Later on in the novel, the audience is confronted with the fact that Baba, just like Amir, betrayed his best friend as well. Both Amir and Baba spend many years of their adulthood living with guilt over their head. While no one knew, Baba attempted to atone for laying with Ali’s wife and fathering Hassan: never forgetting Hassan’s birthday, paying for his lip surgery, and always inviting him along with Amir on road trips. Although Baba attempted to make up for his wrongdoing, he truly never confronted the fact that he did it. He continued to lie to Ali, Hassan, and Amir, robbing them of the chance to the truth. Not only that, but Baba’s guilt got in the way of having a healthy, strong relationship with Amir. Growing up, Amir competed for Baba’s …show more content…
Unlike Baba, however, Amir confronts his betrayal when coming into contact with Rahim Khan. Moreover, as Amir finds Sohrab, he calls Soraya explaining what he did to Hassan and why bringing Sohrab to America was so important. While facing the many challenges, like Assef being the leader of the Taliban, or the embassy not granting a visa for Sohrab, Amir finds himself and his peace through Sohrab. Not only does Sohrab represent Hassan, through his personality and mannerisms, but also for the mere fact that he is saving Sohrab’s life unlike what did for Hassan, but Sohrab also resembles Amir’s opportunity to a clean slate. The audience can see the importance Sohrab quickly begins to have in Amir’s eyes for he prays for Amir prays for the first time in years when Sohrab is in the hospital. Finally, his redemption is shown in chapter 25, as he flies a kite with Sohrab, and, for a moment, is reminded of much happier times: “Then I blinked and, for just a moment, the hands holding the spool where the chipped-nailed, calloused hands of a harelipped boy.” The way in which Amir returns to a younger version of himself and Sohrab becomes Hassan, and they are in a snow-covered “Kabul”, shows he has been able to gain peace at this point in the novel, compared to his guilt-ridden conscience in the previous
Baba is one of the few muslims in Afghanistan that believes there is only one sin, theft. He states to Amir with a great sense of sterness, ''When you kill a man, you steal a life . . . [you] steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness” (18). Although Baba tries to teach this lesson to Amir, he himself is a thief; he stole the “right to the truth” by retaining the truth of Hassan (18). Along with Baba’s betrayal to his son, he also betrays his beloved servants, Ali and Hassan through adultery. Sanaubar, Hassan's mother was potentially driven away by guilt; leaving Hassan without a mother and Ali without a wife.
Once back in Kabul, Amir takes steps he would never have imagined, which truly define his character. On his venture back to Afghanistan he learns the truth about Hassan’s connection with Baba. After hearing this Amir feels robbed of the truth and is angry at how his own father could hold this back from him. Despite his feelings, Amir realizes he must not only pay for his betrayal of Hassan but for Baba’s betrayal of Ali too. Amir knows he must face his fears and he understands this when he reveals, “I remembered Baba saying that my problem was that someone had always done my fighting for me" (Hosseini 239). Following this he undertakes a personal mission to find Sohrab and finds the courage to stand up to the Taliban, nearly dying in the process. During his quest Amir comes face to face with the disturbing Assef and fights him for Sorab, the ultimate sacrifice for his dead half-brother. While he is beaten he begins to laugh, which angers Assef even more. Amir explains that, “What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace" (Hosseini 303). After successfully bringing Sohrab back to California, Amir defends his Hazara nephew when General Taheri insults him. Over the dinner
Baba is a giving man; he will try to help friends and poor beggars. Baba’s guilt comes from the fact that he cannot show the same affection to Hassan that he shows Amir. He cannot be a father to Hassan because of the affair he had with Sanubar, she is a Hazara making Hassan a Hazara. If others knew of Baba’s affair then it would ruin his reputation. As said in Rahim Khan’s letter to Amir: “But your father was a man torn between two halves, Amir jan: you and Hassan. He loved you both, but he could not love Hassan the way he longed to, openly, and as a father” (Housseini 301). The inevitable fact that Baba
Baba would always tell Amir how lying was a sin yet Amir eventually finds out that Baba had lied to him about Hassan being his brother. Baba said, "There is only one sin. And that is theft... When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth."(pg.237) By him lying, he completely went against what he said was right. Baba had not only lied to Amir, but to Hassan and others as well. Baba had been doing something he knew was wrong, but he had still chosen to go against his own beliefs and do it anyway. The theme addressed here is simply betrayal. Baba is consistently hypocritical throughout the novel. For example, Baba is immensely ashamed of 11 year-old Amir for crying when he saw a man murdered in the street, but later in the novel when Ali and Hassan leave for good, Baba is full of tears. This reveals the bias and corrupt personality Baba possesses. Baba is not a great father and only shows his affection for Amir when great successes occur such as the kite competition victory. Baba betrays many characters in the novel, however he does most of an injustice to Amir, his son. Baba never informing him of his sibling relationship with Hassan appears as stupidity and selfishness. Baba does not wish to provide joy for his sons at the cost of revealing that he had slept with Ali’s wife and produced Hassan. Baba is really just a coward. The lying demonstrated by Baba contributes to the main idea of forgiveness. Baba does a poor job as a father for the most part of his life and on his deathbed he receives the forgiveness from Amir for all of the pain he has caused Amir throughout his
