Draft 1 – Sacrifice to Redemtion “When something bad happens you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.”, said once by Dr. Seuss. In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Amir had gone through difficulties and has had to choose from the three choices. If Hassan didn’t sacrifice himself, Amir wouldn’t have become a better person. For the reason that Hassan was raped, Amir felt guilty and began regretting his actions. Every time Amir would do something mean towards Hassan, he felt guilty after the action. “‘Let’s see. ‘Imbecile.’ It means smart, intelligent. I’ll use it in a sentence for you. ‘When it comes to words, Hassan is an imbecile.’’… I would always feel guilty about it …show more content…
“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.” (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. “Then I took a couple of the envelopes of cash from the pile of gifts and my watch, and tiptoed out. I paused before Baba's study and listened in. He'd been in there all morning, making phone calls. He was talking to someone now, about a shipment of rugs due to arrive next week. I went downstairs, crossed the yard, and entered Ali and Hassan's living quarters by the loquat tree. I lifted Hassan's mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it. I waited another thirty minutes. Then I knocked on Baba's door and told what I hoped would be the last in a long line of shameful lies.” (Hosseini 104). Sometimes people do one wicked …show more content…
When Amir went back to Afghanistan because of Rahim Khan’s letter, he went to redeem himself for his past mistakes. He needed to get rid of the guilt that has been haunting him for years. "What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975 I felt at peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some nook in the corner of my mind, I had been looking forward to this." (Hosseini 289). While being beaten up by Assef, Amir feels at peace. He feels this ways because he feels that as he is taking the hits from Assef, it shows that he would do anything for Hassan. He is redeeming himself in a way that he is standing up not only for Hassan but also for Sohrab. Amir also stands up for his family, redeeming himself. "Hassan is dead now. That boy sleeping on the couch is Hassan's son. He's my nephew. That's what you tell people when they ask... And one more thing, General Sahib, you will never again refer to him as 'Hazara boy' in my presence. He has a name and it's Sohrab" (Hosseini 361). Again, in this quote, Amir redeems himself to Hassan and his family by standing up to General Sahib. Proving to Hassan that he was faithful to him all along, removing his