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Amir's 'Betrayal In The Kite Runner'

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In the Kite Runner, Amir strives for attention from his father, Baba. Unfortunately, Baba only shows the love and affection that Amir wants towards him to his abandoned son, Hassan. This causes a great deal of envy, cowardice, and betrayal. Amir has betrayed Hassan in many ways. Although, he attempts to fully redeem himself by rescuing Hassan’s son, Sohrab, thinking of every way Amir has betrayed Hassan, just that isn't enough. Amir’s most significant sin was betrayal and he was not fully able to overcome it. Earlier in the novel, Amir showed a shady attitude towards Hassan. Even though Hassan was his best friend, Amir always called him his servants son. At times, Amir would hide their relationship from others. He often teased Hassan of being illiterate and was jealous of the fact that Hassan reason better than him. “What does he know, that illiterate Hazara? He’ll never be anything but a cook. How dare he criticize you (Chap 4. Pg 34)?” This shows Amir’s …show more content…

This must've been the turning point in the story because this betrayal ultimately led to the end of their relationship. “I had one last chance to make a decision.One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan - the way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past - and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran.(Chapter 7, pg 77)” This shows that Amir acknowledged all those times Hassan had stood up for him but he still ran and pretended like nothing happened. Even after letting the rape take place, Amir avoided Hassan as if Hassan was the one that sinned against him. He practically neglected Hassan for no reason. He eventually caused Hassan to leave by lying to Baba about Hassan stealing his money and his watch. The reason behind Amir’s betrayals is to win Baba’s affections but he takes the wrong directions in doing

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I believe the source of Amir’s power is in his ethnicity because he was born in a higher class. I also believe that Hassan had some power since he was the son of Baba. Throughout the book, you can see that Hassan had lived a plight free life. Amir would always scoff at Hassan about literature, even though Hassan is unschooled. Hassan always stayed loyal, although I would think he would feel animosity towards Hassan.

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In this essay I will be reflecting on the seminar that our class had about the Pashtunwali and its influence in the characters of ‘The Kite Runner’. First of all Pashtunwali is an ethical code that Pashtuns follow. In the book it talks about two main groups of people; the Pashtun live by an unwritten code that that is flexible and changes over time. The core belief of Pashtunwali is: self respect, independence, justice, hospitality, love and forgiveness.

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The author provides the reader with mixed feeling about Amir. In his childhood in Kabul Amir comes off as heartless person. He is this because he has done evil stuff in his life. In the beginning of the story something bad happens to Hassan, Amir says,¨In the end, I ran.

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Firstly, one of the many unforgiving things that Amir did yet was still forgiven for, was the fact that Amir did not stand up for his friend who got beat up and raped by a group of boys in an alleyway. This happened because Hassan stood up for Amir and did not give the kite to the

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Amir first realizes the depth of his cowardice as he watches Assef rape Hassan in the alley and thinks, “I could step in into that alley, stand up for Hassan—the way he stood up for me all those times in the past—and accept whatever happened to me. Or I could run” (Hosseini 77). He has an epiphany that he could choose to be brave and selfless like Hassan and step up to Assef regardless of any physical consequences. However, despite his understanding that the noble choice would be to interfere and stop Assef, Amir is unable to act on it because his fear of Assef overwhelms him. The guilt that consumes Amir in the weeks following Hassan’s rape indicates that he understands the extent of his selfish behavior and needs to resolve it before he can forgive himself.

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(Pg.301) This quote suggest that Amir realizes that when Baba was hard on him it was because he wanted him to be a better man than Babe. In addition Baba felt like he needed Amir to be a good man and the only way was to be hard on him. Therefore without Baba and the way he was with Amir, He wouldn't have been the man he grew up to be.

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(Hosseini 77). Amir obviously shook by seeing his best friend raped, did not know how to react in the situation. Therefore, his fight or flight instincts kicked in and he ran off still in a state of shock. Perhaps the reason he never told Hassan was that he felt guilty that he did not do anything for him but ran. Even then, he just acted even worse than before, not changing for the better but for the worse.

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Throughout the Kite Runner, the violent scenes mark a turning point in the book. In one of the first violent scenes of the book, when Assef is chasing Hassan and Mair, Hassan sticks up for Amir and threatens to take out Assef’s eye if he does not leave them alone. When reflecting on the incident, Amir writes, “Hassan had pulled the wide elastic band all the way back. In the cup was a rock the size of a walnut.

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Through the novel , The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini , Amir had sinned. Amir sinned in different occasions and most were towards family or friends. Once he lied to Baba, his father, just to try to have a closer relationship. Another time was when he witnesses his friend get raped. A third sin was when he would tease his friend.

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Amir had many chances to make up for his mistakes, but he never did. Hassan and Amir were best friends since childhood and Hassan always acted respectful to Amir and did everything Amir wanted. However, Amir never told anyone that he knew Hassan got raped, and if he had told someone the situation would have been different.

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Can Amir be good again… ? This is the exact question that has been continuously running through my mind with each turn of the page in The Kite Runner, though before hand, I found myself wondering what aspects, qualities, or characteristics have ever defined Amir as “good” in the first place? Furthermore, by the term, “good”, do our minds think of “good” as in only benefiting thyself, or benefiting those of the world around us? Before one can determine if Amir can be good again, these questions that linger in the depths of our mind must be brought to the surface of reality and acknowledged. As far as the reader knows, Hassan and Amir both started life at the same place, but when one analyzes the characters personal characteristics, they foil each other in such a way that Hassan seems to have a sole purpose of exposing the flaws of Amir throughout their childhood, leaving an everlasting impact on the reader's thoughts, in which it is hard for the reader to detect the good in Amir when there seems to be so much bad.

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The Kite Runner describes the life of Amir. Before the war, he lived in Kabul with his father Baba, their servant Ali and Ali’s son Hassan. Hassan and Ali are from a lower class than Amir and Baba, but Amir and Hassan are best friends regardless. In this essay the assertion ‘Amir is selfish and

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Every other sin is a variation of theft” (Hosseini 17). This quote is ironic because he is guilty of doing just that. He stole a brother from Amir, he stole an identity and a life from Hassan, and most importantly he stole honor from Ali and his wife. Though some betrayals may be inevitable in a master/servant relationship, This disaster could have been avoided and was not inevitable. In a very similar way Amir betrays Hassan.

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(Chapter 7, pg. 77) Amir, in this instance, struggles between deciding if Hassan was truly a friend of his, or rather, just a servant that plays with him at Amir’s convenience. He justifies at that moment betraying his friend, selfishly vindicating that this ought to be a sacrifice for Hassan being born into that social caste. Almost immediately after not intervening, Amir seriously regrets viewing Hassan as inferior during the rape as well as throughout their whole duration as children, seeing as Hassan did nothing to deserve such torture as he always been good to

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In his mind, he believes that Baba will send Ali and Hassan away, and, as a result, he will finally gain some peace. To Amir’s surprise, Hassan confesses to stealing his gifts without hesitation symbolizing “Hassan’s final sacrifice for [him]” (105). At that moment, Amir realizes that Hassan knew of his betrayal, which added to his already guilty conscience. Hassan could have easily told Baba the truth and he would have believed him because”[everyone] knew that Hassan never lied”, which, in turn, would ruin Amir’s relationship with his father (105). He probably knew that Amir was unworthy of his sacrifice, that he was the “snake in the grass, the monster in the lake”, but he lied for Amir’s own benefit

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