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The kite runner as a struggle for redemption
The role of guilt in the kite runner
The kite runner as a struggle for redemption
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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a moving story about the lives of children in Kabul, Afghanistan. It begins with a boy named Amir, who is best friends with his servant Hassan, but Amir struggles with this relationship because Hassan is in fact his servant. When Hassan is attacked by a bully named Assef, Amir is too cowardly to stand up for him and instead hides. He escapes from Afghanistan to America and lives with guilt on this subject for a long time, until Hassan is killed by the Taliban. Amir is able to find redemption in helping Hassan’s son, Sohrab.
As everyone sleeps, Amir is trapped between thoughts about betraying his friend and his guilt. Amir wants to be accepted for his mistake, yet is left alone to be thinking about his foolish action.
This guilt haunts Amir throughout the entirety of the novel as an obstacle that he constantly tries to overcome as shown when he finds out the truth and says, “I felt like a man who awakens in his own house and finds all the furniture rearranged , so that every familiar nook and cranny looks foreign now. Disoriented, he has to reevaluate his surroundings, reorient himself,” (Hosseini 224). This is the beginning of Amir finding out who he was as a person,and it is a big step to finding his own identity. When Amir finds out it seems as if “every familiar nook and cranny looks foreign” because what he has always used to defend himself was that Hassan was just a servant, but now he was his brother. Amir’s selfishness soon turns unjustifiable and as he now feels that it is time to finally get over his guilt and “reorient himself.”
The author puts a lot of moral ambitious character in the story the Kite Runner. Amir is an example of a moral ambitious character. He is evil in the beginning of the story, but as he matures and grows up as an adult. The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini, is a novel about a young boy named Amir and how he grows up in the Afghan war and how life was during the war. Amir's Moral Ambiguity is important to this story because he provides readers to like and hate him.
Everyone has heard the saying “nobody is perfect” and it is true we are all humans, we all make mistakes sometimes, but to what extent does someone stop forgiving when they have endured all the hardship a person gives them after they have been forgiven several times. There is a certain point in life when some people do not deserve to be forgiven because every time that person is forgiven, that person takes advantage it because that person knows they will be forgiven. There is one very prominent character in a story who fits the reason of why some people do not deserve forgiveness, especially when they've been given multiple chances to do the right thing. That person is Amir from the book the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
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.
People in our life can influence us in many ways. People like our family, friends or close relatives can influence us. In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Amir’s character has been shaped and heavily influenced by Baba, for shaping him into the man he is, also Hassan for showing him that forgiving is important and Sohrab for helping him redeem himself. Sohrab was one of the few characters that influenced Amir because he helps him redeem himself. When Amir goes to Pakistan because Rahim Khan tells him that he is sick and wants to see him, Rahim tells him, “I want you to go to Kabul.
The story ‘The Kite Runner’, written by Khaled Hosseini, takes place mainly during the war in Afghanistan. After the country became a republic instead of a monarchy, the former Soviet Union invaded the country. Many years later, the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist movement , seized power in Afghanistan. This was accompanied by intense violence and the consequences were immense. Not only was Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, almost entirely destroyed, but the cost to human life was also huge.
The author had us view Amir as selfish, guilty, and then working towards forgiveness. These characteristics help us to better understand the overall theme of the novel. They showtime stages that one goes through when they are on a path toward forgiveness. The themes of betrayal, guilt, and forgiveness all appear in this novel and are able to be seen clearly through the feelings and actions of
However, Amir’s selfish ambition of proving his worth to this dad resisted his urge to try to help Hassan as he wants to able to take the kite home safely. Moreover, Amir presumes that his betrayal towards Hassan is like a curse in his life since he will not be able to forgive himself for this deception or free himself from the guilt that has taken over his
Lastly, Amir sacrifices his life to accommodate for Sohrab, Hassan’s son, after being taken by the Taliban. Amir resembles Baba because he too takes up redemption for the awful things he did. He understands the great danger Sohrab is in. He risks his life to help Sohrab; this shows loyalty to Hassan. Even though Sohrab is not Hassan saving his son shows that Amir is loyal to him.
It is delineated by natural inclination that people sympathize with others who undergo an unfortunate circumstance or event. However, this type of behavior is dependent on how one uses prior knowledge to judge whether someone is worthy of sympathy. The idea that people tend to draw conclusions based on other people’s decisions and character remains as one of the many underlying themes in literature. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, Amir’s character is considered worthy of sympathy by his redeeming actions towards the end of the novel, his good intentions toward Baba, and his ability to empathize with others.
Amir, Baba’s son and the main character throughout The Kite Runner, betrays Hassan many times due to the fact of jealousy of the attention Hassan receives from Baba. First, when Amir tries to justify his actions he shows his motivations behind the betrayal. Amir states, “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (Hosseini 77). Amir craves Baba’s attention so much that
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
Amir is very aware that what he is doing is morally wrong, but sees no other option. It seems that his plan works too, which proves that Amir planned this with care. By making it an act of stealing he makes Hassan unredeemable in Baba’s eyes. When Hassan lies for him out of loyalty, Amir still chooses not to confess. “‘Did you steal that money?
