In 2003, Khaled Hosseini published a book called The Kite Runner; it is a story of the narrator and key protagonist, Amir. Who tells his story through a flashback as he explores the event that took place in ‘the winter of 1975’? Also, how this scene draws attention to significant themes of betrayal/ redemption, discrimination and innocence which is shown throughout the text. Amir explains to us that ‘The winter of 1975’ was the event that had changed him forever; the event that his friend was raped and how he became eerie ever since. This leads to the betrayal of Amir towards his friend Hassan, his loyal servant. Amir fails to aid Hassan's when he is sodomized by Assef after the kite-flying contest. “I actually aspired to cowardice […] Maybe …show more content…
After Hassan, his son Sohrab was raped by the same felon, however Amir searches to redemption by saving his half-brother Hassan’s son, this is revealed to the readers towards the end of the novel. Hassan’s rape happened due to Amir not being able to defend his friend when his purity was taken by force. He tries to redeem himself by stopping Sohrab’s rape. This becomes Amir’s way of compensating himself and recovering his loyalty and trust that his friend/ brother bestowed on him. Once Amir saves Sohrab, he says to him, “I’m so dirty and full of sin”; which Amir replies with, “You're not dirty, and you're not full of sin.” He tries to reassure him by touching him for comfort, but Sohrab “drew away.” This quote shows that Sohrab isn’t ready for any physical contact as he feels impure because an action like rape loses a person’s innocence. The duration of the sexual abuse he suffered makes him flinch anytime Amir touched him. Also it could also show that Sohrab isn’t ready to be loved by someone who isn’t his parents or he feels that he doesn’t deserved to be loved as he has been used and isn’t worth anything. Rape symbolizes physical violence and an attack on a person’s emotional state and self-worth. Rape, especially in this scene represents physical and psychological dominance on people who don’t have
Because of Amir’s extreme desire to receive the attention and affection from Baba, he begins to subconsciously sacrifice his relationship with Hassan in order to fulfill his interests. However, as Amir continuously matures and begins to recognize his initial ignorant, detrimental actions towards Hassan, he no longer “worship” his father like he did in the past. This causes him to ensure a sense of independence because of his ability to quickly adapt to a completely new, unfamiliar environment and remain adamant on pursuing their own aspirations.
Betrayal, redemption, and forgiveness are all major themes in The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini. The novel also focuses around the theme of a broken relationship between father and son as well as facing difficult situations from ones past. Amir and Hassan are best friends with two completely different personalities. Each character in the novel faces their own hardships and eventually learns to overcome those difficulties. Beginning with betrayal then the characters have to make their way to gaining redemption and forgiveness from others, as well as their self, is carried on throughout the novel. It is a continuous story of the relationships between Amir and his father Baba and facing their challenges from the past every day of their present.
Actions made in a moment of pain, anger or simple immaturity can take anyone to make mistakes that can change their lives completely. Everyone has something in the past that is shameful, embarrassing and regrettable that is kept present daily. Whether this event happened during childhood, adolescence or early adulthood, this event could haunt and have shaped that person’s life into what he or she is today. In a similar way, the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is shaped by a tragic and eventful past that has shaped Amir’s, Baba’s, and Hassan’s lives. The four literary elements that will be used in this essay that Hosseini strategically uses in this book are: irony, simile, metaphor, and personification.
...by Amir in his childhood not only gravely colors his relationship with Hassan, whose innocence he failed to protect from evil and overbearing Assef, but this guilt continues to stay with Hassan as he moves to America and starts a new life. Finally Amir chooses to redeem himself by opting to protect Hassan’s son Sohrab. The guilt which estranged Amir from his childhood friend in a way manages to reunite him with Hassan, albeit in a different manner.
Amir goes through many events that take place in the book that change him, and the way he is perceived within the book. Amir is a young boy, who is tortured by his father’s scrutinizing character. Amir is also jealous of Hassan, because of the fact that his father likes Hassan instead of Amir. Amir fights for his father’s approval, interest, and love. This is when Amir changes for the good as he deals with the guilt of the rape of Hassan. Amir witnessed Hassan getting raped, but decides to nothing in order to win over his father’s interest. The guilt that Amir builds up is carries from his premature times as a child to his mature times. From Afghanistan to
Many people have done things that they can’t seek redemption for or can’t forgive themselves for, such as not being there for a friend when they need you most. Including Amir, from The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Amir is best friends with Hassan, a Hazara boy. They grow up together, and Amir later finds out that they are half brothers. Hassan helps Amir, but he allows a boy, Assef, and his group of friends to rape Hassan, which he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to forgive himself for. Amir is redeemed because he receives letters from Hassan, he adopts Sohrab, and fights Assef.
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.
