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. Amir begins his life as a meek boy who desperately clambered to earn his father's’ affection. He was a cowardly, selfish, short minded boy who would even stab his childhood friend in the back for a slim chance at bonding with his dad. He was outshone by his best friend, who would stand between the bullies and Amir, and fight Amir’s battles for him. His father noticed this, and told Rahim Khan “A …show more content…
boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who won’t stand up for anything” (Hosseini 29) stating that Amir will grow up to be a coward if he follows his current path, never facing his problems head on. A huge turning point in Amir’s character is when he travels back to Pakistan, responding to Rahim Khan's request. Amir had been moving through life in a daze, running away from his problems by pushing them to the back of his mind, and he was finally awoken by Rahims words, “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 239). After hearing these words, Amir saw himself for what he was, faults and all, and realized he needed to right his wrongs. He followed this idea by traveling back to Pakistan with the goal of facing Hassan, his childhood friend, and attempt to patch things up. Realizing that the right thing to do is usually the hardest thing to do, and the only way to be absolved of your past discrepancies is to lower yourself, cast your pride aside and apologise. Even the greatest of men have their times of weakness, Amir’s is when he thinks, “I want to tear myself from this place, from this reality, rise up like a cloud and float away, melt into this humid summer night and dissolve somewhere far, over the hills.
I am here, my legs blocks of concrete my lungs empty of air, my throat burning. There will be no floating away” (Hosseini 345). After life dealt him one of the worst hands imaginable, Amir couldn’t think of anything else to do besides fade away. Amir is left powerless, sitting in a waiting room preparing for the worst, then puts away his pride, laid out a “prayer rug”, faced what he thought was west and prayed. This action proves his honor as a man, able to make the most difficult decision of all, and leave the outcome up to someone else. Amir is completing the first portion of his journey to becoming a man and finally learning from his past mistakes, further improving himself as a
person. Khaled Hosseini tells a rags to riches story of character, from a boy who couldn’t muster enough courage to afford his father's love, to a courageous man looking after his family. Amir had a tough time getting there, but he is now a man with strong morals, good character, brilliant mind, and a solid set of priorities; branding him a man to be envious of.
As he grows into a man and pushes his regrets to the side - though not ever completely out of his mind - he learns to live through and accept the pain he caused both himself and his best friend, Hassan. Towards the end of the novel, Amir goes to great lengths to earn the redemption he feels he needs in order to finally be at peace. The Kite Runner asks the audience what it truly means to be a good person - do we need to be born with goodness in our hearts, do we live the way that is comfortable and right according to ourselves, or do we have to constantly fail and prove that we are good?
Although Hassan is his best friend, there are many instances where Amir reveals his jealousy, most notable when Baba sees Hassan as the stronger boy, "self-defense has nothing to do with meanness. You know what always happens when the neighbourhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fends them off. I 've seen it with my own eyes…” (Hosseini 24). Clearly, Amir hears how his father compares the two, and unlike Hassan who manages to meet Baba’s expectations, Amir grows bitter towards Hassan. He is unable to fight off his envy which later causes him to sacrifice his best friend’s innocence: “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (82), and this is all because he realizes “his shame is complicated by his own realization that in part he doesn’t help his friend precisely because he is jealous of him” (Corbett, 2006). From here, Amir develops strong feelings of guilt that induces him to perform even more destructive acts, such as having Hassan and his father evicted from the house. Amir not only loses a close friend, but now he has to continue to live with remorse as he dwells on these memories. The only way for Amir to redeem himself of his repercussions is through a challenging process of sacrifice and self-discovery. Although one is unsure at this point whether Amir succeeds at his endeavors, it is clear that this story
Amir’s childhood is quite unusual compared to most children in Afghan. Amir’s father, Baba, is a very rich and successful individual in his lifetime. This success allows Amir to live a wealthy lifestyle with access to western commodity as well as servants. In novel, Amir is risen mostly by his servants Hassan and Ali, as well
The history of Afghanistan influences the way Amir’s life develops by affecting his relationship with himself, Baba, and Hassan. People are greatly influenced by the culture that they grow up in, and a community’s culture is shaped by the events that they go through. Throughout the book, the reader can see that Amir struggles with his self-confidence and often-times looks down on himself as a weak and unworthy human being.
