The Kite Runner was a creative tale with many life lessons including the ups and downs of great friendships. The story of Amir and Hassan’s friendship is truly original and emotional even though it did not end happily. The rape of Hassan was the breaking point for Amir and Hassan’s relationship as it is when the guilt of Amir begins to grow, the trust between them was lost and their communication declined. The rape incident was a very scarring moment for both Hassan and Amir, especially at such a young age, they could not find it in themselves to share their emotions. The moment Amir came across the alleyway he was stunned, he wanted to act on the situation but was frozen in shock. Ever since this very moment Amir started to build up the guilt inside; keeping it bottled up. …show more content…
The guilt tore the two apart, never feeling right about the situation, Amir could not shake the guilt even years later. The irony in Hassan's quote "For you a thousand times over!" (Hosseini 67) relates to Amir who developed a struggling case of insomnia as the guilt piled up inside him. Really, Amir returns to the alleyway thousands of times in his memory before he comes to peace with the situation. “I wouldn’t find out until later- but I finally healed. Healed at last. I laughed.” (Hosseini 289) finally Amir felt free. Amir described how beaten up and broken he felt after being pummelled by Assef when he came back to Afghanistan for Sohrab. But inside he felt a weight lifted off his shoulders, a second chance to get it right and redeem Hassan's life by saving his son Sohrab. Some may say the guilt was only an inner guilt about Amir himself being a coward and not about Hassan. But Amir would
The Taliban would kill people over a wrong glance which makes it super risky and there was no guarantee that Amir would make it home alive. Amir also showed bravery (288) when he fought Assef. He could have been a coward and left, allowing for Sohrab to take the beating like Hassan had done for Amir in the past, but instead he fought. This was brave because Assef was extremely violent with no moral which makes him a vicious fighter. There was a good chance Assef was going to kill Amir during the fight, but Amir did it anyways because he wanted to save Sohrab. The final example of Amir being brave was when he stood up for Sohrab to the General: “And one more thing, General Sahib,” I said. “ You will never again refer to him as ‘Hazara boy’ in my presence. He has a name and it’s Sohrab.”’ (pg. 361). The General and Amir had always had a shaky relationship and Amir had always been a bit timid towards the General. However, Amir didn’t stand for Sohrab being called a ‘Hazara boy’, a racist term that was offensive. Instead he stood up for Sohrab and made sure that Sohrab was not going to be called names like that which was brave of Amir. Amir's bravery shows that he has put in the effort to be worthy of forgiveness.
Then I understood: This was Hassan’s final sacrifice for me…He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again’ 5 Amir did not betray Hassan once but twice. The deleterious effects of the first betrayal against his best friend lead him to betray his friend again. But again for his own greed as he wasn’t able to face Hassan so he thought of charging him of theft and making him leave the
Amir watches Hassan get raped which leads him trying to find some sort of way to get rid of his guilt. All of this is caused by him knowing what he did was wrong. It shows Amir admits his guilt after it happens and he tries to relieve himself of it: “In his arm I forgot what I'd done. And that was good.” It shows him trying to get relief through hassan hurting him with a pomegranate. It shows Hassan knows this when he says “Are you satisfied? Do you feel better?” Amir keeps looking for ways throughout the entire book to relieve his guilt.
At the beginning he did not posses any heroic qualities, but by taking and accepting the first step of the passage he was able to rediscover his true potential. I believe that Amir came looking to redeem his past mistakes belated, however, he found an alternative way to put himself to peace with his past. I learned that we should stand up for who we are and what we believe to be true. It also learned that the past is unforgettable and immutable. It made me realize that we are all capable of becoming our own hero’s, by simply accepting the call to action and transforming ourselves to return as the best version of who we are. While giving us the chance to explore the
Despite living majority of his life with the guilt of not helping Hassan, Amir’s nemesis is yet to come. Destiny plays a huge game with Amir and reveals to him that Hassan is his illegitimate brother during his visit with Rahim Khan. Reacting with various emotions, Amir first decides to head back about to America, but in the end makes the first brave decision in his life by going back to Kabul “…to atone not just for [his] sins, but…Baba’s too” (198). Amir tries to compensate for his sin by rescuing Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from the brutality occurring in Kabul. Amir puts his entire life in jeopardy by facing the oppression in Kabul so he could make a genuine effort in eliminating his sins. In an ideal world, when one truly makes an effort to redeem themselves for their wrongdoings, they are usually gifted with forgiveness. However, in reality, Amir’s heroic act of saving Sohrab, did not free him of sorrow because he still has to live with his nemesis for the rest of his life. By taking Sohrab to America with him, Amir constantly is reminded of his hamartia by envisioning Hassan through Sohrab. This shows how the guilt from a cowardly act leads one into a lifelong feeling of
His mistakes disgust us, especially after Hassan has been by his side the entire book. As the reader gets deeper into the book, they start to develop feelings of anger but sometimes sympathy, towards Amir. By the end, we are not as angry as Amir, the reader to begin with. Amir has grown into a better person and has tried to fix his past mistakes.
