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.
Amir first realizes the depth of his cowardice as he watches Assef rape Hassan in the alley and thinks, “I could step in into that alley, stand up for Hassan—the way he stood up for me all those times in the past—and accept whatever happened to me. Or I could run” (Hosseini 77). He has an epiphany that he could choose to be brave and selfless like Hassan and step up to Assef regardless of any physical consequences. However, despite his understanding that the noble choice would be to interfere and stop Assef, Amir is unable to act on it because his fear of Assef overwhelms him. The guilt that consumes Amir in the weeks following Hassan’s rape indicates that he understands the extent of his selfish behavior and needs to resolve it before he can forgive himself.
In the book Amir’s cowardness is shown whenever him and Hassan get into the altercation with Assef. Whenever Assef is picking on Amir, he shies back, and lets Hassan take care of it.
Beyond how Amir interacts with other people, actions that he intentionally has to carry out himself also have a considerable impact on his development, as well as how that development is formed based on what he’s learned from Baba. One such action is when he forces himself to toughen up and go after Sohrab, despite finding out from Rahim Khan that he’s been lied to his entire life. Shortly after refusing vehemently to get Hassan’s son, Amir changes his mind, saying “then I told him I was going to Kabul,” demonstrating Amir’s decision to make himself better, and more like how Baba tried to raise him to be (Hosseini, 227). Even though it’s likely one of the most frightening tasks Amir has had to undertake to date, he knows this is the type of
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.
Amir and Baba are rich Pashtuns living Kabul. They live with their servants Hassan and Ali, who are both Hazaras. The Pashtuns around Amir put themselves on a higher social class, making the Hazaras the lower class. This makes Amir look at Hassan as only a servant, not a friend. When Assef is telling Amir why Hassan should not be his friend, he says, “We are the true Afghans, the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here… They dirty our blood” (Hosseini 44).
Because Amir is neither all good nor all evil, he is a morally ambiguous character, which mirrors the differences of his life in Afghanistan and his life in America. Amir does many bad things in his lifetime, but especially as a young boy. Amir hiding while Hassan is being raped and failing to tell anyone is by far the worst thing he does as a child. While watching Hassan’s rape, Amir says, “I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan-the way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past-and accept whatever would happen to me.
Assef took his intimidation to far when he raped Hassan. Ever since Assefs sexual harassment on Hassan, Amir and Hassan didn't have the same relationship as before. Thought it may no be as apparent as Assef and Amir but Amir also bullied Hassan. Amir and Hassan have been friends since Amir's birth. Hassan thought of Amir as his best friend, but Amir thought of him as the families servant's son.
Amir fails to protect Hassan. Amir put his needs before Hassan’s needs. As a consequence of Amir’s failure, Hassan is raped by Assef. Amir feels his betrayal as guilt for what he allows to happen.
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
Amir feels that if Hassan were alive that saving his son would smooth over any bad tension, to make things right again. Amir metaphorically gains Hassan's trust back. Unfortunately the only way Amir is going to save Sohrab was to let Assef do his 'unfinished business'. Assef brutally beats Amir because back in the day Amir stuck up for Hassan who is of the lower class, of which Assef despised "‘You're bothering me very much. In fact, you bother me more than this Hazara here.
He resists for Amir whom he loves with his whole heart. Amir witnesses this struggle, but he does nothing; he runs away since “he was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” (Hosseini 77). Amir has always believed, deep down, that his father favored Hassan, a Hazara, the dirt of Afghan society, over him, his own son. Seeing Hassan reduced to that level of baseness is perversely satisfying for him.
Honesty is the Best Policy Why would a person lie to his sons about their identities? What problems could these lies cause in the long run? How can they influence a person’s life and choices? In the Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Baba, Amir, and Hassan face these problems.
Wayne Dyer, an American philosopher, once said, “Problems in relationships occur because each person is concentrating on what is missing in the other person.” This is the protagonist 's main source of conflict in the book, the Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini. Amir and Hassan appeared to have a brotherly friendship. Even though they grew up together, it was intriguing how Hassan develops a brotherly bond with Amir while Amir does not reciprocate the love. By concentrating on what is missing in Hassan, it causes Amir to become separated from the relationship because Amir values social class over his friendship with Hassan, and stems from his jealousy that comes from an idea that Baba favors Hassan.
Someone once said, “Loyalty isn’t grey. It’s black and white. You’re either completely loyal, or not loyal at all. And people have to understand this. You can’t be loyal only when it serves you.”
