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The Theme Of Redemption In 'The Kite Runner'

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Journey to Redemption Throughout life, people will find themselves facing guilt or shame, some more significant than others. An individual experiences guilt knowing that they have committed some form of wrongdoing. To relieve themselves from this offense, they will try to be redeemed, or relieved from their sin. In Khaled Hosseini novel, The Kite Runner, Hosseini described Amir’s journey to redemption after he betrayed Hassan during their childhood years. The five steps for redemption are categorized as Conviction, Confession, Repentance, Restitution, and Reconciliation. 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. Immediately after Amir “watched Hassan get raped”, he told “no one.” (86) Amir …show more content…

The guilt started the second Amir was able to recognize that what he did was wrong. It took him some time to realize that he had to start repaying for the wrong, which was traveling to Afghanistan to save Sohrab. Amir was not exactly successful, in order words, he did fulfill Rahim Khan’s wish, which was selfless of Amir, but it created other problems that would leave both Amir and Sohrab damaged. Overall, Amir’s situation proves that the ability to be redeemed may not be as simple as one might think. Amir will never be able to forgive himself. He will always live with the guilt of not helping Hassan, or even

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This guilt haunts Amir throughout the entirety of the novel as an obstacle that he constantly tries to overcome as shown when he finds out the truth and says, “I felt like a man who awakens in his own house and finds all the furniture rearranged , so that every familiar nook and cranny looks foreign now. Disoriented, he has to reevaluate his surroundings, reorient himself,” (Hosseini 224). This is the beginning of Amir finding out who he was as a person,and it is a big step to finding his own identity. When Amir finds out it seems as if “every familiar nook and cranny looks foreign” because what he has always used to defend himself was that Hassan was just a servant, but now he was his brother. Amir’s selfishness soon turns unjustifiable and as he now feels that it is time to finally get over his guilt and “reorient himself.”

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The author provides the reader with mixed feeling about Amir. In his childhood in Kabul Amir comes off as heartless person. He is this because he has done evil stuff in his life. In the beginning of the story something bad happens to Hassan, Amir says,¨In the end, I ran.

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Firstly, one of the many unforgiving things that Amir did yet was still forgiven for, was the fact that Amir did not stand up for his friend who got beat up and raped by a group of boys in an alleyway. This happened because Hassan stood up for Amir and did not give the kite to the

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Hassan’s refusal to reveal that Amir had witnessed his rape and had planted the money and the watch under his mattress—his “final sacrifice” for

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For the reason that Hassan was raped, Amir felt guilty and began regretting his actions. Every time Amir would do something mean towards Hassan, he felt guilty after the action. “‘Let’s see. ‘Imbecile.’

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The author had us view Amir as selfish, guilty, and then working towards forgiveness. These characteristics help us to better understand the overall theme of the novel. They showtime stages that one goes through when they are on a path toward forgiveness. The themes of betrayal, guilt, and forgiveness all appear in this novel and are able to be seen clearly through the feelings and actions of

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Redemption in Family and Friends Holding a terrible truth that can lead to so much guilt can tear a person apart. Not only from themselves, but from others too. In the novel, The Kite Runner, there are many characters with many secrets that the others don’t know about. Two characters of many others are Amir and Rahim Khan.

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Not only does he not help Hassan, but also has these thoughts afterward, Hassan put his life on the line and Amir starts to think, “Nothing was

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When growing up, Amir mistreated Hassan and took advantage of Hassan’s kindness and friendship. In one instance, Amir witnessed Hassan being raped by another boy, and he did nothing to stop it. Amir’s guilt from this event haunts him his whole life living in America and impacts his decisions. His journey shows his growth and is seen in his selfless actions. Throughout the novel,

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In the fiction novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, happiness and redemption are two separate occurrences in life that are achieved in different ways. A critic of the novel writes that The Kite Runner is a “thoughtful book in which redemption and happiness are not necessarily the same thing,” The happiness and redeeming qualities of the characters in the novel are not one and the same; sometimes, one is without the other. This leads to a disconnection between these two aspects. When Amir was a young boy in Afghanistan, the one thing that brought him true happiness was when Baba was proud of him.

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These feelings would be nightmares for him for many years to come. Irony may also lead to one forgiving him or her self. In Hosseini’s novel Amir later discovers an important piece of information that could change his life forever. As Amir discovers the truth about his relationship with Hassan, and also gets the news

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However, he also turned out to be someone who tried his best to confront his sins and redeem them by building orphanages, fixing Hassan's harelip, and helping others in general (Li Cunxin, Levy98's Blog). Unlike Baba, Amir was afraid of confronting his sins. In the novel, Baba, with reference to Amir, says, "A boy won't stand up for himself becomes a man who can't stand up to anything" (page 22, chapter3) which foreshadows how Amir was unable to face his sin, unlike

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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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It might be thought that Amir did not revert his wrong to Hassan and did not redeem himself. Amir was able to do this in various ways throughout the book, especially towards the end. The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini shows that Amir is able to redeem himself from the wrong he did to Hassan by putting himself in danger to rescue Sohrab, by receiving a scar from the fight with Assef signifying his redemption, and finally by bringing Sohrab back to United States with him. Amir is able to redeem himself by putting his life in danger to rescue Sohrab.

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Redemption, the action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil. In the novel The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini, the theme of redemption is evident throughout the book. Hosseini himself explained redemption in his own way, stating “true redemption is… when guilt leads to good”, and this “fiction is inspired by his memories of growing up in pre-Soviet-controlled Afghanistan and Iran, and of the people who influenced him as a child.” (768 Gale) The theme is shown through each and every character, whether it be Amir the protagonist or Sanaubar, the mother of Hassan.

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