Firstly, Amir becomes courageous after knowing Hassan is his half-brother, therefore he decides to face the challenge of finding Sohrab. For instance, Amir is transforming to think positively after knowing the truth: “Rahim Khan had summoned me here to atone not just for my sins but for Baba’s too” (238). Amir is convinced by Rahim Khan that he has the responsibility to save Sohrab from the orphanage, since they share the same blood. Amir also has to atone the sins from his past and Baba’s sin of lying through redemption. Secondly, the atonement Amir receives from Assef’s beating enables Amir to be freed from his guilt. For example, Amir says: “…for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden nook in a corner of my mind, I’d ever been looking forward to this…I felt healed. Healed at last.” (303). Amir feels a sense of redemption because what he did not do for Hassan, he can now do for Sohrab. Amir “earns his freedom” to leave Assef’s house as well as healing his guilt from the childhood. Thirdly, at the end of the novel, Amir finally finds his redemption through flying kites with Sohrab and running the kite for Sohrab. For example, “I ran. A grown man running with a swarm of screaming children. But I didn’t care. I ran with the wind blowing in my face, and a smile as wide as the Valley of Panjsher on my lips. I ran” (391). Amir running the kite for Sohrab symbolizes that he has redeemed himself from the guilt he has from the past, and the kite is no longer a symbol of his guilt. Finally, Amir has found redemption by acting courageously instead of cowardice, and he is no longer running from the past anymore; he is running towards the
According to dictionary.com betrayal means "an act of deliberate disloyalty,”. Betrayal is something that is very prevalent throughout the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini which is a story about the betrayal that a young boy named Amir does to his friend Hassan. Amir shows that he is a betrayer to Hassan when he belittles, plots, refuses to acknowledge their friendship, and walks away from Hassan. With each betrayal listed they progressively get worse and worse as Amir continues to show how little he really cares for Hassan.
It is difficult to face anything in the world when you cannot even face your own reality. In his book The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses kites to bring out the major themes of the novel in order to create a truly captivating story of a young boy’s quest to redeem his past mistakes. Amir is the narrator and protagonist of the story and throughout the entire novel, he faces enormous guilt following the horrible incident that happened to his closest friend, Hassan. This incident grows on Amir and fuels his quest for redemption, struggling to do whatever it takes to make up for his mistakes. In Hosseini’s novel, kites highlight aspects of Afghanistan’s ethnic caste system and emphasizes the story’s major themes of guilt, redemption and freedom.
The Kite Runner is a book about a young boy, Amir, who faces many struggles as he grows up in Kabul and later moves to America to flee from the Taliban. His best friend and brother , Hassan, was a big part of his life, but also a big part of guilt he held onto for many years. The book describes Amir’s attempt to make up for the past and resolve his sins so he can clear his conscious. Amir is worthy of forgiveness because although he was selfish, he was very brave and faced his past.
The world-renowned novel, The Kite Runner was written by Afghanistan born American novelist Khaled Hosseini. Hosseini was born into a Shia Muslim family in Kabul that later in life decided to move to Paris. Hosseini was unable to return to Kabul due to the Taliban take over, this cause the Hosseini family to seek political asylum in America. The actions that Hosseini witnessed of his beloved home country influenced his novel with the themes of guilt and redemption. “The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness.” – Victor Hugo. In The Kite Runner the theme of guilt and redemption is shown through the character development of the protagonist Amir. Hosseini used Amir’s guilt of his past to grow the impression that with regret lies a hope for redemption.
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, to be put bluntly, a coward. He is led by his unstable emotions towards what he thinks will plug his emotional holes and steps over his friends and family in the process. When he sought after Baba’s invisible love, Amir allowed Hassan to be raped in an alleyway just so that the blue kite, his trophy that would win his father’s heart, could be left untouched. In the end, he felt empty and unfulfilled with the weight of his conscience on his shoulders comparable to Atlas’ burden. Unable to get over his fruitless betrayal, he lashes out and throws pomegranates at Hassan before stuffing money and a watch under his loyal friend’s pathetic excuse for a bed, framing Hassan for theft and directly causing the departure of both servants from his household. Even after moving to America, finding a loving wife, and creating a career for himself in writing, he still feels hollow when thinking of his childhood in Afghanistan. Many years later, he is alerted of Hassan’s death and sets out on a frenzied chase to find his friend’s orphaned son. He feels that he can somehow ease his regrets from all of those years ago if he takes in Hassan’s son, Sohrab. He finds Sohrab as a child sex slave for Assef, who coincidentally was the one to rape Hassan all of those years ago. After nearly dying in his attempt to take back Sohrab, he learns that he can take the damaged child back to the states with him. Sadly, Hassan’s son is so
During The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini reinforces the theme of the loss of innocence and redemption. Many characters lose innocence or are the cause of another character losing theirs. Amir both loses his innocence and that of others. His innocence is stolen by his father. In the novel Amir overhears Baba saying, “‘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’” (Hosseini 24-25). This affects Amir for his entire life as he tries to compete with Hassan for his father's attention. He does not realize that in doing so, this crumbles his world as he knows it. It makes Amir resentful, calloused, and even cruel, all of which are characteristics of someone who has lost their innocence. In turn, Amir’s loss of innocence causes other to lose their innocence because of his lack of courage and disregard for others feelings.