2. Amir and Hassan’s relationship in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is extremely strained due to deeply ingrained values and misplaced jealousy. Amir fears that if he truly befriends Hassan others will think less of him, and he fears he will lose the attentions of his father to Hassan in time; therefore, Amir constantly tries to push Hassan away by testing his loyalty. This tactic is deployed by Amir when he throws overripe pomegranates at Hassan until he is “smeared in red like he’d been shot by a firing squad” (Hosseini 93). Amir’s reasoning for doing this seems to be to forgive himself for not saving Hassan after the kite tournament because he feels like it was morally wrong not to save Hassan; however, due to the timing of this …show more content…
particular event (right after receiving attention for winning but not telling his father about Hassan’s attack), it also seems as though Amir uses Hassan to receive attention from Baba. 3.
Due to the pomegranate tree’s ever-changing presence throughout the novel, it can be inferred that it represents the ever-changing relationship of Amir and Hassan. The pomegranate tree thrived as their relationship thrived, such as during their youth when they carved their names into the tree to make it theirs, and it withered and died as their relationship began to after the kite tournament. After the tournament the pomegranates are “ 6. Throughout the novel, the sheep appears as symbol of sacrifice. In many religions lambs are sacrificed as innocents to a deity, and the Afghan celebration Amir remembers as he watches Hassan’s rape and saves Sohrab is that of a sacrifice to a holy Afghani. In the novel, rape can be seen as a sort of social sacrifice. Hassan is sacrificed in the alley to please Amir and Baba, and Sohrab is sacrificed because he was an orphaned Hazara. Both of these sacrifices required an innocent to be sacrificed just as the Afghani celebration required the lamb to be sacrifice. 7. Hosseini compares the apparent large size of Baba’s house in Afghanistan to the giant scale of houses in the United States in order to ironically depict how poor Afghanis truly are. Hosseini uses this irony to capture the readers’ attention and make them see that Baba was only highly regarded among the poor Afghanis; therefore, he was no better than Amir or any other …show more content…
Afghan-American. 9.
Amir had sacrificed his one true friend because he wished to please his father; therefore, when Baba asked him to give up on his dream of being a writer Amir refused. Amir feels as though he has morally “damned himself” because he pushed away the only friend he had ever had due to the guilt from straying from his values. However, Baba is disappointed that Amir wants to be a writer because he believes he should pursue a traditionally higher regarded career. 12. Hosseini uses the scene in which Amir plants money under a mattress in Farid’s house to symbolize redemption for putting the stolen watch and money under Hassan’s mattress many years earlier. After he puts the money under the mattress, Amir thinks “I did something I had done twenty-six years earlier: I planted a fistful of crumpled money under the mattress” (Hosseini ….). This action of giving money to Farid’s poor family allows Amir to forgive himself for his earlier and similarly structured actions. 13. Amir finally stands up for himself when he is faced with the choice to return to America and never fully heal his intrinsic wounds or go back to Afghanistan and rescue Sohrab, and he bravely chooses to save his nephew. Amir’s choice takes him back to face his past both literally, when he faces Assef, and figuratively, when he faces his inner demons at the dead pomegranate tree; therefore, Amir’s choice possess a sort of bravery that even his father didn’t seem to possess since Baba’s bravery was only linked to his
physical strength. 14. Hosseini uses the scene in Afghanistan between Assef, Amir, and Sohrab in order to draw a parallel to an earlier scene in the novel and to allow Amir to get some redemption for his past actions. Hosseini a scar that Amir develops on his lip as a result of this confrontation in order to symbolically and ironically represent redemption within Amir. This scar ironically resembles the harelip that Hassan was born with very closely; the doctor even describes the injury as having “cut your [Amir’s] upper lip in two, clean down the middle” (Hosseini 297). This scar makes Amir more like Hassan and allows him to symbolically atone for his past. 15. The dream that Amir has in the hospital in Peshawar is vital to the novel because it is the point in the novel at which Amir redeems himself. He does this through coming to terms with his guilt or more symbolically the bear. Amir wrestles his guilt about Hassan’s rape; however, by the end of the dream Amir seems to be at terms with his grief because the bear does not harm him. 16. Amir and Hassan’s favorite story “Rostam and Sohrab” has different meanings to both boys. This story depicts a man, Rostam, who kills his mortal enemy only to find that the man, Sohrab, is his son. The story gives hope to Amir for his future as a writer since he wrote his first story because he was trying to impress Baba and Hassan. Amir dreamt this beginning story up while reading to Hassan; therefore, the story gave him…….. However, the story of “Rostam and Sohrab” deeply resembles Hassan’s life. Hassan, like Sohrab, never truly knew who his father was nor did he get the love of his father- not even in the end. Hassan probably names his son after Sohrab because the story is a way that he emotionally connected to Amir and to his childhood.
