Similarities Between The Kite Runner And Catcher In The Rye

The hero’s journey is a concept that has transcended cultural barriers in all different mediums, truly engraving itself as a part of modern culture. It usually follows the transformation of the weak cowardly boy into the knight in shining armor, with the protagonist battling through trials and temptation, abysses, and the ultimately restoring order to society. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, the heroes go on journeys that transform them from the spineless boys into heroic men. However, both characters fail to complete the typical hero’s journey, for both struggle to find meaning within their own lives. Amir eventually finds this inner peace and meaning, and thus he is able to save himself and eventually complete his goal, saving Sohrab. By contrast,

Holden--because he never truly finds himself--fails to succeed in the concrete goal of his mission: cleansing society of the realities of adulthood.

Both Amir and Holden mature over the course of their journeys by becoming more brave and selfless, but whereas Amir successfully saves both Sohrab and himself, Holden--because of his self-doubt-- cannot successfully save himself or anyone; though neither character becomes the classic hero who rides in and saves the day, each undertakes the impossible challenge of restoring order to a fractured society and redefines what it means to be a hero.

Amir matures over the course of the novel, becoming brave and selfless--and therefore is able to save both Sohrab and himself. In The Kite Runner, Amir grows from a cowardly boy into a brave man, who stands up for what is right. For example, Amir’s decisions as boy highlight his lack of courage. Most notably, when Amir faces the rape of Hassan, he chooses to abandon his friend. He thinks to himself, “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’s decision displays his inherent cowardice and lack of bravery as a boy. As a boy, Amir is so unheroic that even his closest friend, the boy who’d “stood up for [him] all those times,” is not worth saving. All Amir does is run. By contrast, Amir is different as an adult, facing the challenges of life with a genuine valor. Praying in the hospital, Amir bravely admits his wrongs and vows to god that he is a new, brave man. He say, “I will pray that He forgive that I have neglected Him all of these years, forgive that I have betrayed, lied, and sinned with impunity [...] I bow to the west and kiss the ground and promise [...] I will think of Him every day from this day on” (346). Amir’s words highlight his willingness to admit his wrongs and the fact that he is brave enough to admit his wrongs. His “[bowing] to the west” is similar to the sun setting to west, with the sun’s setting representing the death of cowardly Amir. Furthermore, when in the park with Sohrab, instead of running away from confrontation like he does with the rape of Hassan, Amir “[runs] with the wind blowing in [his] face” (Hosseini, 371). This reveals his change from the weak cowardly boy running away from bravery into a man running the struggles of a new life, not knowing what will happen but knowing he will always stand up for what is right.
In addition to his bravery, Amir’s selflessness is a critical part of his growth from weak coward to hero. As he is being beaten up and nearly killed by Assef, Amir thinks to himself about the pain he is going through defending Sohrab. He thinks to himself, “What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace.[...] my body was broken—just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later—but I felt healed. Healed at last” (Hosseini, 289). Amir only “[heals] at last” in a gargantuan act of selflessness--sacrificing his own body for the well being of Sohrab. Moreover, when talking to General Sahib about the real reason for Sohrab’s adoption, Amir steps up as a selfless hero and tells the General the truth. He declares, “My father slept with his servant’s wife. She bore him a son named Hassan. [...] That boy sleeping on the couch is Hassan’s son. He’s my nephew. That’s what you tell people when they ask. [...] and you will never again refer to him as ‘Hazara boy’ in my presence again” (Hosseini, 361). By sacrificing the image of being a strong Pashtun man--too pure for any old “Hazara boy”--for the adoption of Sohrab and treating him like a real person, Amir selflessly stands up for the right thing. He cares more about respecting the legacy of his friend than just enhancing people’s view of he and his family by bringing up his father’s tainted legacy and how he “slept with his servant’s wife.” Essentially, Amir gives up the mantle of Pashtun “man” for that of a real hero.
Because of his newfound, bravery and selflessness, he is able to save Sohrab and eventually himself. When he is in the hospital recovering from his injuries sustained while saving Sohrab from Assef, Amir learns of one injury in particular that is unique. He whispers, “I kept thinking about some else Armand/Dr. Faruqi had said: The impact cut your upper lip in two, he had said, clean down the middle. Clean down the middle. Like a harelip” (Hosseini, 297). Amir’s “Harelip” reveals his atonement for sins committed relating to the rape of Hassan and his ultimate transformation from the guilty cowardly shell of a boy into the shining selfless hero like Hassan. Furthermore, In the park with Sohrab, after his grand acts of courage and of altruism, he asks Sohrab to fly the kite with him. He says, “[Sohrab’s] Adam’s apple rose and fell as he swallowed. The wind lifted his hair. I thought I saw him nod. ‘For you, a thousand times over,’ I heard myself say” (Hosseini, 371). The phrase “for you, a thousand times over,” symbolizes Amir’s transformation into a more selfless and more loyal character like Hassan, for Hassan always said that phrase to Amir. Amir has come full circle, from weak boy to heroic man, and now demonstrates this in his loyalty to Sohrab. It is because of his saving Sohrab and ultimately himself--his mark of atonement and inner peace-- that he becomes a hero.
