Key Theme Of Redemption In The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner is the first novel of Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. It tells the story of Amir, a boy from Kabul, Afghanistan, whose closest friend is Hassan, a young Hazara servant. Novel turns around these two characters and Baba, Amir’s father, by telling their tragic stories, guilt and redemption that are woven throughout the novel. Even in the difficult moments, characters build up to their guilt and later on to their redemption. Their sins and faults alter the lives of innocent people. First, Amir and Baba fail to take action on the path to justice for Ali and Hassan. Moreover, Amir and Baba continue to build up their guilt due to their decisions and actions. Although Amir builds up more guilt than Baba throughout the novel, he eventually succeeds in the road to redemption unlike his father. After all, Amir and Baba have many chances to fix their atonements but Baba chooses not to and Amir does. Baba uses his wealth to cover up his sins but never atone himself while Amir decides to stand up and save Sohrab and finally finds peace. Amir and Baba’s reaction to sins essentially indicate their peace of mind and how they react to guilt and injustice.

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

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.

Amir's entire life had been haunted by what he saw happen to Hassan. Although he was a child at the time, he couldn't accept his shortcoming during a time of need. He was jealous of his father for being able to stand up for himself and others and Hassan's undying loyalty to him. He developed a pattern of behavior - of covering up his mistakes and hiding his past – that he could not rid himself of until he suffered like Hassan did. He made it up to Hassan by saving his son, and he made it up to himself by suffering the way he

19). Since Amir thought that he had killed his mother, he always believed that his father, Baba, hated him for it. Amir uses this perceived reason as explanation for why Baba stayed distant from him, and never addressed this issue, keeping the shame for something that he should not feel guilty for. Adding on, Amir also felt guilty for allowing Hassan to get attacked by Assef and not saving his best friend. After the attack occurred near the beginning of the book, Hosseini continuously mentions the event and how terrible Amir feels, even years after. This shame motivated Amir to go back to Afghanistan and find Hassan’s son, as well as bringing him back to America (Hosseini, 2003). Finally, Baba also had guilt to bear in the novel. Baba was Hassan’s biological father. “How had Baba brought himself to

Throughout the novel , Amir is plagued with guilt. He constantly thinks about his actions, is bothered by them but does not seem to know how to resolve the situation , how to stop the battle going within him, until Rahim Khan gives him a way, a way to be ‘good’ again. First we observe that Amir seems to be guilty as a child as he blamed himself for his mother’s death and believed it was the reason why Baba never truly loved him, he also was ashamed and unsatisfied with himself because he wasn’t strong and masculine like his father. : “ I always felt like

Guilt has the incredible power to change an individual’s perspective and affect them for the rest of their life. The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, is a world-renowned novel published in 2003 that tells the story of a young boy named Amir who grows up with the guilt of having failed to fight the group of boys who raped his closest friend. One of the main themes Hosseini emphasizes in the novel, is the powerful affect of guilt on one’s self. Different characters such as Amir, Sanubar and Baba use the guilt that exists in every one of them as a motive to their actions to further develop the plot. Amir, the narrator of the novel, witnesses his closest friend, Hassan, get bullied by an older boy named Aseef and decides not to

The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini is a novel with multitudes of themes but the theme most integral to the story concerns friendship, guilt, and redemption. This theme was most important to the novel because the conflict in the book is intertwined with this theme, following the life of a man haunted by regrets. The book is told from the perspective of Amir and this is something he deals with for the entirety of the book after the incident with Hassan. Amir, even as a middle-aged man, is still haunted by what he hadn’t done for Hassan all those years ago. Amir’s entire life takes a certain path because of what he did or didn’t do during and after Hassan’s assault. Amir’s decision affected not only himself, but also Hassan. Their lives forever changed. Amir and Hassan were each other’s best friends and they grew together like brothers, though they didn’t know at the time. Amir feels as though he broke the sacred bond they had and he decided to make it right by finding Sohrab. This is the last thing he can do for Hassan. He cannot tell him he is sorry anymore. He doesn’t have any other paths of redemption.

Finding redemption is often the only way many people can escape the demons of their past. Actions have consequences and those consequences haunt people for the duration of their lives. Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, presents seeking redemption throughout his novel by sharing the breathtaking story of Amir, a Sunni boy who struggles to forget his guilt­ridden past. Despite his greatest efforts, Amir finds it impossible to bury his past, so he returns to his home Kabul, Afghanistan to redeem himself of his wrong doings. By incorporating

Amir and Baba eventually leave Afghanistan as well, forced out by the Russian invasion of their beloved country. Everything he does at this point proves that he truly loves Amir; he sacrifices his wealth, business, and life to bring Amir to the safety of the United States. In response to this new country, filled with new people and languages, Amir and Baba’s relationship drastically transforms. Before, Baba was all powerful and knowledgeable, but now, Amir guides his father in the American way. Nowhere is this more evident than when Baba vandalizes the Nguyen’s store after they ask

At first, Amir does not seek to earn redemption. We know that he is ashamed at what he has done but he prefers to hide his guilt rather than confess and redeem himself right away. After the incident, Amir attempted to avoid Hassan at all costs. Even when Hassan approached him to see if he wanted to go for a walk, like they used to do frequently, Amir refused to go with him and told him to go away (88). He knew that he didn't deserve his friends unwavering love and loyalty.

In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini tells a notable coming-of-age story portraying the actions and thoughts of Amir, a penitent adult living in the United States and his reminiscence of his affluent childhood in the unstable political environment of Afghanistan. Throughout the novel Khaled Hosseini uses character description to display his thoughts on sin and redemption.

One triumphant day, Amir won the local kite fighting tournament and finally earned Baba’s praise. Hassan ran to retrieve the losing kite, which was considered a trophy, and told Amir “For you, a thousand times over”. When Hassan finally obtained the kite, he was cornered by Assef and his friends. Assef was the neighborhood bully and had tortured Amir and Hassan for years. When Hassan refused to give up the kite, Assef beat and raped him. Amir watched the whole thing but didn’t interfe because he didn’t want to lose the respect of his father. The guilt ate Amir alive. “That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.” Soon after the incident, Amir tried to distance himself from Hassan and Hassan and his father eventually leave. A couple years later, Amir and Baba flee to America to escape the war in Afghanistan. Amir graduates and gets married but even after all those years;

Hosseini conveys the turning point when Amir gets on the right path to learning and understanding the true nature of sacrifice by attempting to redeem himself. Amir plants money and his new watch that he got for his birthday under Hassan's bed to make it look like Hassan stole it. Baba brings Ali, Hassan and Amir together and Amir explains that “They’d both been crying; [He] could tell from their red, puffed-up eyes...they stood before Baba, hand in hand, and [he] wondered how and when [he’d] become capable of causing this kind of pain” (105). Hosseini uses this scene to demonstrate the true colors of Amir that he is a liar. This scene also highlights the loyalty that Hassan has towards Amir and his family and but it is not the same from Amir to Hassan. This illuminates Hassan’s loyalty most more than other scenes because as you can tell Baba and Ali were very surprised about what (they thought) Hassan had done because nothing like this has ever happened before. This explains one of the many sins that Amir has and reveals the lying and

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini tells the coming of age story of the main character Amir. Throughout the novel, many themes are apparent as Amir gets older and deals with the events of his past. One of the main themes is regardless of any action there is always a way to redeem yourself. There are many examples of this theme in The Kite Runner, like when Rahim Khan tells Amir that he can redeem himself, another would be when Assef beats up/hurts Amir but he feels healed, finally were Amir is flying a kite with Sohrab and he smiles. The theme of redemption is present throughout the events of the novel.