The Kite Runner Rhetorical Analysis

In Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, Amir watches his servent-friend Hassan get raped, all while doing nothing to help his friend. Amir has multiple chances to redeem himself in the following weeks, yet he decides not to tell anybody about what happened to Hassan. This leads to a feeling of guilt building up in Hassan. This feeling of guilt becomes a positive force in Amir’s life, as Hosseini illustrates a life of positivity in Amir’s attempt to redeem himself and rid himself of his guilt. Soon after Amir witnesses Hassan’s rape, the guilt he feels influences him to avoid Hassan while at their home. Amir is disappointed with himself; he does not feel worthy of being around Hassan. He feels that it would be wrong to continue to be friends

This leads to him avoiding any contact with Hassan. One sunny day though, Hassan comes to Amir, asking him to travel and buy bread with him. Amir response is conflicting: “‘I want you to stop harassing me. I want you to go away,’ I snapped. I wished he would give it right back to me, break the door open and tell me off -it would have made things easier, better,” (88). In this passage, Hosseini uses juxtaposition to show the conflicting feelings inside Amir. Amir tells Hassan to go away. He knows that if he travels with Hassan, his feeling of guilt will overwhelm him. He wishes for Hassan to drop the subject and leave. On the contrary though, he wishes for Hassan to recoil. He feels that if Hassan were tro recoil, some redemption might occur. Amir feels that he is deserving of violence from Hassan. Amir is avoiding Hassan because he feels that he is not worthy of Hassan’s presence. Amir’s feeling of unworthiness continues; it leads to him asking Baba a seemingly selfish question while in the garden. To Baba’s dismay, Amir asks, “Baba, have you ever thought about

While he is living in America, Amir gets a mysterious call from an old family friend, Rahim. Rahim states that Amir has a chance to make things right if he returns to Afghanistan. After their conversation, Amir contemplates what Rahim had said, “ I closed my eyes and saw him at the other end of the scratchy long-distance line, saw him with his lips slightly parted, head tilted to one side. And again, something in his bottomless black eyes hinted at an unspoken secret between us,” (192). In this passage, Hosseini exemplifies Amir’s feelings using parallel structure; Rahim’s body language is expressed repeatedly in the passage. Amir’s guilt is expressed through his envisioning of Rahim’s body language. Amir knows that he can make things right if he goes back to Afghanistan, so he naturally finds importance in Rahim’s passing remark. Amir is not totally sure that he wants to return to Afghanistan at first, but he is eventually assured by a dream that comes to him. While laying in bed, Amir dreams of a memory of Hassan - “He was yelling over his shoulder: For you, a thousand times over!” (194). Hosseini alludes to rape of Hassan to show Amir’s guilt. Just before Amir finds Hassan being raped, Hassan had yelled For you, a thousand times over! to Amir. Amir was questioning whether or not he should return to Afghanistan, but his guilt returned to him in the form of a dream.