What Is Amir's Guilt Theme In The Kite Runner

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In a lifetime, most everyone will face personal battles and guilt, such guilt as not doing homework and lying to your parents. The way people rid themselves of guilt and find peace is through redemption. Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner revolves around the themes of betrayal and redemption. The main character, Amir, goes on a journey to redeem himself for something he did many years before. Amir has lived with the guilt of betraying his best friend Hassan in the winter long ago. As most people Amir has trouble living with the guilt of turning his back on a friend. Amir must put himself in harm’s way to attempt to redeem himself for his wrong doings. Amir attempts to take on his guilt and redeem himself for the many years of sin by traveling …show more content…

“I looked at Hassan, showing those two missing teeth, sunlight slanting on his face. Baba’s other half. The unentitled, unprivileged half. The half who had inherited what had been pure and noble in Baba. The half that, maybe, in the most secret recesses of his heart, Baba had thought of as his true son… Then I realized something: That last thought had brought no sting with it… I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.” (359). When Amir looks at Sohrab he sees Hassan and by giving Sohrab an escape from the orphanages and certain death he feels as if he is making up for betraying Hassan and drastically changing the course of their lives. Amir’s guilt feels as if it has “packed up and slipped away” symbolizes that by making things right with Sohrab he has redeemed himself for his actions as a child. Before Amir can fully atone for his sins there is one last thing he must make right that started it all. “ “Do you want me to run that kite for you?” His Adam’s apple rose and fell as he swallowed… I thought I saw him nod. “For you, a thousand times over,” I heard myself say. Then I turned and ran. It was only a smile, nothing more… A tiny thing… But I’ll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting.” (371). This was the final hump that Amir had to get over and he had done it. The melting of the snow symbolized that his walk to redemption was over that he can finally forget what happened in that alley on that cold day one winter in Kabul. It shows how redemption is possible even if it looks like an uphill battle your guilt can be

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