Kite Runner Character Analysis

Amir questions his relationship with Hassan and says, “I was a Pashtun and he was a Hazara, I was Sunni and he was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that” (Hosseini 25). This is the first occurrence in the novel of Amir acknowledging that him and Hassan are different. Amir is superior to Hassan in the eyes of Afghani culture. Later Amir almost says to Assef, “But he’s not my friend! I almost blurted. He’s my servant!” (Hosseini 41). Amir later questions what he says, and does not understand what he really thinks Hassan is to him. Another example of Amir realizing his superiority is when he was not not beaten by a teacher like the other students. Amir says, “But my father was rich and everyone knew him, so I was spared the metal rod treatment” (Hosseini 90). Amir recognizes his father’s wealth and realizes he receives special treatment because of it. This thought of being superior is inevitably capable of being installed in a child’s brain that they are above others and deserve special

The novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, focuses on one main character, Amir. Throughout the entire book, Amir progresses as a character and shows that while he may have done things in the past that he regrets, he will do anything to get redemption for his sins. Over the course of the novel, Amir develops drastically as a person. Yet there are a few characters, specifically Assef and Hassan, who show no progression and stay static characters for the entirety of the book. Their lack of development makes it harder for the reader to relate to events in the book. In real life, people are constantly changing to adapt to the twists and turns of life. It would be logical for Hassan and Assef to progress and change as characters, but they

Once back in Kabul, Amir takes steps he would never have imagined, which truly define his character. On his venture back to Afghanistan he learns the truth about Hassan’s connection with Baba. After hearing this Amir feels robbed of the truth and is angry at how his own father could hold this back from him. Despite his feelings, Amir realizes he must not only pay for his betrayal of Hassan but for Baba’s betrayal of Ali too. Amir knows he must face his fears and he understands this when he reveals, “I remembered Baba saying that my problem was that someone had always done my fighting for me" (Hosseini 239). Following this he undertakes a personal mission to find Sohrab and finds the courage to stand up to the Taliban, nearly dying in the process. During his quest Amir comes face to face with the disturbing Assef and fights him for Sorab, the ultimate sacrifice for his dead half-brother. While he is beaten he begins to laugh, which angers Assef even more. Amir explains that, “What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace" (Hosseini 303). After successfully bringing Sohrab back to California, Amir defends his Hazara nephew when General Taheri insults him. Over the dinner

Whenever Amir does something bad he feels guilty and needs to make up for it. One of the most prominent examples of this, in the book, is the scene where Amir and Hassan are at the pomegranate tree. “I hit him with another pomegranate, in the shoulder this time. The juice splattered on his face. ‘Hit me back!’ I spat” (92). This quote shows that Amir wants Hassan to hurt him, for not defending Hassan from Assef in the alley. Amir feels blameworthy and needs to be hurt back to redeem himself. The week after Amir didn’t stand up for Hassan in the alley you can see his immense amount of regret. “An hour later, I still couldn’t sleep. I kept tossing and turning as my relatives grunted sighed and snored in their sleep,… I understood the nature of my new curse: I was going to get away with it” (86). This quote shows that he is so upset with himself that it makes him restless. Just the thought of knowing what's he’s done and living with himself is distressing. Later in the book, when Amir is an adult, he returns to Kabul to save Sohrab, Hassan’s son. He must fight Assef and win to be able to rescue Sohrab. “What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden nook in a corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this… My body was broken-just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later- but I felt healed. Healed at last” (289). This quote shows that as Assef is beating Amir, it makes him feel like he's finally getting what he deserves for running instead of fighting Assef.

Amir as a young twelve year-old never stands up for himself, always letting Hassan stand up for him. When Hassan was in need of Amir to stand up against Assef for Hassan, Amir just runs away only thinking about trying to get Baba’s praise over having won the kite tournament. This action haunts Amir for the remainder of his life even when he is in America, Amir has just suppressed the memory. When Rahim Kahn calls Amir and tells him, “Come. There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 192). Amir then travels to Pakistan and hears Rahim Kahn’s final request before he dies; the request is to find Hassan’s son and get him out of Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan, Amir and Farid find Sohrab, Hassan’s son, under a Taliban official’s care. While meeting with the official to get Sohrab from said official, the official reveals himself to be Assef. Amir then is allowed to take Sohrab but only if he can beat Assef; Amir realizes this is his moment to redeem himself as he can stand up to Assef and defend some part of Hassan, that being his son. As Assef is beating up Amir with his brass knuckles, while lying on the ground bleeding Amir suddenly feels like a huge weight is removed from his chest. After Amir and Sohrab get away from Assef, Amir tries to find a way to bring Sohrab back to America with him when he discovers that Rahim lied to him about Thomas and Betty Caldwell being in Pakistan. The moment Amir fights Assef is Amir’s moment of redemption because that is when Amir feels that the past sins he has committed are no longer crawling over his

