The Kite Runner: Redemption Essay

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a book regarding an Afghan boy named Amir who experiences difficulty, and has to deal with the hardships of life through redemption. The story is spanned through decades and in the end, it perfectly tells the full circle of Amir’s redemption. The Afghan boy, Amir, has a friend who he finds out later is his brother, named Hassan, and he gets sexually assaulted and Amir doesn’t stand up for him. Amir struggles with his choices for the rest of his life until he is forced to rescue Hasssan’s son, Sohrab. He succeeds and eventually is mended and in the end Amir finally redeems himself. The biggest theme in the book is redemption which is modeled in Amir when he saves himself from his past mistakes and finally

Rahim Khan, a character in the book, calls Amir when he is in San Francisco and reminds him that he can fix what has happened. Throughout Amir’s experiences, he kept recalling his conversation with Rahim Khan and used it to fuel his fire on the path to redemption. Every time he was close to redeeming himself, he would recall the conversation and employ it to make sure he was doing the right thing. This is basically what the definition of perseverance is, not giving up. On the call to Amir, Rahim Khan says, “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 226). Rahim Khan says to Amir to remind him that even though he went through all the bad things in Afghanistan he can still be good and redeem himself. Amir recalls this moment countless times and uses it to make sure that he stays on track to rescue Sohrab and earn redemption from his past. This moment that Amir goes through is the literal definition of perseverance which is a way that people can show redemption. All of Amir’s actions on his road to redemption can be tied back to Rahim Khan’s words and is related to Amir’s perseverance to redeem

Mending. Ultimately it’s when a person finally fixes their mistakes completely. Amir has finally rescued Sohrab, but has been denied the opportunity to bring him to America because of complications. Amir regretfully tells Sohrab he might have to go back to the orphanage for the time being to sort things out. Sohrab cannot take this horrible news and ends up attempting suicide. Before he did, Amir was just going to tell him that everything was sorted out, and they could head to America. It was too late, Sohrab survived but was very quiet-a piece of him had died. Amir cannot believe that he nearly failed with Hassan’s son and feels like he is back at square one. Then one day in San Francisco, they go into the city for a kite running competition just like what Amir used to do. When this happens, Sohrab smiles again and is slowly healing. Amir offers to run for the kite and thinks, “For you a thousand times over, I heard myself say, then I turned and ran” (Hosseini 371). This moment is at the very end of the book, and it is a perfect ending to Amir’s redemption story. Amir has finally fixed his countless mistakes and is at peace. He rescued Sohrab, which fixed Amir’s problem and mistake with Sohrab’s dad. He got beaten up by Assef, the man who raped Hassan, and Amir finally stood up for himself and for others. Amir has gone through the full circle of redemption and has perfectly gone