We all are heroes of our own story, and it is a quality seen in many movies and books. The hero's journey is about progress and passage. This journey involves a separation from the unknown, known world, and a series of phases the hero must go through . Each stage of the journey must be passed successfully if the person is to become a hero. In “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, the main character Amir faces a series of trials and goes through obstacles where the concept of his childhood dies. 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." (20). Amir first refuses the call of action due to being afraid of the adventure ahead of him. Call to action is the very first step of the hero's journey, where the hero is disrupted and the
What is life? Life is a collage that every individual has been gifted with. Unfortunately, there are people who don’t realize the significance of this endowment and treat it with disrespect. By decorating their memories with arrogant attitudes, egocentric behaviors, and cowardly acts, they are igniting their steady downfall. Guilt within the mind and a lack of self courage are often the two main components that lead to harm. In The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Amir is displayed as a classic tragic hero to articulate how the breaking of the moral code through excessive cowardice can lead to the hero’s downfall.
Amir’s development from being “a boy who won’t stand up for himself,” to a man that stands up for the morally responsible thing to do (22, Hosseini). When Amir was a child, he tried to escape from his sins in the past by hiding them with lies. However, this only made it worse for Amir, causing him to be an insomniac for much of his life and putting himself through constant torment. Only when Amir became a man, like Baba wanted him to be, was Amir able to face the truth of what he done and put himself on the path of redemption. Even when Amir was suffering a violent beating from Assef, Amir was able to laugh because he knew he was doing what he should have for Hassan years ago. Amir’s development from a child, who lies in order to cower from their own mistakes, into a man, someone who is not only able to admit his sins, but atone for them, is essential to communicating the theme of redemption being the only way to settle with your
When he gets, Baba’s friend, Rahim Khan’s call and hears, “Come. There is a way to be good again”(192), he decides to go to Pakistan without any hesitation. Amir has a vital need to be good again and guesses Rahim Khan knows about his past, so he wants to see Rahim Khan to try to begin his redemption. After hearing the stories about Hassan and his son Sohrab, he determines to go back to Afghanistan and saves Sohrab alone. With the strong will to be good, Amir is no longer a coward. Although there are so many difficulties, he eventually saves Sohrab and takes him to America. Furthermore, Amir tries to atone his previous sin. After he saves Sohrab, he spares no effort to make Sohrab happy and earn his trust. “I struggled out of bed and crossed the space between us. ‘I won’t ever get tired of you, Sohrab’… ‘That’s a promise. You’re my nephew’ ”(324). To express the love that he didn’t give to Hassan, Amir becomes another man: He is unselfish and generous. He considers Sohrab as the most important person in his life and tries his best to love Sohrab. In the end, when he sees a steady smile spread across Sohrab’s face while flying kites in America, Amir finishes his
However there are some characters that become better people and change becoming a better, stronger, more loyal individual in the end. The individual that demonstrates this development within this novel is Amir himself. All of the guilt Amir holds with him as a child allow him to realize his duty to be loyal to his brother Hassan ion the end. An example of this is when Amir goes back to Kabul, Afghanistan to retrieve his nephew Sohrab. Amir says, “I remembered Wahid’s boys and… I realized something. I would not leave Afghanistan without finding Sohrab.’ tell me where he is,’ I said” (Hosseini 255). Here, Amir is at the orphanage waiting to find out where Taliban has taken his nephew. Amir remembers the three young starving sons of Wahid, a man whose home he had been in earlier, and realized that Afghanistan is not a safe place for Sohrab. Amir is finally aware of one thing, Hassan has always been there to protect Amir like a loyal friend and brother would and now Amir knows that it is his turn to return that loyalty to Hassan by protecting Hassan’s flesh and blood. A second example of Amir’s loyalty to Hassan near the ending of the book is during Amir’s confrontation with General Sahib and the dinner table after Sohrab is safe in America with him. Amir proclaims to General Sahib, “…That boy sleeping on the couch
The book’s opening chapter focuses on Amir's conversation with Rahim and Amir’s "way to be good again” (Hosseini 1). The reason Amir flies all the way to Pakistan leaving behind his wife and life in America is Rahim Khan. Amir desires to make up for what he did to Hassan, so he answers Rahim's quest to “be good again” (Hosseini 1). This meeting allows Rahim to tell Amir what he must do to make up for his past. Rahim tells him he must put his own life in danger to save Hassan’s son, Sohrab. At first, Amir wants to refuse Rahim Khan’s wish, thinking of his life back home. He also thinks about how Hassan’s life may have been different if Hassan had the same opportunities he had. Then he realizes, “ But how can I pack up and go home when my actions may have cost Hassan a chance at those very same things?” (Hosseini 226). Rahim Khan warns Amir that it cannot be anyone else; Amir must make up for his own sins. Although he knows it's dangerous, Amir agrees to get Hassan’s son for Rahim as his dying wish. Amir believes that saving Sohrab is “A way to end the cycle” (Hosseini 227). Amir’s commitment in the face of danger proves his determination to be better and finally atone for his sins. Amir realizes his mistake and knows he can't change what he’d done. Eventually, with Rahim's help, he begins to see saving Sohrab as a “way to be
In the beginning Amir is a coward who cant defend himself and through out the book this begins to change and finally he fully changes in the end of the book. Amir never was the type of boy to fight or stand up for himself. For example, Amir over hears Baba say to Rahim Khan, “You know what happens when the neighborhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fend them off…Im telling you Rahim, there is something missing in that boy” (Hosseini, 23). Baba is complaining to Rahim and he doesn't understand why Amir lacks the courage to stand up for himself. He puzzles that Hassan is the one to step in and defend Amir. He also is very confused over the fact that a hazara is more courageous than his son. Baba knows that Amir is not violent and he wishes that he would just stand up for himself. Amir overhears this and is very troubled that Baba doesn’t approve of him. To Amir this is a realization that he is a coward and his father notices it. Later in the book, Amir sees Hassan being raped and he is contemplation jumping in and being courageous because he says, “I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide ...
