In the book, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Amir is a wealthy boy who lives in Afghanistan. He develops a relationship with the servant’s son, Hassan. One day, they both experience a traumatic event which changes their lives. At the beginning of the story, Amir’s envy for Hassan got in the way of Amir understanding the meaning of brotherhood. As he entered adulthood, Amir gained an understanding of family and relationships because of his newfound relationship with Sohrab. As young boys, Hassan and Amir would do everything together. However, Amir had always been the envious one and Hassan, the loyal one. As they grew older, Amir grew more and more envious of Hassan. Hassan would always receive Baba’s attention, which was Amir’s greatest desire. Amir’s need for Baba to see him as a good son led Amir to frame Hassan by hiding his own birthday gifts under Hassan’s bed. Amir says “Glad that this would all be over with soon. Baba would dismiss them, there would be some pain, but life would move on. I wanted that, to move on, …show more content…
To overcome this, Amir went on a quest to save Hassan’s son, Sohrab. In doing so, Amir now had more appreciation for family, He truly believed in his heart that these are people who are loyal to you and always have your back. Amir was trying to find Hassan's son in Kabul, when he came across an old foe, Assef, who had Sohrab. Assef challenged Amir, saying whoever won the fight would gain control of Sohrab. Amir agreed because he wanted to prove his loyalty to Hassan, by not giving up on Sohrab. Amir says, “My body was broken - just how badly I wouldn't find out until later - but I felt healed, Healed at last.” (Hosseini 289). During the fight, Assef has Amir pinned down and was about to kill him, however, Sohrab saved his life by using his father’s slingshot to attack Assef. After facing his biggest fear, Assef felt that he had redeemed
Amir has a conflicting relationship with Hassan not only because he is always in a position of servitude towards Amir, as a Hazara and as his station, but because of his breeding (when Amir thought his father was Ali.) However, Amir does not understand why his Baba still treats Hassan the way he
Both Hassan and Sohrab have gone through abuse at the hands of Assef, but Amir ends this cycle of abuse by rescuing Sohrab when he returns to Kabul. This shows how Amir has become nobler and made the decision to do what he feels as morally correct. When he was 12, he witnessed Hassan get raped by Assef in the alleyway and he did nothing to help Hassan. He tried
Hassan is considerably Amir’s sidekick, but he is also Amir and Baba’s servant. Amir is completely discourteous towards Hassan, and Amir is notorious to take advantage of him throughout the novel. Subsequently, following Hassan’s death, Amir discovers himself and Hassan are brothers, but as for Hassan it is too late. Regardless Hassan seeming benevolent, the story is completely being told
Sohrab has been taken by the Taliban, so Amir must fight for him. During the incident with Hassan, “I [Amir] ran because I was a coward. I was afraid of what Assef would do to me” (77). Because Amir’s guilt stems from his cowardice, overcoming his fear of confrontation and physical harm allows him to resolve his feelings of culpability. This can be observed when Amir suffers injuries during his fight with Assef, the Talib who imprisoned Sohrab.
While Amir defeats his final obstacle to win Baba’s approval, he reciprocally falls down and fails to show courage in Hassan’s rape. Amir assumes that Hassan “was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” as he watches Assef sodomize Hassan, and he “actually aspired to cowardice” (77). The atonement of Amir’s sins to Baba sparks the commencement of Amir’s betrayal to Hassan. Furthermore, Amir runs away and hides from his sins in Amerca knowing that he cannot gain the courage to redeem himself and completely fulfill his quest to adulthood. Nonetheless, Rahim Khan provides Amir an opportunity to accomplish his redemption. After decades of hiding, Rahim Khan calls Amir to tell him to “come” back to Kabul since “there is a way to be good again” (192). Amir must successfully accomplish his final obligation to complete his quest to maturity. In addition, Amir must stop hiding like a boy and begin to stand up like a man. As Amir returns to Kabul to save Sohrab, and ultimately redeem himself, he must fight Assef one last time, which results in Amir’s “body being broken – just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later – but I felt healed. Healed at last” (289). Amir now receives his deserved punishment and, most importantly, he learns to stand up and finally matures into a man. Although Amir completes his quest to adulthood, readers must realize that Amir must ultimately grant Sohrab a
He learns a lesson about how lying contributes to guilt and how being honest makes him a better person. Amir continues on his quest for redemption as he goes to the Talib’s home, where Sohrab was taken. Although Amir is terrified, he is willing to put himself in danger to save a boy, unlike years prior when he did not save Hassan. He continues to show growth after discovering that the Talib who has Sohrab is Assef. At this time in his life, he stands up to him and does what he should have done years prior when Assef assaulted Hassan.