No one in the city of Kabul thought anything less than greatness and admiration for him. Hassan’s with Amir, ready to defend and protect him no matter what the cost. And Amir’s with Baba, wanting to please him and make him proud to have a son like Amir. By making a decision of who Amir was more loyal to as well as who he wanted to please more, inadvertently led to his betrayal of Hassan. “I had one last chance to make a decision.
Amir gets more upset after this, thinking he can’t possibly fix this anymore. But he realizes he has one final chance at redemption, saving Hassan’s son, Sohrab. He needs to save Sohrab. Once he gets to where he is being held, he realizes Sohrab has been made into a sex slave for the Taliban.
”(Hosseini 223). Baba’s lie had made it hard for Amir and affected him knowing what he had did was wrong. Thinking before we do or say something would be best cause we could hurt someone in the long run and not even know
... I thought I saw pleading in Sohrab’s eyes.” (Hosseini 62). By the end of the novel, the sacrifice motif had been brought up a lot to Amir, just from many different viewpoints. Though innocence can never be regained after it is lost, Amir still offers Sohrab help in his attempt to get his guilt to finally go away and his attempt to make up what he did to Sohrab's dad and his own brother, Hassan.
Amir wakes up after fighting Assef in the hospital thinking about Sohrab, “for some reason I can’t think of I want to thank the child” (Hosseini 293). Sohrab is the first thing Amir thinks of when he wakes up in a groggy state in hospital. Sohrab was willing to attempt to save Amir’s life, a man he barely knew, even though it meant risking his own life. In this way, he was able to not only physically save Amir but also mentally because he allows Amir to complete his mission and redeem himself. While struggling against Assef, Amir thinks, “...for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace...I hadn’t been happy and I hadn’t felt better, not at all. But I did now. My body was broken...but I felt healed. Healed at last.” (Hosseini 289). Sohrab feels guilty for what he did to Assef, although it saved himself and Amir. Amir tells him, “There are bad people in this world, some people stay bad. Sometimes you have to stand up for them. What you did to that man is what I should have done to him all those years ago. You gave him what he deserved. He deserved more” (Hosseini 319). While talking to Sohrab, Amir acknowledges that he was wrong and that he could have avoided all his guilt, if he had only stepped in against Assef. But he had not, so part of Amir making up for his sins was to stand up to Assef, and win a fight against him. However, in the end, Sohrab is the one
Amir also committed a sin that affected him negatively throughout his life. This sin occurred when Hassan, Amir’s best friend during his childhood, was getting raped by Assef. This situation occurred when the children were chasing kites. Hassan got the kite first, but Assef insisted that he wanted the kite. Assef also had a racial and religious prejudice against Hassan.
Amir is clearly an emotionally unstable person, but his resentment towards Hassan is increased because of his own haunting guilt.
Amir’s redemption is a large part of the novel and is carried out almost entirely until the end of the story. He travels to rescue Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from the orphanage he was placed in after the death of his parents. He promises to find him a safe home with someone but after time passes he feels like this is not enough. He then speaks to his wife and decides to take Sohrab back to the United States with him and take care of his as if he was one of his own. Earlier in the novel when Baba is speaking Amir over hears his conversation as he is referring to him stating, “A boy who won 't stand up for himself becomes a man who can 't stand up to anything” (Hosseini, 22). Thus meaning that if he is able to stand up for himself as a young boy, when he is grown he will not be able to stand up for anything that is in his future. This is true throughout the story until he stands up for himself and Sorhab when he is arguing with his life long bully, Assef. Amir lacked the courage to defend himself in the novel until he finally took charge and went against
Amir was also affected by the assault because witnessing it firsthand gave him the same traumatic memories, even if it wasn’t physical for him. He holds the guilt from not stepping up, and keeping it to himself. While Amir is sitting in his bed pondering his thoughts and feeling terrible about himself, he says, “A part of me was hoping someone would wake up and hear, so I wouldn’t have to live with this lie anymore. But no one woke up and in the silence that followed, I understood the nature of my new curse: I was going to get away with it” (Hosseini 86). Amir wants to be free from this burden, but he can’t bring himself to do anything about it.