Strength In The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is a story about Amir who, as a child, witnessed a horrific act against his friend. He spends the next few decades struggling to come to terms with what happened to his friend, the role he played and finding atonement. The story is told by Amir and takes place during the time period of 1975-2001 in Kabul, Afghanistan, then moves to Fremont, California and then back to Kabul, Afghanistan. Strength of character is a prevalent theme throughout the novel. Three characters in the novel, Amir, Hassan and Baba demonstrate personal attributes of strength while dealing with hardships.

Amir demonstrates strength of character as he transitions from a selfish child to a selfless adult. He was born into an upper class

family and had a privileged upbringing due to his wealthy father. He grew up accustomed to getting what he wanted. Amir shows a great deal of jealousy towards his half brother Hassan, especially when their father, Baba, is around. Amir is always acting aggressively towards Hassan by always bugging him, playing tricks on him and trying to start a fight. Both Amir and Hassan are participating in this quote. "He turned to me. A few sweat beads rolled from his bald scalp. "Would I ever lie to you, Amir agha?" Suddenly I decided to toy with him a little. "I don't know. Would you?" "I'd sooner eat dirt," he said with a look of indignation. "Really? You'd do that?" He threw me a puzzled look. "Do what?"

"Eat dirt if I told you to," I said. I knew I was being cruel, like when I'd taunt him if he didn't know some big word. But there was something fascinating – albeit in a sick way – about teasing Hassan. Kind of like when we used to play insect torture. Except now, he was the ant and I was holding the magnifying glass. (Hosseini,6.29-34). This is one example of the cruelty and betrayal Amir shows towards Hassan. Amir's attitude and character change when he realizes that he let Hassan get raped and his selfishness has caused him his happiness and caused his brother to go through a pretty dramatic event. Amir says, “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,7.140) In this quote, Amir saying that sometimes you may have to sacrifice one thing to get another in return. Amir shows strength of character, at the start of the book he was selfish and would sacrifice someone else over himself. We see him grow and learn from his mistake. He even sacrifices himself over someone else.

Hassan is truly a good person, even though he has had his fare share of hard times. Hassan is a Hazara servant, half brother to Amir and son of Baba. Just like Amir, Hassan's mother is also dead. He has felt a lot of guilt throughout his life due to the fact that his mother disowned him and rejected him as her son. Hassan shows traits of loyalty, trust, forgiveness and never holds grudges towards other people. Amir discussed Hassan's strength, "Sometimes, up in those trees, I talked Hassan into firing walnuts with his slingshot at the neighbor's one-eyed German shepherd. Hassan never wanted to, but if I asked, really asked, he wouldn't deny me. Hassan never denied me anything. And he was deadly with his slingshot. Hassan's father, Ali, used to catch us and get mad, or as mad as someone as gentle as Ali could ever get. He would wag his finger and wave us down from the tree. He would take the mirror and tell us what his

mother had told him, that the devil shone mirrors too, shone them to distract Muslims during prayer.

"And he laughs while he does it," he always added, scowling at his son. "Yes, Father," Hassan would mumble, looking down at his feet. But he never told on me. Never told that the mirror, like shooting walnuts at the neighbor's dog, was always my idea". (Hosseini, 2.2-3) Hassan's ability to suffer without becoming bitter really separates Hassan from Amir. Even years later after being driven out of the house by Amir and losing his father from a land mine, Hassan still writes letters to Amir to check on him to see how he's doing. Hassan is considered to be almost a Saint, after Amir betrayed him in the alleyway Amir describes his reaction as " The look of the lamb". (Hosseini,7.13) . Hassan shows strength of character when Amir is throwing pomegranates at him and calling him a coward trying to get him to hit him back but Hassan remains calm and does not fight back. Hassan always had Amir's back no matter what the circumstance was. Amir says, "Yes, Father, Hassan would mumble, looking down at his feet. But he never told on me. Never told that the mirror, like shooting walnuts at the neighbor's dog, was always my idea."(Hosseini,

2.2-3)

The man, the myth, the legend and also the father of Amir and Hassan, Baba, a.k.a., Mr. Hurricane. Baba believes in many different values, such as nang and namoos, which means honor and pride. He also says quotes like " ...there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft ... when you kill a man, you steal a life … you steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness…there is no act more wretched than stealing…a man who takes what’s not his to take, be it a life or a loaf of naan…I spit on such a man. And if I ever cross paths with him, God help him”. (Hosseini,17-18). Baba is saying that there is only one sin, theft and that every other sin is a form of theft. Baba believed in

always doing good, which lead him to open an orphanage. Baba's strength in his character drastically changes when he moves from Afghanistan to California. He goes from being a wealthy man in the Afghani world to working long days at a gas station. Baba strength of character changes from living a wealthy, well spirited life to becoming very sick and depressed.

Strength of character is shown many times throughout the novel by the three characters Amir, Hassan and Baba. Amir uses courage and strength of character to put behind him his guilty past and becomes brave when he fights for Assef. Hassan's strength of character is realized when he protects Amir from Assef . Baba learns that his strong characteristic of morality is useless when facing difficult situations but uses it to ignore all of the negative comments and builds an orphanage. Strength of character lets these characters find atonement for past actions and, as time goes on, they learn from their mistakes.