In a matter of just a few months, the relationship between the two boys had disappeared. They were never the same two people after that day. Amir feels like he has lost his morals, fathers trust and everything in his life has just crumbled to the ground. Amir’s birthday has passed and he has been gifted a watch and some money. Amir had chosen to plant the birthday gifts he received under Hassan’s mattress and frames him for theft.
Honesty and respect are among many qualities that deep relationships carry, especially loyalty. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, he uses two young boys to convey his theme, “loyalty is not freely given, it is learned.” This theme is portrayed as Hosseini uses examples of devotion from his character, Hassan, to teach Amir what defines loyalty. While these two boys grow up together and form a friendship, a life-changing event splits them apart, only to take Amir twenty-six years to discover the truth of their past, their fathers, and their lives.
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.
Amir may have been portrayed as a morally lacking character through his youth but while he was in the room with Assef he seemed like a hero, “We have some unfinished business, you and I...All right I said”(286). Assef told Amir the only way he would get the boy is if they fought, Assef had even said to his men that there would only be one person coming out of the room and Amir accepted this for Sohrab. The fact that Amir knows he could die or that he might have to kill Assef is evidence for how much he has changed for the better since his youth. After Amir brings Sohrab back to the U.S Sohrab behavior changes and he becomes a mute. Amir tries really hard to make him happy and talkative but all his tries fail, until Amir flies a kite with him, “I looked down at Sohrab. One corner of his mouth had curled up just so. A smile.”(370).
No matter what, Hassan bravely stands up for Amir. However, when the roles are reversed, Amir cannot do the same due to Hassan’s social class lurking in Amir’s mind. When Assef started to harass Hassan while simultaneously trying to evoke a response in Amir, it almost gets Amir to look beyond Hassan's social class. “Assef narrowed his eyes. Shook his head. When he spoke again, he sounded as baffled as he looked. ‘How can you call him your ‘friend?’’ But he is not my friend...he’s my servant!” (41) Amir thought, showcasing the opinion he created about Hassan. Working for Baba and Amir as servants, Hassan and his father are put below their bosses on the social hierarchy.
The Kite Runner is a historical fiction novel written by Afghan author Khaled Hosseini. The book follows the life of Amir, a Pashtun boy, as he grows up and faces the ever-expanding power of the Taliban in his birthplace. Amir struggles to find his place in society and to develop his relationship with his Hazara servant, Hassan. Throughout this, a fundamentalist group called the Taliban is furthering the crevasse between the two main religious groups- the Pashtun and the Hazara. Together, all of these varying forces instigate Amir's moral code, will, and friendship. The novel's bildungsroman theme is enhanced by the development of brotherhood between Amir and Hassan and it's changes throughout their lives.
Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is a remarkable coming-of-age novel describing and revealing the thoughts and actions of Amir, a compunctious adult in the United States and his memories of his affluent childhood in the unstable political environment of Afghanistan. The novel showcases the simplistic yet powerful ability of guilt to influence decisions and cause conflict which arises between Amir’s childhood friend and half-brother, Hassan; Amir’s father, Baba; and importantly, himself. Difference in class The quest to become “good again” causes a reflection in Amir to atone for his sins and transform into the person of which he chooses to be.
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
Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, depicts the conflicting life of Amir, a young boy who lives in Kabul, Afghanistan. His life becomes complicated at age twelve when he witnessed his best friend and Hazara servant, Hassan, get raped and abused. Amir just idoly stood by but was he feeling helpless, or was Hassan just a servant that meant nothing to him. This is when the question of good and evil comes out. While Amir shows significantly redeemable qualities throughout the book of doing, it does not change that he was toying with the fact that he let such a vial ast be committed in the first place. Later Amir finds out that Hassan was his brother and he tries desperately to do whatever he can to do good things in Hassan's name like adopt