Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader and Marc Forster’s The Kite Runner explore many aspects of the nature of guilt. Both text’s revolve around the guilt of love. The two texts contrast a sexual love and the love of a friend.
Shame is a prominent theme in both text’s, described as a self-depreciating emotion stemming from the belief that your actions have changed you negatively. In Schlink’s, The Reader Michael, the Narrator describes his love affair with Hanna however, never uses language that would appear affectionate, eliciting emotion for the couple. Often even using negative language when Michael “Clawed to her” (p. 65) and uses repetition as Hanna pushed Michael “away again and again and again and again” (p .65). Both passages reinforce the message that even Michael disapproves of the relationship he is ashamed of who his relationship “Hannah is illness, I was ashamed” (p. 74). During the trial
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In Forster’s The Kite Runner Amir is plagued with guilt from the beginning of the text. Amir originally feels guilty for his mother dying during his own birth. The largest source of Amir’s guilt is his failure to come to Hassan’s aid when he was raped by Assef. Later at the pomegranate tree, a previously established symbol their friendship, Amir confronts Hassan attempting to receive some penance. However, even after attacking him with pomegranates, Hassan does not retaliate instead he approaches Amir and squashes a pomegranate into his own forehead. This is Hassan’s final act of loyalty, he carries the burden of his rape through his entire life even when given the opportunity to share his shame. In a second attempt to free himself from guilt Amir frames Hassan of stealing his watch, which subsequently results in both Hassan and his father Ali leaving. This just further intensifies Amir’s