Throughout generations, fathers have played an important role in their children’s life; specifically their son’s. A son may learn many life lessons from their father figures, such as morals and how to confront difficult situations. In the novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the main character Amir, does not seem to inherit the same morals and common sense as his father, Baba. Both Baba and Amir have sinned a plethora of times, but their individual sins and how they dealt with the guilt, differs greatly. This perspective proves that although a father and son may share the same DNA, they do not always think or react in the same manner. 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. “In the end, I ran” Amir said as he just witnessed the most horrifying incident of his life,
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
As father and son, Baba and Amir have some similarities, but they are both very different people.
Amir resents his choice to be a coward when Hassan is raped. His guilt is immediate and it gnaws at him. A few days after Hassan was assaulted, Amir already feels guilt and resentment inside him. “’I [Amir]
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
Baba sacrificed his own soul in order to keep the people he loved safe. He committed the only sin that he believed in, “and that is theft” (17). He hid his affair and having a second son, not for his reputation’s sake, but to keep everyone around him safe. He stole Amir and Hassan of a true brotherhood, but
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
Why do you guys think Baba forgave Hassan for stealing? Doesn’t he consider stealing as a sin? So might that be the case? It shows us that Baba really cares about Ali and Hassan because he is able of forgiving them even though there is actually nothing to forgive. He is willing to take them back even though they supposedly sold from him.
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.
America was definitely different than what Amir and Baba were used to. Baba and Amir were at the top of the social status pyramid because of their abundant wealth. Their house was very large and they had servants to take care of them daily. When Baba and Amir moved to America, their eyes were opened to a see that people were even more wealthy than they were in Afghanistan. This makes it ironic that in America there are “homes that made Baba’s house in Wazir Akbar Khan look like a servant’s hut.” Baba’s home in Afghanistan was known as one of the best in Kabul, but when Baba and Amir moved to America they were no longer living like kings. The two men did not expect their once lavish home in Afghanistan to be able to be compared to what their
From reading chapters one to four, one of the main aspects of Amir and Hassan’s relationship is the sense of control Amir has over Hassan. It becomes apparent that Amir is the one with the most authority in their friendship when he ‘talked’ Hassan into firing walnuts at the neighbour’s one-eyed German shepherd, ‘Hassan never wanted to, but if I asked, really asked, he wouldn’t deny me’. This highlights the way Hassan looks up to Amir and obeys him due to their religious, cultural and social differences, ‘I was a Sunni and he was a Shi’a’. Nevertheless, Amir does express his sensitive side towards Hassan and feels protective over him, especially when he can see he’s upset, ‘I reached across my seat, slung my
Yet, there are certain points in the novel where Baba provides his perspective on life to Amir, demonstrating compassionate, father-like qualities. This is highlighted when Baba states “There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft… When you kill a man, you steal a life…You steal his wife’s right to her husband, his children’s right to a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth (19-20). Baba educates Amir about the principles in which he values you to be true about sins. Yet, this is ironic because Baba proves to be a thief himself, which expresses more instances of alienation in Amir’s childhood existence. Baba shows to be hypocritical when he deprives Amir the right to have a father figure. This drives the conflict of the novel. He gives the impression how it is a sin to steal the right to someone. Although not recognizable at first, he clearly goes against his beliefs when analyzed. His disloyalty adds on to alienating Amir. This is because later on in the novel, Amir himself comprehends that Baba was truly a thief. This is expressed when Amir notes, “And now, fifteen years after I'd buried him, I was learning that Baba had been a thief. And a thief of the worst kind, because the things he'd stolen had been sacred” (225).
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.
Here in this essay I will discuss the complex relationship between father and son to demonstrate the need for a father figure in the novel "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. The relationship between a parent and a child is a precious and haunted bond, but is not always a love relationship, but a relationship is full of pain and longing. The relationships clearly demonstrate this need for a father figure are those between Baba and Amir, and Amir and Sohrab.
Father son relationships are different in every situation. A fathers influence is a crucial part of the child’s development. Some get along tremendously. Others can be burdensome and challenging. In the novel The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini a fathers influence on his child is shown numerous times. A fathers job is to mold his son into a true man who will go on in life to be respected. In the novel, Baba and Amir and Ali and Hassan are the two preeminent father son relationships shown. The two relationships show how a fathers influence is important. The two relationships may have seemed similar throughout the novel but there evident differences.
From generation to generation, the constant struggle for males to live up to the expectations of their fathers often affects the choices made and actions taken by the sons. Perhaps, the overbearing testosterone levels claim responsibility for the apparent need for sons to impress their fathers, but not all boys consider the realistic consequences of their decisions. In Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner, young Amir's admiration for his father Baba, coupled with the constant tension in their relationship obscures his mind from making clear decisions as he strives to obtain his father's love and approval.