Amir's Jealousy In 'The Kite Runner'

In order for Amir to be a tragic hero he should portray essential elements of a tragic hero:

The character of Amir goes through drastic changes as he moves from adolescence to adulthood. As a child Amir begins his life in Kabul, where his character is shaped through conflicts with his father and Hassan. Later, when he moves to America he leaves these conflicts behind and is able to create a stronger relationship with his father. However, when Amir is an adult he is called back to Afghanistan by an old friend to confront these earlier conflicts. In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, observable changes can be seen in Amir’s character as he moves from Kabul, Fremont, and later back to Kabul.

Amir’s mother, Sofia, dies in childbirth; Amir inherits her love of literature and probably her looks to some extent, but, her being dead, never receives any motherly love or guidance, which could have helped him out of the cowardly hole he later digs himself into. Amir’s father’s best friend and business partner, Rahim Khan, tries to give Amir the motherly love he clearly needs, fostering Amir’s love of writing and steadfastly standing up for him when Amir’s father, Baba, criticizes him, but Rahim Khan does not do enough to instill honesty, courage, and strength of conviction in young Amir. Amir’s best friend, Hassan, a servant a year younger than Amir, is everything Amir is not: athletic, brave, loyal, honest, and kind, inciting jealousy in Amir. Assef, a local bully, poses a real threat to Amir, hating Amir for the crime of befriending a Hazara (oppressed ethnic minority), but Amir is protected by Hassan, allowing young Amir to freeze and not stand up for himself in Assef’s presence. Last, but most importantly, is Amir’s father, Baba, and his views on Amir: he blames Amir for Sofia’s death,

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Amir was the son of a wealthy social worker. He was brought up with the son of his servant, and perhaps his only best friend, Hassan. Amir had a rocky relation with his father. At times, it seemed as his father loved him but those moments didn’t lasted forever. He thinks Baba (his father) wishes Amir were more like him, and that Baba holds him responsible for killing his mother, who died during his birth. Despite being best friends, Amir thinks that Hassan is beneath him because he belonged to an inferior cast. He used to mock him jokingly or tried to outsmart him. In all fairness, it was Amir’s cowardly nature that

S1/B3: Finally, Rahim Khan successfully shapes Amir into becoming the responsible man he has always wanted to be. This is indicated when Amir and Soraya are attempting to have a baby and Amir wonders what kind of father he will turn out to be. He thinks, “I wanted to be just like Baba and I wanted to be nothing like him” (Hosseini 184). Although Baba was the ‘ideal’ man: strong, popular, and well known, this is not the man Amir wants to turn out to be. Amir sees that Baba was secretly a materialistic, selfish, dishonest coward. So, while Amir wants to be a popular and strong idealistic father to his child, he does not want to leave his child feeling neglected by him, as he experienced with Baba. Amir would rather be a responsible and understanding

In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Amir feels obligated to find Hassan’s son, Sohrab because of his demons that he need to be free of to move on and live. This is due to one of the guilt’s Amir’s burdened with for many years where Amir “watched Hassan get raped” (pg.86) by Assef and his gang but did not do anything to save him. In a way, Amir feels he is making up for the sins he did to Hassan years ago by taking Shorab to safety in Peshawar. In addition, Amir later does another injustice with Hassan where he plants “a fistful of crumpled money under [Hassan’s] mattress.” (pg. 254)

First of all, all throughout Amir’s childhood in Kiterunner, Hassan has been loyal to him and always supported him. When Hassan needed help, Amir was not able to help him because he was too afraid to stand up for himself or anyone. The quote “There is a way to be good again, Rahim Khan said on the phone just before hanging up” (Hosseini 202), portrays that Amir finally has his chance of redeeming himself for the mistake he made in his childhood. Hassan’s son, Sohrab was now in need of help and Amir knew that it was his duty to help Sohrab have a better life. In my poem, the speaker says, “Though for my sins I sorrow / Since salvation is easy bought / I will repent…to-morrow” (Service) represents that the speaker realized that his sins can be

Hassan’s inferior character is presented by the way he serves Amir, ‘While I ate and complained about homework, Hassan made my bed’, which implies that no matter how close they may be, Hassan remains the servant which he accepts and is content with, ‘I’d hear him singing to himself in the foyer as he ironed’. Also, Hassan addresses Amir as ‘Amir agha’ which highlights his respect to Amir. However, despite their divisions, when they are alone together they consider themselves equal, ‘”Amir and Hassan, the sultans of Kabul”’, creating irony as they are both aspiring the same hopes and dreams but we know that it is unattainable.

