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Interpersonal Relationships In Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner

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Murray Bowen once said, “That which is created in a relationship can be fixed in a relationship.” During the 20th century, Bowen, a well known professor and psychiatrist, developed a theory that holds eight concepts that all help explain how and why a family unit functions the way it does. This approach of analyzing family dynamics through a psychological point of view, can also help explain many relationships in literature as well as those in real life. Khaled Hosseini, a well known contemporary Afghan author, has written many novels that focus on interpersonal relationships between the characters in his works of literature. One of his most commonly known works, The Kite Runner, focuses on betrayal and sin in a family. In his novel, The …show more content…

The triangle between the males seems to be most impacted by Hassan. One day at the kite running race, as Hassan is running down Amir’s kite, he encounters Assef and two other boys. As Hassan is maliciously abused and raped, Amir watches him in shock and runs away thinking; “I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (Hosseini 77). This triangle between Baba, Amir, and Hassan is involved in many of the problems found throughout the novel. The third person in this party is Hassan, as he seems to be the person both Amir and Baba bring into their problems. Both father and son neglect their issues and look towards Hassan as their way out. Baba see’s Hassan as his “perfect son figure” and he uses him to forget about the disappointment that Amir is to him. Amir uses Hassan to get Baba’s attention in a way. Amir is so caught up on getting his father’s approval that he doesn't worry about his morals or essence as much anymore. He would rather sacrifice his friend that is the most loyal person to him, then keep being emotionally cut off by his father. This triangle is created by the conflict between Amir and Baba, and Baba’s secret relationship with Hassan, his

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We get to know a lot about Amir, a young boy, and his father, Baba Throughout the story we see Baba’s gradual change in character, turning from the cold distant father he was to the loving and caring father Amir wanted him to be. Baba fills the hole inside himself that was dug by guilt in Afghanistan by learning to move on from his sins and build a relationship with his son in America. The loss of his wife, Sofia Akrami, created the hole. After her death and Amir’s birth, he felt such despair that he had an affair with his best friend, Ali’s, wife. This only created more guilt, as he impregnated her with Hassan.

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Throughout the Kite Runner, the violent scenes mark a turning point in the book. In one of the first violent scenes of the book, when Assef is chasing Hassan and Mair, Hassan sticks up for Amir and threatens to take out Assef’s eye if he does not leave them alone. When reflecting on the incident, Amir writes, “Hassan had pulled the wide elastic band all the way back. In the cup was a rock the size of a walnut.

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Neme: Emily He Period:7 Date:2014.Nov.15 Tales From Odyssey ———Adapted Work Today's weather is damnable. The weather is blustery, also raining heavily.

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Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, a San Francisco chronicle best book of the year, gives the feel of love, honor, guilt, fear and redemption throughout the entire book. With all these emotions, fear is heavily mentioned, from the early childhood of Hassan to the rescue of his nephew. Fear is defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat (Dict.com) Assef is a person of fear. The taliban is an organization of fear. In the book, Assef and the Taliban constantly have power to enforce fear within the eyes of the people.

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484 Words | 2 Pages

He spends years trying to impress Baba so that he will finally be proud of Amir. However, Hosseini portrays the relationship between Baba and Hassan to be different than his and Amir’s. Baba is always proud of Hassan and wants the best for him. He sees himself in Hassan. When these relationships are put side by side it is clear that Hassan is Baba’s favorite.

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429 Words | 2 Pages

Baba holds the secret that Hassan is his son to protect his social status in society, Amir hides Hassans rape and keeps it to himself and pretends it did not happen. Moreover, their best friends are their servants. In addition, both Amir and Baba show an act of kindness and generosity in the novel. Baba builds an orphanage, while Amir

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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.

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Baba and Amir ultimately grew a stronger bond but at the expense of permanent guilt for Amir. The father-son relationship that occurs throughout this story enables the reader to personally connect with Amir, which explains the novel’s universal

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Novels can augment our perspective on the nature of mankind. One such book is Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner. The book follows a character named Amir as he goes through life as a child as well as his deep friendship with a boy named Hassan. A series of unfortunate events escalate a conflict prompting Amir with the need to resolve them. The book begins in medias res, until a phone call prompts the book to start back in the years of his youth.

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One of the most noticeable conflicts that emerges in the early chapters seem to be almost mundane, but affects the overall characterization of both Amir and Baba. Amir is a young child, yearning for his father’s attention, his approval, his love. The conflict is one of both external and internal. It had gotten to the point where Amir went through with the kite flying with Hassan just to receive his father’s approbation.

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688 Words | 3 Pages

The saddest part was that Amir was there watching from a distance and was unwilling to help his best friend due to his lack of courage and inability to stand up for himself. Up until adulthood, Amir had to carry the baggage of betraying Hassan by not being there when he most needed him, this guilt tormented him to the point where he moved to America with his dad, Baba, as a way to escape his

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(Hosseini, page no.18) .Amir takes his Baba’s affection toward Hassan-Baba’s servants’ son-in the wrong way for Hassan always showed a lot more similar qualities to Baba than Amir ever did. In an attempt to win his Baba’s

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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

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1540 Words | 7 Pages

Wayne Dyer, an American philosopher, once said, “Problems in relationships occur because each person is concentrating on what is missing in the other person.” This is the protagonist 's main source of conflict in the book, the Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini. Amir and Hassan appeared to have a brotherly friendship. Even though they grew up together, it was intriguing how Hassan develops a brotherly bond with Amir while Amir does not reciprocate the love. By concentrating on what is missing in Hassan, it causes Amir to become separated from the relationship because Amir values social class over his friendship with Hassan, and stems from his jealousy that comes from an idea that Baba favors Hassan.

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611 Words | 3 Pages

Baba neglected Amir, which caused him to make poor decisions, while vying for his father’s love. Amir finds his true self and in the end his relationship with Baba helped to form him into the man he was at the end of the novel, one Baba is proud of. A loving and empathetic fatherly figure is necessary in a son’s

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