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Kite Runner Atonement

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“There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 2). In the historical fiction novel, The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, Rahim Khan, one of the significant characters, proposes this line as a way to inform the protagonist that there is always a way to seek forgiveness. Hosseini illustrates that relationships can be reestablished by atoning one’s mistake. This reflects back to society’s expectation on making amends. After all these years, Baba is now atoning for mistreating Amir when he was young by acknowledging him. Baba performed two meaningful acts during his process of atonement. For instance, Baba used to neglect Amir’s hobbies and traits. When Baba was young, he would be outside playing soccer all day. Contrasting, Amir prefers …show more content…

To emphasize, when Amir was twelve years old he witnessed a traumatizing event that happened to his servant, Hassan. Hassan was brutally raped by an older neighborhood child, Assef. Rather than interfering and accepting the consequences he may have received, he ran away. Amir felt guilty for not preventing Hassan from being sexually assaulted and the memory haunted him throughout his life. Due to Amir’s cowardliness, he tries to seek redemption and forgiveness and when the opportunity presented itself. Amir knew that going to Kabul to find Hassan’s son, Sohrab, would be a challenge but, he went anyways in order ease the guilty feeling. Soon after Amir told Rahim Khan that he could not go to Kabul because it was dangerous, he immediately rethought his actions and “told [Rahim Khan] he was going to Kabul” (Hosseini 227). With the chance of losing his life, career, and family, Amir knew that this was the last opportunity he was going to get to atone for the poignant sins he created in the past. Additionally, the act of atonement manifest the high standards that people carry. People who atone for their actions are portrayed as brave and well respected. Not only did Amir risk his life by going to Kabul to save Sohrab, he also taught Sohrab to run a kite. Hassan was very interested in kite running and was passionate towards the sport. Even though Hassan taught Sohrab how to run kites, he was not there to help Sohrab learn to love it as much as he did. Amir knew that teaching Sohrab Hassan’s kite tricks would bring Hassan and Sohrab closer together, even if Hassan was no longer alive. When Sohrab’s kite was the last one standing, he “smiled, and nothing more” (Hosseini 371). By rekindling Sohrab’s memories of Hassan, Amir gained self-redemption. He gave Sohrab a memory of his father and used that memory to bond with Sohrab. Briefly, Amir finds Sohrab and

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and he did not want the blood of Sohrab on his hands as well. Amir did not literally kill Hassan, but he felt guilty for the times that Hassan has stood up for him. Amir is working toward redemption with this because he vowed to be a follower of religion and meet all of the requirements of the

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1449 Words | 6 Pages

After Amir meets with Rahim Khan and knows the fact that Hassan’s son, Sohrab, was in the orphanage, it is time for him to seek redemption. Amir decision of bring Sohrab to Pakistan is because of not only Rahim Khan’s request but also a way to be good again. It is his first active step he takes towards atoning for his past and it demonstrates Amir’s first conscious decision to think of another before himself, even it means risking everything he has, including his life and the welfare of his family. Amir now understands that he can endeavour to gain redemption by sacrificing himself to rescue Sohrab. As Amir continues to find Sohrab and tries to save him from Assef, he is willing to sacrifice himself for a chance to get Sohrab back.

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Since he was a child, Amir has been struggling with the guilt he has because of his betrayal to Hassan. Khaled Hosseini uses the theme of redemption to show the reader the difficulty of Amir trying to make up for his actions. Amir goes through many difficult trials through his life but the most prominent is the road to redemption he goes on to forgive himself for his betrayal to Hassan. At the beginning of the novel we see Amir in America answering a call from Rahim Khan. After the call Amir says “That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it.

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The mission to save Sohrab provided an opportunity for Amir to finally right his past mistakes; he finally forced himself to fight back against his enemies. By fighting Assef, Amir absolved himself and rid his conscience of the guilt of not rescuing Hassan. Although throughout most of his life, Amir tried to forget about the things he had done wrong, by the end of the story, he had corrected his errors and was becoming the son who Baba would be proud

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1089 Words | 5 Pages

Amir first realizes the depth of his cowardice as he watches Assef rape Hassan in the alley and thinks, “I could step in into that alley, stand up for Hassan—the way he stood up for me all those times in the past—and accept whatever happened to me. Or I could run” (Hosseini 77). He has an epiphany that he could choose to be brave and selfless like Hassan and step up to Assef regardless of any physical consequences. However, despite his understanding that the noble choice would be to interfere and stop Assef, Amir is unable to act on it because his fear of Assef overwhelms him. The guilt that consumes Amir in the weeks following Hassan’s rape indicates that he understands the extent of his selfish behavior and needs to resolve it before he can forgive himself.