Baba raised his son alone after Amir’s mom died in childbirth and Baba also helped raise Hassan. Early in the novel Hassan and Amir were best friends and did everything, including taking trips together. Baba was loyal to Hassan and never forgot either one of the boy’s birthdays. Baba gave Hassan the amazing gift of having Hassan’s hair lip repaired. “It’s an unusual present, I know,” Baba said. “And probably not what you had in mind, but this present will last you forever.” (Hosseini 67). Family loyalty taught us that you should always respect your family and do the right thing. It is not until late in The Kite Runner that we found out, and Amir found out, that Hassan was really Baba’s son. This was so important in the story because Amir realizes he betrayed his own brother, he was jealous of all the times Baba gave attention to Hassan, and he was the one responsible for making Hassan and Ali leave their home. Amir betrayed Hassan when they played as kids and Amir egged him on to use his slingshot. When the boys would get into trouble Hassan always took the blame even though it was Amir who initiated the trouble. The worst time Amir betrayed Hassan was when Assef assaulted Hassan. Amir did nothing to stop it, nor did he acknowledge that it happened, he ignored Hassan and tried to get him to leave their home so he would not be reminded of his betrayal. Amir betrayed Hassan by placing money and a watch under Hassan’s mattress so Baba would think Hassan and Ali were thieves. “He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time” (Hosseini 132). Hassan continued to protect Amir, and in his own way he showed his family loyalty, no matter how Amir betrayed him. Hassan was the loyal friend and brother. Amir could never get over his guilt for betraying Hassan and that is why it was so important for Amir to
Early in life Amir’s relationship with Baba wasn’t strong, but as the novel progressed they grew closer and held a stronger relationship. Amir begins his life very distant from Baba vying for his attention. Once Amir wins the kite competition with Hassan Baba sees more in Amir and they become closer in their relationship. By the time of Baba’s death Amir has grown a very strong bond with Baba and they have been as close as they ever were. Amir and Baba’s relationship was evolving constantly as the novel progressed, and they became much closer.
Despite Ali and Hassan’s loyalty they are still betrayed by their masters. Baba’s betrayal is much worse than what Amir did to Hassan. Baba intentionally betrayed Ali who he claimed to be his friend. Baba even said that he felt Ali was like a brother to him. But Baba caused what happened and directly harmed Ali because of what he did. Amir didn’t directly harm Hassan and he also didn’t cause what happened to his friend like Baba did. But Amir didn’t do anything about what was happening to Hassan either. Baba broke his own rule; he robbed Amir and Hassan of their brotherhood by not telling them they were related. He robbed Ali of his honor by sleeping with Sanaubar. And he robbed his own wife of the truth by cheating on her while she was pregnant. He also robbed Amir of his innocence because while trying to make Baba proud he became guilty for what happened to Hassan. Amir could have run home to tell Baba what was happening to Hassan but he hid and waited so that his kite would be brought to him. Not only that but Amir goes to great lengths to try and get rid of Hassan so that his guilt can leave with Hassan. Both masters betray their best friends and “brothers;” but later on in life they try to compensate for it by doing good deeds. Baba builds an
Overall Amir has changed throughout the book. He went from being a terrible kid to a not so bad man. The point of Amir going back to Afghanistan is so that he can become good and he does not let anything stop him. He is a grown man who had not even told his own wife his deepest secret in which makes him who he is. Amir going back and getting beat up makes him feel like a new man. Saving Sohrab’s life makes him an even greater man, spealily him being Hassan’s own kid. After everything that happened in Afghanistan, Amir finally owns up to himself, he tells his wife everything and he is not ashamed to say that
When Amir and his wife, Soraya, can’t seem to have a child, Amir believes that it is because of his wrongdoings in the past. Right up until Amir is in his 30’s does he confront his mistakes. It takes a call from Rahim Khan to persuade him that there is ‘a way to be good again’ (Pg. 2). Amir knows that he needs to make up to Hassan for the wrong that he did all those years ago, and so by confronting his mistake and trying to redeem himself by rescuing Sohrab, Hassan’s son. Amir’s confrontation with Assef when he is getting back Sohrab made him feel like he was confronting his mistakes and gaining redemption ‘For the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace… In some nook in a corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this.’ (Pg. 265). This is the punishment and redemption that he has been waiting all these years for, because Hassan wouldn’t punish him all those years ago when they were under the pomegranate tree.
