Examples Of Forgiveness In The Kite Runner

Amir’s struggles, on the other hand, are of an inherently different nature from John’s in that they are internal and Amir is more directly responsible for the cause of his alienation. Amir, having witnessed the rape of his childhood best friend and servant Hassan at a young age, failing to help him, and not telling anyone about it, bears the weight of his sins throughout a large portion of his childhood and adult life. Amir struggles greatly with what he has done in the weeks and months after the rape, leading him to emotionally and physically harm Hassan even more than he has already been

He saw his half-brother, his best friend, his servant being raped by another boy his age. To anyone, this would be a dramatic event in their life. When Amir saw what was happening, he didn’t do anything; he didn’t know what he could do to help his best friend. He felt guilt, selfishness, and unhappiness in the years to come. It takes him until the age of 40 to finally tell someone what he saw and what happened that

Amir regrets that he abandoned Hassan when he was attacked, and he lives with the unbearable sin. As Assef attacks Hassan, Amir realizes that he could stand up for his friend or run as a coward:

Hosseini shows that it is Amirs immense guilt that drives him to want to make things right and to earn redemption. We learn the basis Amir's guilt through his memories. It is caused by a lack of response at a time when his loyal servant and close friend Hassan is in trouble. Amir makes a conscious decision to hide in the distance and just watch, not because he was afraid. He sacrifices Hassan in order to earn his fathers attention and affection. This decision results in Hassan suffering though a traumatic experience and is the root of Amir's lasting regret.

Life is full of regrets. Any person will tell you that sometime or another they had some sort of regret in their life. The magnitude of these regrets varies in each and every person. In the novel, The Kite Runner, the protagonist, Amir, betrays his true best friend by not standing up for him in his friend’s time of need. Amir’s lack of courage left a massive hole of guilt and sorrow. From this, Amir spends many years of his life avoiding the truth of him being a coward. However, he finds inspiration to finally muster courage within himself and earn his redemption. Amir sacrifices many things on his journey towards redemption. He sacrifices his best friend, dear father, and bravery just to cling on to the miniscule

Arguably one of the most important acts one can do to improve themselves is an act of redemption. In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a young boy, Amir, living in Afghanistan spends his life attempting to run away and eventually redeeming himself from his selfishness as a child. Not only is his story focused around redemption but the majority of the other characters as well, including his wife Soraya, proving throughout the novel that one's sins do not define who they are for the rest of their lives.

Rather than telling her “no” or telling her of his own poor choices he tells her, “a little” (144). Soraya’s parents are so relieved when Amir marries Soraya because they thought she would never have a suitor. They may not have been so glad had they known of Amir's past; the way he sacrificed Hassan. Soraya and her family believe that Amir is a good man when he is in reality the opposite. It is far from likely that Soraya's parents would have been nearly as enthusiastic had they known of Amir's true cowardice. In leaving his guilt behind in Afghanistan he has learned to play the role of a perfect man with impeccable verisimilitude. Amir has yet again orchestrated irony through his deceit.

It is only natural for humans to make mistakes, just like Amir in the novel The Kite Runner, but it is how the mistakes are resolved that will dictate ones fate. The main character of The Kite Runner, Amir, knows a thing or two about making mistakes. What he struggles with throughout the novel is finding redemption for those mistakes. Throughout all stages of Amir’s life, he is striving for redemption. Whether Amir is saying the wrong thing or hiding from a hurtful truth, he always finds new things he will have to redeem himself for. That is why redemption is a huge underlining theme in The Kite Runner.

The most major point of redemption showed in the story is when Amir goes to Afghanistan to get Hassan’s son, Sohrab. By getting Sohrab from Afghanistan, Amir feels that this will help make up for Amir’s cowardice. Amir watched Hassan get raped after a kite tournament and was too scared to help him. Throughout the journey to Afghanistan, Amir tries his best not to be a coward. This results in taking Sohrab from his former enemy, and

“Amir does not know how to handle his feelings of betrayal after Hassan’s rape”. Initially, he was trying to avoid him, but seeing him consistently has become a persistent reminder of his greedy act. But since Hassan is part of the family, there is little he can do” in avoiding him, so many times he feels Hassan can punish him so that at least he can be reconciled with him”. Hassan, on the other hand, did not take up his act of betrayal but still showed him his unconditional love, which makes him stronger.

“Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you.” - Sarah Dessen. The Kite Runner is a beautifully written novel which, at the same time, celebrates culture and frames tragedy in a way that is captivating, yet undoubtedly organic and real. This is not a book for those who seek the classic “happily ever after”. Throughout the novel lies numerous stories of individuals searching for redemption; never does it let on though, that by finding redemption the past is forgiven. Further, the theme of the novel is constant: Redemption is not easily won. The film based on the novel attempts to mirror this theme, but much of this tumultuous journey ends up lost in translation.

To Hassan, Amir’s happiness was more important than his own life. Whenever Amir was in trouble, Hassan would always defend him no matter the circumstances. The right of friendship was stolen from Hassan a number of times. Amir gave Hassan countless reasons to hate him, but Hassan always gave him the benefit of the doubt. Amir was Hassan’s whole world. “This was Hassan’s final sacrifice for me…Hassan knew. He knew I’d seen everything in that alley, that I’d stood there and done nothing. He knows I had betrayed him and yet he was resting me once again, maybe for the last time” (Hosseini 105). Even after Amir had wronged Hassan, Hassan still forgave him. While Hassan’s motivation to not betray Amir was love and friendship, the consequences of not betraying Amir were good in some ways, but they also cost him his own life. Amir was successfully able to pass down his knowledge to his son, Sohrab. After being abused by the Taliban, Sohrab had little hope for safety. When Amir showed up, he gave him the benefit of the doubt just like his father had years before. The ramification of Hassan not betraying Amir all of those times earlier, led to Sohrab saving Amir’s life. Hassan was able to live through his son, in so many ways. Sohrab would be the key component in Amir atoning for his

Right after the Hassan’s rape, Amir cannot confront Hassan due to his inability to save him: “I didn’t speak to Hassan until the middle of the next week” (Hosseini 86). It is absolutely not Amir’s fault that Hassan was raped, however it is Amir’s fault that he is ignorant to rectify the situation by judging what is right or wrong. His sense of responsibility towards his action is where guilt comes from, and it is inevitable to remain ignorant from it. Even after years moving to America, he feels hesitant whenever people mention about Hassan. Baba mentions about Hassan that he wants to share the happiness and Amir’s growth with Hassan in the United States: “I wish Hassan had been with us today” (Hosseini 131). Amir’s reaction shows how remorseful he still is, as he claims that guilt is harming him: “A pair of steel hands closed around my windpipe at the sound of Hassan’s name”(Hosseini 134). The steel hands represent the stiffness of his guilt suffocating himself every second, and whenever people brings up topic about Hassan, his guilty conscience suffocates him. Likewise, Amir is not completely feeling free about Hassan even though he is miles away from him. Lastly, he is too late to learn from mistakes when he is told that Hassan passed away, thus he adopts Hassan’s son, Sohrab. Sohrab serves a huge role in this

“Self redemption is the first step to exoneration from guilt”-Dennis E. Adonis. The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini is about a young boy named Amir who is faced with either choosing to help his “servant” that he grew up with named Hassan or to sacrifice him in order to help himself and how the guilt of his decision to run affects him for the rest of his life, until he chooses to repent for what he did a few decades later when he’s in his late thirties. Not only that but his realization over time of the similarities between his father and himself and how most people have some kind of secret or regret about the decisions they made at one point in their life. The central message that Hosseini was trying to get across while writing The Kite Runner is the choice to pursue redemption is an outcome of guilt. For Assef a character in this novel he’s did appalling deeds at this point in his life and he is not looking for redemption because he feels no guilt for the victims. As for other characters in the book like Baba and Amir they did try to pursue redemption from the sins each one did, for Baba he wasn’t successful to have truly redeem himself, as for Amir his decision to help and adopt Sohrab was the turning point of his path of redemption.

As children, people are taught that actions have consequences, good and bad. One of these consequences can be guilt or remorse, the self-imposed punishment for bad behavior. Whether it be after calling a person an unkind name or upsetting someone else, guilt affects people from a very young age. Guilt possesses the power to shape the type of person someone is and is the leading force behind redemption. Many of the characters within the novel The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini are affected by the power that guilt has. The novel focuses on guilt as one of its main ideas, the value becoming the driving force behind many of the actions that characters take and shows the tremendous power that guilt has. Over the course of the novel, guilt remains a main value for many of the characters and affects how the characters and conflicts of the characters develop. The characters Sanaubar, Amir, and Baba in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner demonstrate guilt’s extraordinary power to change the course of someone’s life and push them towards redemption.