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The Kite Runner Betrayal Analysis

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Tacit Loyalty

Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, includes a tale disclosed by the narrator, Amir, about his life leading up to the present as an adult. The author portrays the resent, the hardship, the sadness, the drastic differences of social classes, and the every-day life of Afghanistan in that time period. Among various other themes, betrayal looms incessantly over the lives of his characters. It infiltrates not only Amir’s life, but also the lives of those around him. Khaled Hosseini delineates that betrayal is inevitable through the relationships of his characters.
To begin with, Baba becomes a traitor to Ali after an inadvertent affair resulting in a pregnancy. Ali is loyal to a fault when it comes to Baba, covering up these …show more content…

Amir learns of Baba’s deceptions encompassing Hassan being his half-brother from Rahim Khan. Baba takes that secret with him to the grave thereby robbing them of their right to the truth about Hassan’s identity.The shock is overwhelming for Amir because Baba is the one who tells him that theft is the worst sin you can commit, “...there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft...There is no act more wretched than stealing, Amir,” (Hosseini 17-18). Amir goes to great lengths to please his father and be more like him only to discover in the end that they were not so different after all.
In summation, the theme of betrayal is relentlessly depicted throughout this novel. Baba sets off a chain of beguilement when he has an affair with his faithful friend’s wife, Sanaubar. Amir exhibits this profane trait when he betrays Hassan in numerous circumstances. Amir turns his back on Hassan when he witnesses his rape and frames Hassan in an attempt to purge himself of the guilt. Baba betrays Amir when he conceals the truth concerning Hassan. Whether between servant and master or father and son, betrayal always finds a way to pollute pure loyalty and

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Amir makes hassan look like a thief by “planting [his] new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under [the mattress]” (Hosseini 104). Hassan knew of Amirs intentions that Amir wanted him to leave so Hassan lies and says that he stole it in order to remain loyal with his friend Amir. Thus, Hassan and his father Ali, feel like they can no longer serve Baba or Amir anymore and leave forever; Amir never sees him again. It was then that Amir realized how much of a horrible person he was and how undeserving he was to have Hassan. His father realized it was him and forgave him even though his father said “theft is unforgivable.”

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They “had both betrayed the people who would have given [them] their lives” (Hosseini 226). Amir had hurt Hassan in so many ways, insecure and envious of his treatment, not knowing that all along they were brothers. Baba also lived a life of guilt and insecurity. He had slept with Hassan’s father’s wife and had allowed Hassan to grow up as a servant, and without knowing his true relationship with him and Amir. Baba lived his life doing whatever he could externally to overcompensate for his own shortcomings, and Amir lived his life internally, allowing his insecurities to sway his decisions.

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From Amir, he steals the fact that he has a brother. He robs Hassan from his true identity as his son and not his servant. He takes from Ali, Hassan’s thought to be father, his honor. Baba has to live with the guilt of not only betraying

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The main protagonist, a man born in Afghanistan in 1963 named Amir, has to come to terms with his past, when the Taliban began their takeover. His younger years are filled with cowardice, pain, as well as undeserved loyalty. Loyalty is described as faithful to any leader, party, or cause, or to any person or thing conceived as deserving fidelity. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini demonstrates how loyalty often condones the recipient to take advantage of another’s kindness and innocence. They take advantage of the presence, sacrifice and respect of others.

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Both Amir and Baba proved similar in their acts of courage, their pursuit for passion and their decisions to betray a loved one. Amir and Baba proved to be similar not only in their good choices but also in the bad choices of betraying someone. The comparison should not be made between Amir as a child and Baba as a man. It is only right to compare Amir after he has progressed further into life and truly defined himself. “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.

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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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The theme of The Kite Runner is ever changing and adapting its evolution can be reflected within the characters within the book, more specifically the themes of Loyalty and Friendship,Betrayal,Guilt, concluding with eventual Redemption, these themes can be best represented with the use of characters such as Amir,Hassan, and Sohrab. Through Chapter 9, Amir’s response to the alley scene develops the theme of loyalty in the face of betrayal. It can be seen with Hassan's undying loyalty to Amir even when he was wronged and betrayed and can be exposed with the quote of Hassan taking responsibility for Amir falsely testifying against Hassan, “Did you steal that money? Did you steal Amir’s watch, Hassan? Hassan's reply was a single word delivered

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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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For example, Amir insists that Baba visits a “...radian oncologist to talk to Baba into getting radiation treatment” (161) after being diagnosed with a metastasized form of cancer. From this quote, Amir’s intent is to help Baba survive the cancer so he can live a longer lifespan. Even after refusing to undergo preventive medical procedures, Amir remains faithful to Baba and fulfills his commands until his death in Chapter 13. Sacrificing Hassan to gain Baba’s affection is another horrifically indicative yet illustrative precedent of Amir’s past, specifically in the quote, “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (77). To validate his reasoning for leaving Hassan, Amir uses self-deception into thinking that his relationship with Baba carried more value rather than a Hazara.

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In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, there are many different important conflicts throughout the story. These conflicts are brought upon by the recurring motifs, such as redemption and loyalty. The different dissensions support the ideas of characterization by how they react to the sudden adversity in their lives. Amir attempts to redeem himself through Hassan’s son, Sohrab, by saving him and giving him a better life. Further developing the meaning of the story, connoting the mental struggle and the way priorities change over time, keeping readers mindful of the motifs and how they impact each character.

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Betrayal is seen when Amir cares more about attention than his own friendships. Betrayal is also seen when Baba feels that his son Amir will never be good enough. In contrast, one character who never shows betrayal is Hasssan. In The Kite Runner, Amir and Baba engage in the act of betrayal however Hassan never betrays.

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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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