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Why Is Guilt Important In The Kite Runner

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Think about a time you have ever done something wrong. Guilt. That’s probably the feeling you felt right? Every person in this world has done at least one thing wrong at some point in their life, and guilt was most likely one of the consequences. However, with guilt, most people will want to redeem themselves in order to get rid of their guilt. This concept is expressed in the book Kite Runner. In the novel Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses symbols to allude to the journey of Amir and Hassan’s relationship, exhibiting that redemption is borne out of guilt.
Throughout the novel, Khaled Hosseini alludes to a pomegranate tree as a symbol of Amir and Hassan’s friendship. The pomegranate tree initially represented the strength of the boy's friendship, but after Amir fails to intervene when Hassan is sexually assaulted, it dies along with their connection. While in Kabul, Amir is told he needs to take Hassan's son back with him, but to do so he must fight his childhood bully, Assef. In the midst of this fight, Amir is relieved of the guilt he once felt, and remembers the way the …show more content…

After betraying Hassan, Amir always carried the weight of his assault on himself. When Amir hears that Hassan has died he blames himself for Hassan’s death. Following this, after Sohrab attempted suicide Amir finds himself desperate to save Sohrab. Amir prays to Allah and says; “My hands are stained with Hassan's blood; I pray God doesn't let them get stained with the blood of his boy too.” (Hosseini 346). Hosseini uses the symbol of blood to convey the guilt that Amir has carried with him throughout the years. As Amir goes on to vow he will not be stained with Sohrab's blood as well he allows himself to feel redemption because he is able to save Sohrab, unlike he was able to save Hassan. The hope of Sohrab living is Amir’s way of redemption for washing off Hassan's

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“For you a thousand times over” says Amir, to the son of his former servant, after he has redeemed himself for all of his actions. Amir is a man who finds courage through correcting his wrong doings by making new valuable decisions. Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, expresses how lies can change someone’s life and how one man finds redemption through doing good. Upon doing good there are also many other ways that redemption must be found, taking on great responsibilities, fighting for what is right, and finding ways to become closer to God. Amir has found redemption through doing what is beneficial to others in his life.

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In Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, Amir suffers from guilt due to Hassan’s self-sacrifice for him but has his own way of avoiding confrontation. Amir’s guilty conscience forces him to isolate

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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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1089 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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227 Words | 1 Pages

The Kite Runner, a compelling book written by Khaled Hosseini, perfectly demonstrates how guilt can affect an individual's relationships. Amir and Hassan aren't related, however they grew up together as best friends and brothers. Change happens the winter Hassan gets sexually assaulted and Amir who saw it just ran away. The guilt he lives with slowly bares a bigger burden on him, lies awake and says aloud to no one “Hassan got raped” Amir “A part of me was hoping someone would wake up and hear, so I wouldn’t have to deal with the guilt of it anymore”

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906 Words | 4 Pages

While being beaten up by Assef, Amir feels at peace. He feels this ways because he feels that as he is taking the hits from Assef, it shows that he would do anything for Hassan. He is redeeming himself in a way that he is standing up not only for Hassan but also for Sohrab. Amir also stands up for his family, redeeming himself. " Hassan is dead now.

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931 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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726 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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1138 Words | 5 Pages

Sohrab is a parallel to Hassan, representing Hassan’s legacy and an opportunity for redemption. To be free of his guilt, Amir travels to his war-ridden hometown, risking his life. His willingness to sacrifice his life for Hassan’s child demonstrates that Amir is no longer running from his sins. When Amir finally finds Sohrab, he has been abused and traumatized by Assef. Amir rescues him and promises that he will be safe with him, and “As the boy’s pain soaked through [Amir’s] shirt, [he] saw that a kinship had taken root between [them].

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806 Words | 4 Pages

Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (68). In Afghani culture, many sacrifice things in their life as a payment to god, Amir’s thought here was that Hassan was just a sacrifice. However, this is incorrect because even though Amir thinks this for a short period, he later feels the guilt and it has never left him since. Lastly, some may say that after Amir gets the child that he is “good again” even Amir says “My body was broken—just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later—but I felt healed. Healed at last.

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885 Words | 4 Pages

Several of the conflicts include the fight with Assef, his internal battle with guilt, and the struggle of going to Kabul. A particular event that changes Amir is the conflict with Assef. During his childhood, Amir faces conflict when Assef confronts him. Shortly before Hassan steps in, Assef is harassing Amir, and

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1498 Words | 6 Pages

Finding a Path to be Good Again Guilt is an emotion of a sinner, but guilt is not an emotion of evil. In fact, guilt is only felt by a conscientious individual who is aware of doing wrong, and through this strange emotion, people learn what wrong is. Therefore, guilt can be an emotion of opportunity to fix wrong if responded in the right way. However guilt can also intimidate as it is a forceful emotion that haunts people when it is not dealt with.

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955 Words | 4 Pages

Guilt is an emotion that comes from believing one was responsible for a particular mistake whether the assessment was accurate or not. (Powell)It can be described as “a bothered conscience” or “a feeling of culpability for offences”. One feels guilty when there is a feeling of responsibility for an action one regrets. (Barker, Guilt and Shame).A wrongdoer must deal with guilt by making atonement- by making reparation and penance. How a person deals with guilt long term is what really affects their future.

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421 Words | 2 Pages

To undo this guilt he does different actions in the positive way that show how his actions are now used for positive good deeds. Amir grows to become someone willing to die for Sohrab and believes Sohrab to be a part of his family which is ironic because Hassan was never able to become a part of their family due to social pressures. After Amir recognizes that Hassan knew all along Amir has a bigger feeling of guilt which is only washed away through constant deeds. One service is when Amir places the crumpled money for a positive outcome rather than to chase someone out, “ Earlier that morning, when I was certain no one was looking, I did something I had done twenty-six years earlier: I planted a fistful of crumpled money under a mattress ( 242) ”. As Amir grows as a character after ridding himself of different guilts he develops and grows by changing different actions that he has committed in the past as a sin.

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882 Words | 4 Pages

“I did not know what had emboldened me to be so curt, maybe the fact that I thought I was going to die anyway” (Hosseini 299). This quote is important because Amir carelessly argues with Assef and did not care with what he says. Amir is ok to do anything for Sohrab regardless. He already knows he is going to die so why not redeem himself. Furtherly, Hosseini writes, “Hassan had taken the pomegranate from my hand, crushed against his forehead.

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