How Does Amir Tell The Truth In The Kite Runner

In Khaled Hosseini’s Kite Runner, Amir’s struggle to live with his sins illustrates that the difficulties of revealing the truth grow the longer he hides them. Furthermore, Hosseini suggests that lies create more damage than they prevent. After Assef and his cronies attack Hassan, Amir buries his “face in the warmth of [Baba’s] chest” and forgets “what [he has] done.[which is] good” (79). Amir believes that he should have protected Hassan instead of running. He wants to forget that he ran away, thus avoiding the truth. When Ali asks him if “something [happened] to Hassan,” Amir refuses to answer, instead asking “how [he should] know” (81). Amir does not want to disclose the truth because he believes that doing so would make everybody hate him, despite being only a child and unable to help

By not telling anybody about what he saw, Amir tries to hide from the truth with lies that fail to protect himself and only injure others. He plants “his new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under” Hassan’s mattress (104). He then tells Baba “the last in a long line of shameful lies,” leading Baba to blame Hassan for stealing Amir’s gifts (104). Amir’s guilt made him want to forget what happened. He could not do this with Hassan living in his house, so he wanted him to leave. Ali and Baba are great friends who have lived together for most of their lives, and by forcing Ali to leave, Amir causes Baba and Ali great pain. Amir has “never seen [Baba cry] before” (107). By keeping the truth to himself and creating a narrative to avoid the truth, Amir hurts multiple people while failing to protect himself. When Amir meets Rahim Khan many years later, he feels the “thorny.barbs of guilt bore into [him]” when they speak about Hassan (202). The truth about Hassan has been with Amir for many years, untouched until this conversation. It is still present, despite Amir’s best efforts to forget it.