The Kite Runner Betrayal Analysis

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

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