During the last few pages of the book, Hosseini describes to Sohrab the beauty of kite running and how his father, and Amir's half brother, used to run his kite for him. By running Amir’s kite, Hassan demonstrated his love and devotion to Amir. Before, Amir never truly accepted or reciprocated this love and devotion from Hassan. However, once Amir runs the kite with Sohrab, he not only takes part in the act of simply running the kite with Sohrab, but takes part in an emotional journey as he begins to feel a sense of connection and justification with Sohrab and his past. Finally, Amir is able to release his guilt, a great theme and struggle within the novel, and redeems himself as he cares for Hassan’s son and replies that he will not only run the kite for him, but also run life for him “a thousand times over.”

There has always been an old question that remains unanswered, sparking interest and arguments: is a person’s nature or nurture more influential on their character? This debate can be directly tied to Amir, the main character of the novel The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Amir is a perfect example of how a persons genetics affects their personality more than their environment. Along with several studies done, The Kite Runner shows how your genetic makeup effects the choices you make and the person you become.

The Kite Runner, a novel written by Khaled Hosseini, focuses on Amir’s journey in life, both physically and emotionally. During Amir’s childhood Afghanistan became very unsafe. He and his father, Baba, fled from the city of Kabul to Pakistan and then made their way to America in hope of a better life for Amir. "For me, America was a place to bury my memories. For Baba, it was a place to mourn his." The need for Amir to "become good again" is embedded in the idea of a physical for redemption of his dignity.

The assertion that Amir became who he is now 12 years ago could be seen to be true. This being as his past played such a large role in shaping him into he is now: a guilt ridden man with no way to make amends. This lack of an outlet for his guilt, becomes one of the most motivating factors for his character change towards the end of the novel. If he had not sought a way to deal with his shameful actions the negativity would have spread throughout his life. Adult Amir seems to have trouble dealing with these emotions. He does however manage to “become good again” through the adoption of Sohrab. In making right by Hassan’s son he was able to make peace with his own cowardice so many years ago.

Amir was a son of a reputed father and he gets to attain school and he gets to learn and experienced many things. For example, he gets to participate in the poetry recitation where he is much interested in and sports although it wasn’t his choice. Whereas, Hassan as a servant stayed home to do the household work. Hassan made Amir’s breakfast, cleaned his room and did all the household chores while Amie goes to school. Though Hassan desires to get the education but there wasn’t a chance given to him as a servant. Therefore, despite illiteracy he would passionately listen to what Amir would read for him. Additionally, Amir grows up as young child who longs for his father’s love and approval. He lives with inexplicable jealousy of Hassan. Whereas, Hassan grows up as a young child serving under Amir and respecting Amir’s order. Hassan is cheerful, loyal and loving. He always attempt to please and serve Amir. Moreover, Hassan wasn’t privileged like Amir as he had to undergo insult and defamation by other people around

Throughout the novel, Amir endeavors to be approved by his father, Baba, who is admired by people in Kabul. Unfortunately, Baba believes that Amir, unlike him, is very unmanly “and [that he] never fights back. He just... drops his head ” (Hosseini 24). Since Baba wishes for a son who would stand up for himself, he can’t help but observe that Amir’s friend Hassan, as the guy who “steps in and fends the [bullies] off” (Hosseini 24) is his idea of the ideal son. Though aware of his father’s expectations, Amir is unable to change himself and instead envies Hassan and the fact that Baba treats him like his own son by“[patting]Hassan on the back. [and even putting] his arm around his shoulder [like a fatherly figure]”(Hosseini 15). Despite the manifestation of this hatred in Amir, he continues to recognize the bond that he shares with Hassan, “ brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast” (Hosseini 11) which is because both their mothers died during birth. The confusing emotions he feels for Hassan has Amir face a situation in which he acts inappropriately and allows the guilt to manifest upon him. After winning a very important kite tournament for the first time and “seeing Baba on that roof, proud of [him] at last” (Hosseini 71) Amir begins to search for Hassan who had gone to run his kite earlier. Finally, Amir finds him in a dark alley and as he “peeks around the corner” (Hosseini 75) he witnesses a sight that eradicated not only his relationship with Hassan but also Baba’s brotherly relationship with Ali, Hassan’s father. Peeking through the corner of the alley, like a bystander, he watches his one and only friend getting raped. The guilt that came upon him was for two reason; one, his lack of courage to stand up to

First, Amir’s relationship with his father, Baba, helped create Amir’s identity. Their intricate relationship often left Amir feeling worthless as if he could not live up to the standards of a Pashtun. This negatively impacted Amir growing up; his values constantly changed as he tried to form a close bond with his father. Baba raised Amir to believe that everyone in Afghanistan had a certain role to play in life, but they should all be treated with respect. Baba’s values made Amir think he had disappointed his father. The high expectations that Baba had for Amir showed that he cared about their reputation. Being the child Amir was, he translated Baba’s hardness as though his father were unhappy to have a child such as Amir. Amir recounts the emotion displayed on his father’s face after an afternoon together; he laments, “Mostly I will never forget Baba’s valiant efforts to conceal the disgusted