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.
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
Amir notes the change he and Baba experienced in American—“For me, America was a place to bury my memories. For Baba, a place to mourn his” (129).
The novel tells the story of, Amir. Amir is portrayed as the protagonist; the novel revolves around his recollection of past events 26 years ago as a young boy in Afghanistan. Amir is adventures and brave. Hassan is Amir’s closets friend and servant to his house and is portrayed as a subservient male, often supporting and accepting blame for Amir’s actions. Assef, Wali and Kamal are the “ bad guys” within the novel; Wali and Kamal hold down Hassan and Assef rapes him purely for ethnicity differences, as Hassan is a Hazara. Afghanistan boys are supposed to be athletic and true to Islam .The leaving of Soraya Hassan mother with another man gives the notion that women lack morality leaving behind there children .The Taliban laws are followed closely within Afghanistan and women are treated without any rights, beatings, stoning and execution become the reality for women who violate the laws. Culturally Afghanistan women are portrayed to be subservient to there husband only live and breath to provide children, cook food and clean their
On his journey to save Sohrab, Amir discovers that a Taliban official took him from the orphanage. When meeting with that Taliban official, who turns out to be his childhood nemesis Assef, Amir is placed in a situation where he is forced to choose between fleeing from the enemy and saving Hassan’s son. The structure of this scenario is analogous to one earlier in the book when Amir had to choose between saving Hassan by standing up for him and repairing the relationship with his father by bringing the blue kite back. The author uses the similar setting with Assef and the similarities in characterization of father and son in order to provide Amir with the opportunity to make the choice to stand up for what he believes in. When Amir allowed Hass...
However, Amir’s happy day turns dark, when an hour later, he witnesses Hassan, his best friend, raped in an alley. He had “one final opportunity to decide who [he] was going to be”. 77. Instead of standing up for his friend and loyal servant, he runs like “a coward.” 77.
Over the course of the novel, Baba implies that he is not proud of Amir and the only reason he knows Amir is his son, is because he witnessed Amir 's birth. He states to Rahim Khan that he thinks Amir needs to stand up for himself more often. Countless times during the novel, Amir feels like he has to fight for his affection, that he has to earn Baba’s love. In order to prove himself worthy of affection and to redeem himself for not being a son Baba could be proud of, Amir yearns to win the kite runner competition. He reminisces on a memory, when all “I saw was the blue kite. All I smelled was victory. Salvation. Redemption” (65). In the aftermath of Hassan’s rape, Amir got rid of Hassan so he would not have to face the cause of his guilt on a daily basis. Amir buries the secret of the rape deep within him, where he hopes that it will not come back to haunt him, which is not the case. “We had both sinned and betrayed. But Baba had found a way to create good out of his remorse. What had I done, other than take my guilt out on the very same people I had betrayed, and then try to forget it all? What had I done, other than become an insomniac? What had I ever done to right things?” (303). As mentioned earlier, Amir is not one who stands up for himself. In order for Amir to redeem himself for betraying Hassan, and not standing up for him earlier,
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
*Baba is somehow ashamed to have Amir as a son, he's skeptical because they are so different and Amir is like his opposite in so many ways.