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Throughout the novel we see Amir grow in maturity, which eventually leads to him accepting the opportunity to atone. Through Rahim Khan we see that Amir must complete his journey to achieve redemption by confronting his past cowardice and at last feels a sense a healing by rescuing Sohrab. Early on, Amir strives to redeem himself in Baba’s eyes, primarily because his mother died giving birth to him, and he feels responsible. Baba says, “a boy who doesn’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything” (Khaled 123). In order to redeem himself to Baba, Amir

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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.’

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Even though Amir hasn’t quite forgiven himself, he doesn't find one way to some what relieve the guilt that has bottled up. Amir goes and fights endlessly to retrieve Hassan’s son Sohrab. He gets beaten up by Assef, struggles to even get Sohrab back to the US with Amir, but eventually, Amir succeeds and gets to try to build back up the relationship he had with Sohrab. Amir almost feels like he got his punishment for what he did to Hassan. Amir felt that him getting severely beaten up by Assef was his way of Hassan forgiving him.

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522 Words | 3 Pages

After rescuing Sohrab from Assef, Amir feels like he is making up for not being there for Hassan. Amir did something that was truly brave and noble. By saving Sohrab and giving him a better life in America, Amir was able to find a way to be good again. Just like Rahim Khan said he would over the phone. Amir will never be able to fully forgive himself for what happened in the winter of 1975, however, by working to become a better person, he can slowly redeem himself and move forward with his life.

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Through Amir’s experiences in dealing with Hassan’s rape, the Taliban overtaking Afghanistan, and Amir’s life with Sohrab, Hosseini was able to exemplify the theme of sins and redemption. Amir’s importance in the novel helped in the development of the plot. The theme of sins and redemption in The Kite Runner conveyed Hosseini’s intent to prove that no matter what sin you commit, there is a way to be good

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Although, Amir shows many acts of kindness and selflessness, in the end, he was not able to truly redeem himself. To begin, Amir started his journey to redemption with conviction and confession although he was not very successful. The guilt bothered Amir very often even in his adulthood when he believed he had been denied “fatherhood for the thing [he] had done.” (188) Almost immediately after Amir watched Hassan get raped he believed he had done something wrong. He believed he could not have children with Soraya because he did not help Hassan, but he does not confess until more than fifteen years later.

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455 Words | 2 Pages

Redemption involves the act of absolving or being absolved from a previous wrongdoing. In The Kite Runner, Amir commits a great betrayal by abandoning his friend, Hassan, when he is raped. He furthers his transgression by attempting to have Hassan fired when he can no longer stand his own guilt. When his father’s friend, Rahim Khan, tells Amir “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 192), Khan is essentially telling Amir that there is an opportunity for redemption and a chance to mend the pain that he has caused Hassan. Amir flies to Pakistan to hear of this possibility to fix his mistakes.

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Abortion in Australia is a subject of state law rather than national law. The grounds on which abortion is permitted in Australia vary from state to state. In every state, abortion is legal to protect the life and health of the woman, though each state has a different definition. In Australia it is 1 in every 4 baby’s don’t survive pregnancy, with over 80,000 women wanting abortion every year.

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In the novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini tells the story of Amir, a young, Afghan boy who learns about what it means to be redeemed through the experiences he encounters in his life. The idea of redemption becomes a lesson for Amir when he is a witness to the tragic sexual assault of his childhood friend, Hassan. As a bystander in the moment, Amir determines what is more important: saving the life of his friend or running away for the safety of himself. In the end, Amir decides to flee, resulting in Amir having to live with the guilt of leaving Hassan behind to be assaulted. Hosseini shows us how Amir constantly deals with the remorse of the incident, but does not attempt to redeem himself until later in his life when Hassan has died.

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1355 Words | 6 Pages

However, he also turned out to be someone who tried his best to confront his sins and redeem them by building orphanages, fixing Hassan's harelip, and helping others in general (Li Cunxin, Levy98's Blog). Unlike Baba, Amir was afraid of confronting his sins. In the novel, Baba, with reference to Amir, says, "A boy won't stand up for himself becomes a man who can't stand up to anything" (page 22, chapter3) which foreshadows how Amir was unable to face his sin, unlike

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