The Kite Runner: Amir Is A Hero

In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini the, main Protagonist is a man that goes by the name Amir. Some argue that he is an anti-hero, or not a hero. No. Amir is a hero. Amir is just another person who was lost at one point and needed direction and needed clear the guilty feelings he had. Through these actions he creates a heroic journey, he follows a hero’s path.
Though Amir may lack some attributes of those belonging to a hero, Amir remains a hero. Amir may not be a hero in the literal sense or as stated in the dictionary, but in the sense that one can relate to Amir. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary a hero is: a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities, a person who is greatly admired,

or the chief male character in a story, play, movie, etc. (“Hero.”) Amir did not possess courage or traits that were obvious to the reader's naked eye, he did not have outstanding achievements or noble qualities. Amir had a good friend, (who he later discovered was his half brother) he was raped in an alleyway in Afghanistan. Amir just watched and let it happen. If one were in that situation one would hope they would not just stop and watch, but really how much control does a person have over that event? Amir was roughly eleven or twelve years old, while the boy who rapes Hassan was closer to seventeen years old. Amir is a hero, just not in the literal sense. Amir could not forgive himself, he wanted Hassan to get mad at him, he wanted Ali, Hassan’s father, to be angry with him. He wanted to be punished. At a point in the story Amir approaches Hassan and throws a pomegranate at him. He wants Hassan to hit him back. He wanted to feel pain from Hassan, so that he no longer had to be full of so much shame. Hassan would not hit Amir back.
Then Hassan did pick up a pomegranate. He walked toward me. He opened it and crushed it against his own forehead. “There,” he croaked, red dripping down his face like blood. “Are you satisfied? Do you feel better?” He turned around and started down the hill (93).
Amir never received the penance he believed he deserved.
Hassan was Amir’s best friend.

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.
Baba, is what Amir called his father. Amir always looked up to Baba. He never wanted to disappoint him. Amir always wanted to be the only boy in the eyes of his father. He was jealous and would do anything for Baba to look up to him or respect him, as his son. Hence, the kite and alley incident. Through all the lies and deception, Baba still viewed Amir as innocent in many ways. Though Baba always wanted Amir to be athletic, play soccer, and display a talent of kite running and flying like Hassan and himself, he still loved Amir and saw his talents as a

writer.
Hassan and his wife, bore a son his name is Sohrab. Sohrab is Amir’s peace and rest. Amir is overwhelmed by his previous life of guilty actions leading up to him meeting Sohrab. Immediately after he hears about Hassan’s Son, Sohrab he does what it takes to get to Sohrab.
“For you, a thousand times over,” I heard myself say.
Amir says to Sohrab exactly what Hassan said once to Amir. This is really where the heroic journey begins. It is toward the end of the story, The Kite Runner, but just the beginning of Amir’s life with Sohrab.
Amir is a relatable character. He is like everyone else in a sense but rises to be superior in this fictional story. Amir can be lost, confused, and cowardly, but everyone is. The end of the story shows his respect for his dear friend Hassan and Sohrab.