...rough his actions to save Sohrab, Amir became the man his father had always wanted him to be. Although Baba never lived up to the persona he created for himself, Amir did, and that is why his attempts to achieve atonement were more successful than his father’s. While Baba was unable to seek more than personal redemption, Amir found atonement with himself, Hassan, and God. Amir also found the courage his father lacked to make the necessary sacrifices to achieve redemption. Amir’s ability to transform into a strong character was a result of what he learned from his father’s strengths and weaknesses. While Baba was unable to achieve true redemption, he was a true role model that provided his son, Amir, with the necessary skills to achieve atonement for both of them.
As a young boy he made the wrong decision in life by letting Hassan get raped, which led to his guilt. The guilt grew to the point where Hassan and Ali had to move out of Baba’s house and start a new life away from Amir. Hassan’s son Sohrab is a significant character who represents Amir’s hope for redemption. Sohrab led to Amir’s redemption by giving Amir the opportunity to do good for his past actions. On the quest for redemption, Amir achieves the redemption he desired through his fight with Assef.
Amir now has the skills needed to continue his life in America as being independent and the man of the house. The future is bright for Amir, as one can see a fortified, relieved, and joyful version of him compared to the accustomed one in Kabul. Amir is able to purge his sin of silence and lying by using his newfound life to forget all that has occurred in Kabul. This new land of opportunity also brings Baba and Amir closer, for they need to look out for each other as a way to be successful and survive in the land of the free.
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. Because Hassan did not give the kite, Assef decides to rape Hassan as a “punishment”. Instead of helping his friend out, Amir just walked away from the scene and let Hassan get violated in one of the most vulgar ways. After this incident, Hassan quietly walked back home and gave Amir the kite for which he was confronted by Assef for. The kite in this situation proves to be an important symbol. Whereas earlier in the novel the kite represented happiness and fun to Amir, in this situation it represented sin and guilt to Amir. The only reason that Hassan got raped was that he was trying to get a kite for Amir. Now the kite acts a reminder to Hassan of his wrong-doing and it will now begin to haunt him for a long time. Although when in America, Amir does not get reminded about Hassan, deep inside he still feels guilty. Amir immediately begins to feel the most guilt when he goes to Iran when Rahim Khan, Amir’s childhood friend, asks him to come. He feels that Rahim Khan has reminded him of his “past of unatoned sins”(Hosseini 2).
The Kite Runner focuses on the relationship between two Afghan boys Amir and Hassan. Amir is a Pashtun and Sunni Muslim, while Hassan is a Hazara and a Shi’a. Despite their ethnic and religious differences, Amir and Hassan grow to be friends, although Amir is troubled by Hassan, and his relationship with his companion, one year his junior, is complex. Amir and Hassan seem to have a "best friend" type relationship. The two boys, Hassan and Amir, are main characters in the book titled, The Kite Runner. The two boys have a relationship that is significantly different compared to most. There are many different facets that distinguish the relationship the boys possess. The boys do write their names in a pomegranate tree as the "sultans of Kabul" (Kite Runner 27) but, their friendship is not strong and it is one sided. Hassan has love for Amir. He loves him like a brother. Hassan is exceedingly loyal to Amir. The relationship between the two boys is emotionally wearing and rather gloomy for the most part. The main reason for their complicated relationship is the fact that Amir is Pashtun, and Hassan is Hazara. The Afghan society places Hassan lower than Amir. Hassan is Amir's servant. The placement of Hassan in the Afghan society disenables Amir from becoming Hassan's true friend. Amir sees Hassan as lower than human. Amir ruins the chance for friendship between himself and Hassan because he is jealous of Hassan, he thinks of Hassan as a lower human, and because Amir possesses such extreme guilt for what he has done to Hassan. Amir is an unforgivable person overall.
Hassan’s morals and saintly nature bring him happiness in knowing that he does God’s will, while Amir questions God as well as Hassan’s pious personality. Hassan strives to make the moral choice every day of his life. He refuses to shoot walnuts at a one-eyed German shepherd when Amir insists that he can, subtly bringing out the instinct of integrity in Hassan. Similar to this, Hassan strives for good as he notices a plot flaw in one of Amir’s stories that involves death. Hassan’s inherent morality prompts him to suggest a non-violent option for Amir. Evidently, Hassan’...