Guilt In The Kite Runner

A person can commit a bad action, but this does not mean that they are bad or that they are unredeemable. Despite this, a person could find themselves haunted by their past actions and unable to forgive themselves. This takes place in the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. After Amir failed to take action to save his friend, Hassan, The secret of the tragedy he witnessed haunts him. His guilt then manifested into anger, pushing Hassan to leave; he was never able to ask for Hassan’s forgiveness. Years later, Rahim Khan informs him they are half brothers and that although Hassan was killed, he had a child whom Amir risks everything to save and ultimately adopts with his wife. Throughout the novel Amir’s guilt continuously resurfaces,

At the beginning of the novel, not long after the incident in the alley, Amir invites Hassan to go to the hill with him, then he proceeds to hit him with pomegranates and states, “I wished he’d give me the punishment I craved, so maybe I’d finally sleep at night”(Hosseini 92). This is significant because it planted the seeds for self-loathing and recklessness later on, since Amir was haunted by regret for abandoning Hassan, he turned his sorrow to anger. It can be assumed that his anger and resulting actions were a way to push Hassan away and make him hate Amir. The fact that Hassan still cared about him upset Amir, as he viewed himself as horrible and unworthy of this kindness. Destroying relationships can be considered a form of self-destruction. Later in the book, his regret did not allow him to fully experience his life, which in itself was a form of self-punishment and destructive. When Amir was contacted by Rahim Khan and found out Hassan had a child he was determined to find him, however, the director of the orphanage he was supposed to be in revealed that he had sold him to a Talib, when Amir attempts to rescue Sohrab from his Talib captor, he finds out it is Assef and his only option to rescue Sohrab is to fight him. Amir laughs as he is beaten, thinking to himself, “What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of

Some might point out the hypocrisy of Baba saying that theft is one of the worst things a man can do, but then stealing the pride of Ali by getting his wife pregnant and later stealing Amir’s and Hassan’s right to know they were brothers. After Amir learned this information, he could not view Baba the same way and was rightfully angry. Despite his anger, Amir was in a way able to forgive his father’s actions after reading Rahim Khan’s letter and seeing all the positive impacts he left in the world. Amir ponders about his own actions and compares them to his father’s; “But Baba had found a way to create good out of his remorse. What had I done, other than take my guilt out on the very same people I had betrayed”(Hosseini 303). This displays the fact that Amir struggles more with self-forgiveness rather than forgiving others because he compares himself to Baba. This suggests that, as his son, he sees himself reflected in Baba’s actions and feels a need to make up for his mistakes. One must empathize that Amir has constantly compared himself to his father, and that this is an example of that. Although their actions were different, Amir still feels inferior to his father, even when it comes to redemption. It is clear that Amir does not hold complete resentment towards his father, as he acknowledges he tried to right his wrongs and attempted to do the same