There are many themes that circumnavigate the Kite Runner, but the most distinct core value, that closely correlates to Amir’s own personal journey, is redemption. In the novel, the author Khaled Hosseini accurately portrays human nature in his representation of his characters, and despite their sins or tendencies to fall from grace, the real girth of his story lies in their ability to redeem themselves through their own acts of personal sacrifice. In the beginning of the novel, Amir seeks to redeem himself from the guilt he feels for the responsibility of his mother’s death, thus winning the affections of his father. In order to do so, Amir makes two of the biggest mistakes of his life; taking advantage of Hassan’s unwavering loyalty. From there the rest of the novel

As a character, Amir experiences more change from start to finish than anyone. He is weak and selfish as a child. This leads to him making the worst decision of his life. As Assef approaches Hassan, Amir sat there, as Hosseini writes “I opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had” (Hosseini 73). This moment changes the trajectory of his entire life. Hassan seems to move on from it quickly, trying to be Amir’s friend again a few weeks later, but Amir would be haunted by it for the rest of the novel. Into his thirties, he struggled to sleep and what he had witnessed was always in his head. It isn’t until he meets Sohrab that he starts to truly change as a character. He begins to make choices with other people in mind, despite how he might affect himself. This is the biggest lesson he could take away from Hassan.

Amir faces several struggles during his life, defining his character. The one struggle that truly defines him is coming into contact with Assef for a second time. This fight was no ordinary fight, this fight symbolized something for Amir. Amir was seen as always the cowardly type throughout the novel. Amir spent most of his life feeling guilty and isolated because of a terrible decision he made in his youth, all doing with Hassan.

In the novel the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the author, Hosseini uses character development in the characters Amir, Hassan, Rahim Khan, and Sanaubar, to prove an even more complex understanding of home by persuading the reader that there is more to home than a simple physical representation of it. “"Think of something good," Baba said in my ear. " Something happy." Something good.

Amir is a young boy who is not brave enough to stand for himself. Assef threatens Amir for hanging around Hassan, a Hazara. Assef is about beat up Amir when Hassan pulls out his slingshot and tells him to back down, which he does. “ A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything ” (Hosseini 22). This is linked to the method of - what the character does. Amir’s inability to show courage when being threatened is evident as a young man.

Hosseini creates Amir as a complicated protagonist, a protagonist that the reader can sympathize and despise at the same time. Hossenini does this to show that people can have two sides to them. People may seem good and innocent, but in reality they have another "bad" side to them. He wanted a character that could show how life was in Afghanistan for a privileged child, as opposed to how Hassan's life is. He created a character that lives a luxurious life, but still isn't perfect and has struggles like everyone else. There are lots of reasons why the reader can sympathize Amir; his mother died while giving birth to him, his father doesn't appreciate him for who he is, and other experiences he has gone through. On the flip side, there are some

Amir being at fault for Hassan's rape and the fact that he had the chance to stop it and prove himself not to be coward which he chose not to do that resulted in ruining most of his life and relationship with Baba. The first chapter begins with current events in which Amir is always held back by his memory of Hassan's assault and his own cowardness, and it is this terrible secret that leads Amir to his search for redemption. “I opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned ot differently if I had. But I didn’t. I just watched. Paralyzed.” (Hosseini 73). At this point in the novel Amir has decided to watch Hassan get raped and if only he had stopped Assef his future would’ve been totally different. Baba too is haunted by his past sins of infidelity with Ali's ex wife Sanaubar, and his recollections make him be both strict with Amir and very gracious with his work and money. “If I hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe he’s my own son.” (Hosseini 23). Because Baba always found something wrong with Amir and put all his guilt on Amir that turned Amir into acting like Baba disrupted their entire relationship. These two quotes are big reasons on why Amir turned out the way he did and how one event led to him destroying his relationship with loved ones. If Amir had owned up to his actions even though he didn’t stop Assef he could’ve made redemption earlier with Hassan.

Only when Amir decides to travel to Kabul and save his half nephew does his cathartic journey really start. After returning to Kabul,Amir is faced with the haunting memories of his childhood, he is only able to overcome them by ridding himself of his cowardliness. This is achieved through him fighting his long term enemy Assef for his half-nephew Sohrab. By doing so Amir's growth as a person is highlighted. He is

Amir is a young Afghani boy that possesses few differences from any other boys his age. He looks like, acts like, and lives like a young boy, but he has the advantage of living with a wealthy father. Jealousy is a flaw of his, and is one of the reasons he wallows in his own self pity for the majority of the novel. Hosseini does a remarkable job of making this character real and understandable. Amir is not a hero in any factor, but he does find a

Amir: He is the central character and also the narrator of the story. He is the son of a well to do business man. He grew up in Kabul with playmate Assef, they both were very close friends and the spent most of their time together. Amir is a very sensitive child, We can say so by a few phrases he uses one of them are when he explain how Ali was chased by a few kids in the neighborhood and how they called him names. But Amir showed his real character to Hassan when he got raped, He was a coward and a selfish boy went it came to help his. But further on in life he gained some confidence and went to Kabul, the state where the taliban were ruling, to rescue Shorabh , Assefs son, who was with taliban.