As a character, Amir experiences more change from start to finish than anyone. He is weak and selfish as a child. This leads to him making the worst decision of his life. As Assef approaches Hassan, Amir sat there, as Hosseini writes “I opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had” (Hosseini 73). This moment changes the trajectory of his entire life. Hassan seems to move on from it quickly, trying to be Amir’s friend again a few weeks later, but Amir would be haunted by it for the rest of the novel. Into his thirties, he struggled to sleep and what he had witnessed was always in his head. It isn’t until he meets Sohrab that he starts to truly change as a character. He begins to make choices with other people in mind, despite how he might affect himself. This is the biggest lesson he could take away from Hassan.
Once Amir finds out about Baba's sin, he feels as though his entire life has been a cycle of betrayal, even before he betrayed Hassan. But having a taste of betrayal himself does little towards redeeming Amir. In Ghazi Stadium, the Taliban twists the words of Muhammad in order to justify murdering the alleged adulterers. The mullah announces that every person should have a punishment befitting his sin (270). Although he would not want to compare himself to the Taliban, Amir believes this in regards to his own sin. When he tries to get Hassan to pelt him with pomegranates, he is expressing his feeling that in order to be forgiven for hurting Hassan, Hassan must hurt him. When Assef almost kills Amir, he feels "healed," as though now that Assef has hurt him, he is redeemed. He even tells Farid that in the room with Assef, he "got what he deserved." (298) In the end, Amir finds out that punishment is not what will redeem him from his sin. It is not even saving Sohrab. In order to atone for his sin and Baba's before him, Amir must erase the lines of discrimination he has lived with all his life by giving Sohrab an equal chance at success and happiness in America.
That is a vicious cycle within this book. For most of the book Amir deals with his problems simply by brushing them under the rug. By doing that he then creates a deeper hole than what he is already in. That is why Hassan’s name is such a sensitive subject. “I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.” ( Housini 77) For example when his name is spoken Amir gets a funny feeling and instantly feels down. “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. He knew I’d seen everything in that alley, that I’d stood there and done nothing. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time.” (Housini 105) When he finds out that Baba betrayed Ali he then realises that everything that he thought he knew was all a lie. “Huddled together in the dining room and waiting for the sun to rise, none of us had any notion that a way of life had ended.” (Housini 36) That then made him feel betrayed by Baba. Baba has been dead for a while now. There isn't much that Amir can do about that situation. Betrayal and punishment aren’t enough for him to feel redeemed. When he takes Sorab to the united states he then feels a sense of redemption
One of Amir's prime qualities of his personality is being able to redeem himself. Throughout the story, Amir makes horrible decisions like running away as Hassan is raped, and strives for the affection of his father through jealousy. Although he makes a lot of mistakes, Amir proves that he can be a sharpened person towards the end of the story when he tries to adopt Sohrab, Hassan’s son. Amir and Sohrab eventually go to America, and when Amir and Sohrab talked, Amir told him, “I won’t ever get tired of you, Sohrab...Not ever. That’s a promise. You’re my nephew, remember (Hosseini 324)?” Amir greatly redeems himself by taking care of Sohrab
As father and son, Baba and Amir have some similarities, but they are both very different people.
Amir does move on with his life but doesn't begin to forgive himself or let go of the load of guilt he carried until the story