“Hassan lugged his mattress, rolled tightly and tied with a rope, on his back…If this were one of the Hindi movies Hassan and I used to watch, this was the part where I’d run outside, my bare feet splashing rainwater. I’d chase the car, screaming for it to stop. I’d pull Hassan out of the backseat and tell him I was sorry, my tears mixing with rainwater. We’d hug in the downpour. But this was no Hindi movie. I was sorry, but I didn’t cry and I didn’t chase the car.” (Hosseini, The Kite Runner, pg 108)
This moment hit me really hard and I wasn’t sure if I felt more angry or more sad the first time I read it. I was angry, mainly at Amir, for not telling someone about what happened to Hassan, then not apologizing to him afterwards. It made me even sadder when it was revealed that Hassan actually knew that Amir was there during the rape, and did nothing. I felt so bad for Hassan because the person that he trusted the most didn’t even help him when he really needed it. It felt
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I reacted very strongly to this moment, and that reaction was mainly made up of anger. Words could not express how angry I was. I honestly had to take a break after reading it. I ended up throwing the book across the room, and in that moment, I felt a little like Amir. I thought that Rahim Khan was a very decent, likeable character, but after finding out that he hid this secret, along with Baba, from Amir and Hassan, I definitely changed my mind about him.
This moment was very important because it was such a huge revelation. During this moment, it was Amir that felt betrayed. This was such a key event in the plot because it unlocked so many things about some of the main characters. It was another turning point in the novel because it kick-started Amir’s journey of redemption. The fact that Hassan also did not know also impacted Amir, especially after finding out that Hassan died, which means he’ll never
Something that extremely irritated and disturbed me in chapters 6 through 9 was how Amir had the audacity (when he was a child) to treat Hassan incompetently, not considering him as a friend, nor entitling him as one verbally to others. He never stood up for Hassan and never has. He admitted that he "always envied his natural athleticism" (Hosseini 53). Amir just wants to be acknowledge by Baba, but he knows he never will because he isnt the athletic nor strong-minded son his father wanted, however Hassan was. Its so insulting of Amir to say "I had been mean to Hassan [and] almost apologized, then didn't" (Hosseini 60). It just goes to show that even though he felt guilty he didn't let Hassan be aware of it. This scene portrays how insecure
When Amir learns this secret he feels betrayed and angry. This was kept from him in all his childhood and now he is only finding out as an adult.“How could you hide this from me from him”(pg235)(Hosseini). This quote proves betrayal because it shows how Rahim Khan kept a secret and a big part of Amir’s life from him. For Rahim Khan to keep this from Amir is wrong and he was keeping Amir’s right to knowing this secret about him. Amir learns this secret and furious yelling at Rahim Khan and throwing things and finally he storms out of Rahim Khan’s apartment.“I’m 38 years old and just found out my whole life one big lie”(pg235)(Hosseini). This quote proves betrayal because Amir has been lied to by having this secret kept from him for 38 years by Rahim Khan and Baba. To lie to someone for that long is wrong and Rahim Khan did was very wrong especially since he was a father figure to Amir and his closest friend as a child. This is another example of betrayal in the Kite
Amir lets his best friend Hassan get raped by Assef. This will cause Amir guilt that makes him feel anguish. Amirs mindset before his turning point made him a bystander in the situation. Hassan ran to get the kite that Amir cut down in the annual kite tournament. Drastically
In the novel, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the author takes the reader into the fictional world of Amir and Hassan, two best friends who face the untold realities of their childhood as they struggle to cope with guilt and heartbreaking losses. The story is told from the perspective of Amir, a Pashtun who grows up in a privileged society and lives with his father, Baba and his best friend and Hazara servant, Hassan. One of the major turning points in the story occurs when Amir leaves Hassan to be raped by a bully, ruining their relationship for the rest of his life. While dealing with the guilt of betraying Hassan, who he later learns is his half-brother, Amir learns shocking truths about his father that alter his perspective of Baba
The novel Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a story full of love, friendship, and brotherhood, however, on the other hand, it is also full of betrayal, lies, and secrets. Within all of these themes are two young Afghan boys, Amir and Hassan, who each have contrasting backgrounds which in turn causes them to ultimately have a unique relationship. Amir, on the one hand, has everything he could ever want as a young boy, but he doesn’t have the one thing that Hassan has, which is his father’s love. Amir is ultimately jealous of Hassan because of this, and his actions because of his jealousy changes both of their lives.