Like Amir, Holden matures over the course of The Catcher in the Rye by similarly becoming brave and selfless but unlike Amir, Holden cannot save anyone--even himself--and therefore is plagued by self-doubt, ultimately unable to complete his journey. Holden grows into a brave man by boldly facing the inner struggle between childhood innocence and the reality of adulthood. As he races out of Pencey Prep, Holden screams to the rest of his classmates and runs out into the world. He says, “I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and I yelled at the top of my goddam voice, ‘sleep tight, ya morons!’ [...] Then I got the hell out. Some stupid guy had thrown peanut shells all over the stairs, and I damn near broke my crazy neck” (Salinger, 68). This place is his threshold, where he makes the brave choice to leave the world of “morons” and “stupid guy[s]” he knows in exchange for the unknown real world. Holden doesn’t feel entirely safe in this quest for himself, for he “damn near [breaks his] crazy neck,” but still bravely powers through. Furthermore, when Holden accidentally breaks Phoebe’s record, he still courageously goes on. He says, “then something terrible happened just as I got in the park. I dropped old Phoebe's record. It broke-into about fifty pieces.[...] I damn near cried, it made me feel so terrible, but all I did was, I took the pieces out of the envelope and put them in my coat pocket. [...] I didn't feel like just throwing them away” (Salinger, 199-200). Phoebe’s record symbolizes fleeting childhood innocence, for the song is about the fears of losing front teeth and growing up. He holds on to his goal even as it slips away, proving both his dedication to his cause and strength to believe in that cause even when it falters. He doesn’t fight in some grand duel, but instead bravely stands on his own in a society where any one journey can disappear in a second.
In addition to gaining bravery, Holden grows from being a selfish person with good intentions who is too focused on being seen as normal into a selfless man dedicated to safety of others like Amir. When he notices graffiti on the wall of Phoebe’s school, he is deeply angered. He says, “I saw something that drove me crazy. Somebody’d written ‘Fuck you’ on the wall. [...] I kept wanting to kill whoever’d written it. [...] I’d smash his head on the stone steps till he was good and goddam dead and bloody” (Salinger, 260-261). Holden--the protector of all attempted poisonings of childhood innocence--violently lashes out in response to this, as words and phrases like “smash his head” and “till he was [...] goddam dead and bloody” reveal. He has good intentions, but his inability to erase the message with the fear of being seen proves his underlying lack of selflessness. At this point, he cares more about how he has seen than actually standing up for others. However, later in his journey, he learns to sacrifice his normality for the wellbeing of the children. Watching Phoebe on the carousel, Holden notices the behavior of the children. He mutters, “All the kids kept trying to grab for the gold ring, and so was old Phoebe, and I was sort of afraid she’d fall off the goddam horse, but I didn’t say anything or do anything. The thing with kids is, if they want to grab for the gold ring, you have to let them do it and not say anything. If they fall off, they fall off, but it’s bad if you say anything to them” (Salinger, 273-274). Holden finally learns that in order for the children to truly live peacefully, he cannot block them from reality, he must let them “reach the ring.” His ideas may not come to fruition, but the fact that he lets his ideas go for the benefit of the children is true selflessness. He does not make some magnificent gesture like Amir, but still contains a similar capacity for incredible altruism.
Despite a newfound bravery and selflessness, Holden is unable to achieve his goal of saving society because his constant self-doubt and inability to find himself makes the scope of his opponent just too great. When he is at the hospital looking at his experiences in retrospect, Holden questions everything he has gone through. He says, “A lot of people [...] [keep] asking me if I'm going apply myself when I go back to school next September. [...] I mean how do you know what you're going to do till you do it? The answer is, you don't. [...] I swear it's a stupid question” (Salinger, 276). Holden cannot even face his great villain because his doubt stands in the way of letting Holden face himself. Mr. Antolini, when Holden stays at his house, tells Holden that “[his] first move is to apply [himself] in school” (Salinger, 245). Despite what his mentor says, Holden rejects his advice, insisting that it is impossible to really know what to do in life until it is finished, as “how do you know what you’re gonna do till you do it” reveals. Even though Antolini gives Holden answers to the questions he has, Holden’s self-doubt stands in the way. Furthermore, Holden’s grand journey and battle against society fails because his doubt has taken away his desire for human connection. He says, “I'm sorry I told so many people about it. About all I know is, I sort of miss everybody I told about. Even old Stradlater and Ackley, for instance. I think I even miss that goddam Maurice. It's funny. Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody” (Salinger, 277). Holden believes that the retelling of his journey has created more self-doubt, removing it from reality and taking away the genuine human connection he spent his whole life trying to find. This realization highlights Holden’s ultimate failure to save himself and society.
More important than whether or not Holden and Amir succeed in their journeys, both characters fail to become the typical hero--the famous knight in shining armor. However, both characters redefine what being a “hero” really is. No longer do heroes ride in on their stallions and slay the enemies in classic Greek and Medieval form. Instead, both characters choose to undertake the impossible task of restoring order to societies fractured by war. Amir’s society is torn apart by the horrors of war the gruesome violence that comes with it. On the other hand, Holden is stuck in a society riding high off the supposed “victory” of World War II. Although it seems as though America is perfect at this time, everything is stuck in black and white, hiding the underlying broken world. Nonetheless, whether the war fought is won or lost, society remains fractured, leaving Holden and Amir with an impossible task on their hands. Real heroes like them strive to fight back against the horrors of war--success and failure regardless.