war of words against one another over the notoriety of the book. Many critics of Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, argue that the novel would not have reached a lofty level of success if the U.S. had not had recent dealings with the Middle East, yet other critics accurately relate the novel’s success to its internal aspects.
Amir's mother passes away during his birth, and his left with the suspicion that his father blames him for her death. Amir longes for his father's attention and approval, but does not receive any affection as a son. He grows up with his Hazara best friend, Hassan. In Afghanistan culture, Hazaras are considered lower class and inferiors in society. Amir describes his friendship with Hassan saying, “then he would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break."
At times Amir had trouble realizing that they were best friends because Hassan was a Hazara, he was of Asian descent and of the Shiite tribe, he resembles his ancestors, the Mongols. Amir is a Pashtun, of the Sunni tribe, a majority group in Afghanistan. Hassan was loyal and showed endless amounts of respect and praise to Amir. Though Hassan knew what Amir had witnessed and done to him, he covered up for him. He did not ever let Amir get into trouble with Baba, his father. Hassan was also the half brother of Amir, neither knew until Rahim Khan, a friend of Baba’s informed Amir. He and Hassan had a connection, both as friends but also as brothers.
It is not often that Amir’s love for Baba is returned. Baba feels guilty treating Amir well when he can’t acknowledge Hassan as his son. Baba discriminates against his son Amir by constantly making him feel weak and unworthy of his father. Baba once said to Rahim Kahn, “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). Amir doesn’t feel like a son towards Baba since he seems like such a weakling. This neglect towards Amir causes him to feel a need to be accepted by Baba to end the constant discrimination from his father and he will do anything for it. “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 Baba” (Hosseini 77). Amir did not stop the rape of his good friend for one sole purpose. Amir felt that he had to betray his own half-brother to gain th...
Three times Amir goes to great lengths to get Baba’s love. First, Amir doesn’t intervene when Hassan is getting raped because he doesn’t want to ruin the glory he will receive from Baba. He wants the approval and love of his father so bad that he validates what he did by saying “he was just a Hazara” (Hosseini 77). Amir is so infatuated with
He begins his story in pre-civil war Afghanistan. He and his Hazara servant Hassan spend many hours per day together. One of the most cherished times spent together was when Amir would read stories to Hassan, under a pomegranate tree. Amir had a love for literature, a trait similar to his mother, who died while giving birth to him. However, this troubles his father ("Bâbâ," Persian for father), who tries to make Amir more like himself, active and courageous. Baba puts Amir on a soccer team and tries to teach him to defend himself, but fails with every attempt.
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
Amir is a man who is haunted by the demons of his past. This is first shown in the opening lines of the novel “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.” (Hosseini pg.#) These opening lines of the novel foreshadow what is yet to come. You can see that Amir looking back at the past with an attempt to justify why he is the man he is today. In the winter of 1975 it was the final round of the Kite Running tournament when Hassan choice to run the last kite for Amir. In doing so Hassan is corner by Assef and his gang who question Hassan’s loyalty to Amir. They give Hassan the choice to give them the kite in exchange to do no harm to him or to...
Baba is displayed as an immoral man while at home because he is not loving to 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 fatherly figure in the first part of the book, once they leave their home, Baba seems to care a lot more about Amir. This may happen because he does not always have Hassan around to remind him of the terrible mistakes that he made in the past. However, even when Hassan is leaving, Baba still cares about him. Even though Hassan may be a symbol of past mistakes, he is still Baba’s son in the end and family always has a strong bond. Therefore, Baba’s character shows his moral side because instead of hating his illegitimate son, he cares for him as much as he can given the cultural standards of the two opposing religions. By healing his cleft lip and remembering Hassan’s birthday every year, Baba is able to show his caring side that is seldom seen with his relationship with
Throughout Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, Hosseini depicts a character unlike any other, Baba. Baba is portrayed throughout the novel as a tough man who is always willing to help someone in need. Baba seems to love and care for everyone in the novel except his son, Amir. Amir is always trying to pursue eminence in Baba’s eye and give Baba a reason not to loathe him. Amir thought Baba hated him because when Amir was born, it killed his mother, Baba’s “princess.” Baba’s transformation throughout the novel is very clear as he transforms from a father who despises his son, to accepting his son and finally being a true father to Amir.
During The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini reinforces the theme of the loss of innocence and redemption. Many characters lose innocence or are the cause of another character losing theirs. Amir both loses his innocence and that of others. His innocence is stolen by his father. In the novel Amir overhears Baba saying, “‘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 24-25). This affects Amir for his entire life as he tries to compete with Hassan for his father's attention. He does not realize that in doing so, this crumbles his world as he knows it. It makes Amir resentful, calloused, and even cruel, all of which are characteristics of someone who has lost their innocence. In turn, Amir’s loss of innocence causes other to lose their innocence because of his lack of courage and disregard for others feelings.
Amir never stands up for himself in his youth. He always uses others to execute his dirty deeds for him. Consequently, Baba doesn’t recognize Amir as a
In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, the author follows the development of protagonist Amir through a life filled with sorrow, regret, and violence. Amir encounters numerous obstacles on his path to adulthood, facing a new test at every twist and turn. Amir embarks on the long journey known as life as a cowardly, weak young man with a twisted set of ideals, slowly but surely evolving into a man worthy of the name. Amir is one of the lucky few who can go through such a shattered life and come out the other side a better man, a man who stands up for himself and those who cannot, willing to put his life on the line for the people he loves.