While Baba attempts to live his life according to the Afghan saying, “Life goes on, unmindful of beginning, end.crisis or catharsis, moving forward like a slow, dusty caravan of kochis [nomads]” (Hosseini 356), Amir strays from this traditional perspective. Baba chose to continue his life unmindful of his past, while Amir, eventually decides to confront him. Although both Baba and Amir have acted immorally, the choices they make find redemption affect the success of their individual attempts. In the novel, Amir’s quest for atonement is more effective than Baba’s because he acts virtuously, while his father, acts selfishly. Ultimately, Amir is the more successful of the two because, in opposition to Baba, he seeks holistic atonement and is willing to make sacrifices to achieve redemption.
Khaled Hosseini introduced the reader to Amir as a shy, young boy who loves to read and as seen from his father Baba’s eyes he is an outcast. Baba believes so much so that Amir is an outcast of the family that he stated on the phone with Rahim Khan that “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” which means that he would have disowned Amir if he wasn’t present at his birth.
Chapter Sixteen begins by altering Amir’s point of view to Rahim Khan’s. By the author doing this, it is reasonable to suspect that there is a story of Rahim’s that is in need of more words than a quote; suggesting something serious is about to divulge. By Chapter Seventeen, Rahim Khan exposes the death of someone Amir had grown up with; Hassan. Rahim Khan exacerbates the conversation by explaining Hassan’s death in detail, in which Amir repeatedly said, “‘No, … No. God, no… No… No’” (219). Amir could not believe that Hassan; the boy he read his stories to, the boy he was jealous of, the boy he “fed from the same breasts” (11), is dead. Rahim Khan then goes on by saying that the Taliban's had also shot his wife, Farzana. Amir remembers the “day in 1974, in the hospital room, just after Hassan’s harelip surgery. Baba, Rahim Khan, Ali, and I … Now everyone in that room was either dead or dying. Except for me” (219). This quote shows how with each and every event in Amir’s life, he continues to lose the people who were once his family. However, Rahim Khan does not stop there. Rahim Khan reveals that “‘Ali was sterile’” (222), so he could not possibly have any children with Sanaubar. Which declares Ali, not the father of Hassan. Rahim Khan says, “‘I think you know who’’ (222), and
Rahim Khan tells Amir that, “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 2). Early in the novel, this immediately tells the reader that the narrator has done something wrong in this character’s point of view atleast, but there is a way to redeem himself from his past mistakes. Amir, at this point, has carried on with his life and is living in America with his wife. Even though Amir has a great future as a successful writer, past still haunts him as he has told no one about what happened on those two occasions. He can not get over what has happened and wishes things could have gone differently. When Amir learns about this possibility of feeling forgiven, he decides he must take it. In chapter seventeen, Amir learns all about his old friend Hassan and how he grew up with a family and a wife. But, Hassan and his wife were both killed and only their child, Sohrab, remains. Rahim Khan tells Amir that he has to be the one to take Sohrab back with him. Amir then asks why it should be him and Rahim replies with, “I think we both know why it has to be you, don't we?” (Hosseini 233). For Amir, this proves to him that someone knows and that he knows that Amir feels guilty about it. Amir grants Rahim his wish and sets out to find Sohrab. There is also a little moment where Amir finds a little self redemption and