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Kite Runner Theme Essay

1675 Words7 Pages

Guilt is a product of betrayal. It becomes a constant reminder of a failure in human condition. People are flawed and incapable of perfection. It is human nature to often fail. But what makes people unique is the burden they feel when such failures leads to the sufferings of others. Amir in The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, does not see his family’s servant boy, Hassan, as an equal. Baba, Amir’s father, keeps the truth that he is Hassan’s real father away from Amir and Hassan, denying Amir a brother and holding the burden of the truth. Amir is also holding a burden of his own for his actions too. He watches as Hassan gets sexually assaulted without ever stepping in to help him. He experiences reminders of that time. He makes many attempts …show more content…

The failure in Amir’s human nature is caring only for himself which leaves Amir to abandon the right decision, standing up to Assef even if it means suffering the same faith as Hassan. Amir, “ had one last chance to make a decision... I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan--the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past--and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran” (Hosseini 77). Amir fails to protect Hassan. Amir put his needs before Hassan’s needs. As a consequence of Amir’s failure, Hassan is raped by Assef. Amir feels his betrayal as guilt for what he allows to happen. Guilt has an emotional hold on an individual. It becomes a burden that continues to grow if not resolved. Instead of apologizing, Amir avoids Hassan. Hassan, though, never holds his rape against Amir and never brings it up. In fact, Hassan attempts to reconnect their “friendship” with no avail. Amir is not capable of asking for forgiveness from Hassan. He rather have the guilt reside in him then apologize. His reluctance to apologize for his actions prolongs the time he holds his guilt. Amir’s pride had stopped him from ever fully redeeming

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Unfortunately, Amir, one of the victims, had not been young enough to not understand. As a child, he made the mistake of not helping out his half-brother, Hassan. Even if he could have done something, he didn’t because of his cowardice, which was followed by selfishness. Betrayal made Amir the perpetrator. Due to his act of cruelty, he carried stones of guilt over his shoulder which were never shared with anyone but his own mind.

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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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While being beaten up by Assef, Amir feels at peace. He feels this ways because he feels that as he is taking the hits from Assef, it shows that he would do anything for Hassan. He is redeeming himself in a way that he is standing up not only for Hassan but also for Sohrab. Amir also stands up for his family, redeeming himself. " Hassan is dead now.

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However, after the competition Amir "watched Hassan get raped" which is something no one should ever have to witness (Hosseini 82). Amir backed down when he witnessed Hassan being raped and just let it happen. Amir standing witness to Hassan 's rape and leaving him to be taken advantage of by Assef shows Amir 's cowardice behavior and selfishness. Another low that Amir goes through is when he throws pomegranates at Hassan in the limited hope he would reciprocate his acts. Instead Hassan sat there confused and takes another pomegranate and "crushed it against his own forehead" to emphasize his loyalty to Amir (Hosseini 88).

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Have you ever been involved in a family conflict that was difficult to overcome? In The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini, Amir wishes to gain his father 's attention, recognition, and approval. “It 's important in the beginning of the novel -- as the protagonist feels neglected by his father -- and it becomes important again at the end, in an interesting way” (Singh par. 8). Baba is a wealthy man in Afghanistan.

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In the novel the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini he illustrates the sacrifice one gives for love. Over the course of the novel Amir, Hassan, and Baba all face dramatic events that shape them to the person they are. Each one of them sacrifice a piece of their own happiness for the one they love. Hassan is loyal to Amir even though in their childhood Amir was not a good friend. Baba sacrifices his life in Afghanistan for Amir to have an education in America.

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The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a book based in Kabul, Afghanistan from the year 1963 to 2001 follow a boy name named Amir and his life dealing with issues that stay with him as he grows up. In most of the book, Amir has been described as physically weak, even by his own father, and is shown through the course of the book to also be emotionally weak. Because of his cowardly ways, he is unable to stand up for himself or other people. Although he is definitely physically weak, he has shown multiple acts of courage and strengthens his morality towards the end of the book. “‘A boy who can’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up for anything’”

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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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I lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it. I waited another thirty minutes then knocked on Baba’s door and told him what I hoped would be the last in a long line of shameful lies. (Hosseini 104) Amir does this because he feels so much guilt he cannot tolerate to be near Hassan, as everytime he sees him the memory resurfaces. The fact that Hassan forgives Amir (asking him to play, to go to the bakery with him) makes Amir feels even more guilt, as it reinforces their characters and status.

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Or I could run. In the end, I ran” (Hosseini 77). Amir could have helped, whether it was by directly intervening or comforting him afterwards, but failed to do either out of fear and jealousy. Amir admits afterwards that his actions may have been caused by his desire for Baba’s love and his subconscious

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Do you feel better?” (93). Hassan will not hurt Amir, even after all he has done to him. Because of Hassan’s response, this makes Amir feel worse and he becomes one step farther away from redemption. This signifies how redemption cannot be earned by making the mistake seem not as tragic than it was because this ultimately makes the guilt grow.

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He also told him that Hassan and his wife were brutally murdered by the Taliban. He told him, "There is a way to be good again.". Amir subsequently decided to risk his life to rescue Hassan 's orphan son, Sohrab, and maybe then he can have an ease from the longtime guilt. Hassan in the novel is presented as a Christ figure.

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The final guilt Amir struggles with is his guilt of apathy where he physically commits the action and instead of standing as a bystander becomes the person who committed the act, which gives him a different form of guilt. Amir feels apathy guilt through betraying his friend and kicking Hassan out of the house because he is a witness to the crime Amir has committed. Amir has guilt because he chases Hassan out, “I flinched, like I’d been slapped… Then I understood: This was Hassan’s final sacrifice for me… And that led to another understanding: Hassan knew.

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“I did not know what had emboldened me to be so curt, maybe the fact that I thought I was going to die anyway” (Hosseini 299). This quote is important because Amir carelessly argues with Assef and did not care with what he says. Amir is ok to do anything for Sohrab regardless. He already knows he is going to die so why not redeem himself. Furtherly, Hosseini writes, “Hassan had taken the pomegranate from my hand, crushed against his forehead.

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He thinks of himself as superior to Hassan and starts to become inconsiderate towards Hassan and his feeling. Deep down his heart he convinces himself that Hassan was a sacrificing lamb and that he could not help Hassan in any manner. Jenny Ivers too critiqued the same, “It is an unequal friendship- Hassan adores Amir while the latter takes advantage of the formers unswerving faithfulness.” This portrays that Amir subconsciously does what benefits him whereas Hassan, on the other hand, does what pleases his Amir agha despite the fact that it might ruin his reputation and his life. However, some of his decisions helped him redeem in his life.

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