Amir cannot stand to look at Hassan and seeing the lamb-like eyes, so to make himself feel better about the situation, he frames Hassan. Amir is upset that Baba forgives Hassan but it is ironic because he is the one doing the sinful act and yet again it is Hassan who is saving and protecting Amir. These unfaithful acts are not in fact an act of selflessness but and an act of selfishness. Everything Amir is doing is for himself. He only cares about his own feelings but never is he putting himself in others people’s
The kite runner is best described as a story of despair in happiness. Walter Savage Landor once said “we are no longer happy as soon as we wish to be happier." Being in despair means ‘to be without hope’ and even thought hope can be a bad thing sometimes hope is all we have. People with cancer hope to survive it and beat the cancer, I hope to pass my classes this year and Amir hopes to impress his father, and later on in life to save the little boy ( Hassan's son ). Too much happiness tends to put people in despair.
When you do something wrong and you know you shouldn't have done it you feel guilty, right ? Well so does Amir, at least his own kind of guilt. Amir watched Hassan get raped and did nothing to stop it. The summer following Hassans painful misfortune, Amir and Hassan spend less and less time together they don’t play outside as much they had before, so when Amir asked Hassan,
While Amir is lying in the dark, with nothing but his own thoughts, he feels that his guilt is taking over his life. He realizes that he is going to get away with his betrayal and yet he feels terrible. He decides that the only way he is going to live with his remorse is to ignore Hassan, blot him out, so he does not have to think about his sin. Amir’s guilt is so great that he cannot bear to have Hassan under the same roof, so he commits another sin. He lies to his father and accuses Hassan of stealing. “…I took a couple of the envelopes of cash from the pile of gifts and my watch, and tiptoed out…I lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it…I knocked on Baba’s door and told what I hoped would be the last in a long
A fear of empathy dictates one’s ability to achieve true redemption. This is proven many times throughout the novel, “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. The character of Amir often struggles to allow people to both feel for him and to allow himself to feel for others. While the characters Hassan shares similar problems, they have different causations and solution. They both fear experiencing empathy in the beginning, effectively hindering their ability to progress appropriately. However, while Hassan is eventually able to accept his and other people’s feeling of empathy, Amir continues to fight against them, letting his fear control his life. This is shown when Amir fights against a relationship with both Baba and Hassan, while Hassan
It affected Amir because he had a high regard on their relationship. “ A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man that can’t stand up to anything “ . This quote foreshadows how Amir would not stand up neither for himself nor for other people such as Hassan. Indeed Amir have made several mistakes , for instance when he was spectator of his half brother getting sexually assaulted but did not try to rescue him . Amir did not act well but from another perspective he benefited from his bad actions to change into a better person, he learned how to be patient and how to catch up for bad sins. Thereupon, personality can not be toughen without adversities , they made Amir the person that he became, a man who stood up for his dad and who sought the best for Sohrab .
Secrets impact people in different ways, especially if they get told. All of Amir’s childhood was spent with his best friend and servant, Hassan. But what was kept secret for a majority of Amir’s life, was that Hassan was his half brother. On page 222, Hosseini explains, “‘Ali was sterile,’ Rahim Khan said. ‘No he wasn’t. He and Sanaubar had Hassan, didn’t they? They has Hassan--’ ‘No the didn’t,’ Rahim Khan said… ‘I think you know who--’” Amir felt an anger he hadn’t felt before. They betrayal from his own father. After Rahim told Amir that Hassan was his half brother Amir felt this guilt inside him that he couldn’t handle. He pictured Hassan’s face, in the ally, helpless, as he watched from the shadows because while Hassan was his friend, his superego wouldn’t allow for him to stand up for Hassan. Amir as a child always knew Hassan as his servant and
In Amir's desperate attempt to get out from under feelings of crushing guilt, he planted his birthday present of a watch and some money under Hassan's mattress and told Baba. "I knocked on Baba's door and told what I hoped would be the last in a long line of shameful lies." (pg.104) But when Hassan replied "yes" to stealing, Amir "flinched, like I'd been slapped. My heart sank and I almost blurted out the truth. Then I understood: This was Hassan's final sacrifice for me." (pg. 105) Amir said he loved Hassan in that moment, more than he ever loved anyone but he didn't tell the truth. He remained silent hoping that the stealing would get them fired and he could "move on, forget, start with a clean slate...be able to breathe again." (pg. 106) However, Baba forgave Hassan for stealing, to Amir's complete shock, but Ali insisted they leave anyway and that broke Baba's heart.
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
Regardless of whether or not betrayal is intentional, it creates feelings of pain and hurt between people. Amir gives a perfect example of this when he flees the scene of Hassan’s rape. Hassan has been nothing but loyal to Amir up to this point in the novel and it is reasonable to believe Amir would return his loyalty. Right before Amir runs away, readers get a glance into his thought process when he thinks to himself, “I had one last chance to make a decision...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. Or I could run. In the end, I ran” (Hosseini 77). Amir turns his back on Hassan despite the fact that Hassan has done everything for Amir, even saying he would eat dirt if Amir asks him too (54). Amir might not have wanted to betray Hassan, but he knew he had more to lose if he stayed and helped rather than if he just returned home and said nothing. Although intervening