Kite Runner

He knows that he needs to risk his life for Hassan’s son and be the person that Hassan had always been to Amir. Amir is finally able to make a good decision; a decision that would change his character and his life.

In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, although Amir is still somewhat selfish when faced with difficult choices, he is worthy of forgiveness because he shows that he is more selfless and treats Sohrab like he should have treated Hassan.

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

Sometimes mindsets are messed up based on how they were raised. But people's psychological mindset may change throughout their life. This roughly explains what has happened to Amir in the novel. In the Kite Runner, Amir’s psychological turning point is when Assef beats him, showing the theme of redemption rids guilt. Explained by Amir letting Hassan get raped, Amir pelting pomegranates at Hassan , and Amir taking care of Hassan’s son Sohrab.

One of Amir's prime qualities of his personality is being able to redeem himself. Throughout the story, Amir makes horrible decisions like running away as Hassan is raped, and strives for the affection of his father through jealousy. Although he makes a lot of mistakes, Amir proves that he can be a sharpened person towards the end of the story when he tries to adopt Sohrab, Hassan’s son. Amir and Sohrab eventually go to America, and when Amir and Sohrab talked, Amir told him, “I won’t ever get tired of you, Sohrab...Not ever. That’s a promise. You’re my nephew, remember (Hosseini 324)?” Amir greatly redeems himself by taking care of Sohrab

Moreover, Amir tries to redeem himself to Sohrab. Sohrab had one request, and that request was to never go back to an orphanage. When a lawyer tells Amir that sending Sohrab back to an orphanage is their best bet, Soharb tries to kill himself by slitting his wrists. Amir was always “... met by silence” (352) whenever he tried to talk to Soharb. Soharb went silent when they moved to America, and Amir did everything in his power to give Sohrab a good life. He wanted to make up for the pain he had caused Sohrab, Amir couldn’t live knowing that Sohrab tried to kill himself because of what he had done. Sohrab had also saved Amir’s life. When Amir unexpectedly confronted Assef, the man who raped Hassan, he almost beat him to death. but Sohrab stepped in and shot Assef’s eye with a slingshot, saving Amir’s life. Amir owed his whole life to Sohrab. Amir tried everyday to redeem himself to Sohrab subconsciously speaking, Amir was trying to give him a better life than Hassan, to be the man he should have been all those years

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

When put into perspective, life proves to be truly unfair. It is often difficult to serve justice and distinguish between good and evil. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, there is no optimum justice, but instead a constant theme of mercy. Mercy is found to be an important virtue that allows characters to come to terms with their flaws and grow with benevolence. Amir is a character who began as a deceitful coward, burdened with the guilt of his mistakes. The mercy Amir receives from Rahim Khan, Hassan, and what comes to be himself, gives him the opportunity to do what is right and find goodness in his life again. On Amir’s journey back to Afghanistan, the forgiveness and compassion he discovers is what is most important in determining his future.

Everyone has heard the saying “everyone makes mistakes.” No matter who you are, you are going to experience failure. In The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, 12- year old Amir learns about mistakes the hard way. By having his best friend taken away due to his own cowardliness and then trying to cover up the guilt he felt by pleasing his father, he thought he would never again be a worthy person. However, Amir learned that even though it may seem impossible to fix your mistakes in the aftermath, there’s always a way to redeem yourself. With the influential words given to Amir by his valued mentor Rahim Khan, Amir discovered that “there is a way to be good again.”

In the novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the main character, Amir, redeems himself for his sins against his childhood friend, Hassan. He redeems himself by returning to Kabul to find Sohrab and getting beaten half to death by Assef. Amir has been hurting his entire life at the thought of what he did to Hassan. First, Amir couldn't stand up to Assef when Hassan really needed him. Later, when Amir saw Hassan getting assaulted, he was so uncomfortable with it, that he figured out a way to effectively get Hassan and Ali to leave. This pain stayed with Amir throughout his entire life, from Afghanistan to America and back to Afghanistan. The only way he could redeem himself is to make things right with Hassan, in life or death.

That is a vicious cycle within this book. For most of the book Amir deals with his problems simply by brushing them under the rug. By doing that he then creates a deeper hole than what he is already in. That is why Hassan’s name is such a sensitive subject. “I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.” ( Housini 77) For example when his name is spoken Amir gets a funny feeling and instantly feels down. “I flinched, like I’d been slapped… Then I understood: This was Hassan’s final sacrifice for me… And that led to another understanding: Hassan knew. He knew I’d seen everything in that alley, that I’d stood there and done nothing. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time.” (Housini 105) When he finds out that Baba betrayed Ali he then realises that everything that he thought he knew was all a lie. “Huddled together in the dining room and waiting for the sun to rise, none of us had any notion that a way of life had ended.” (Housini 36) That then made him feel betrayed by Baba. Baba has been dead for a while now. There isn't much that Amir can do about that situation. Betrayal and punishment aren’t enough for him to feel redeemed. When he takes Sorab to the united states he then feels a sense of redemption

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.

Both of these characters are similar regarding the trait of forgiveness. Although Amir never really apologized to Hassan for all of the evil things he did to him, Amir forgave himself and truly attempted to makeup for the mistakes he had made in his childhood, by making a new life for Hassan's son, Sohrab in his adulthood. One of the attempts Amir did to makeup for the betrayal of Hassan is to take a beating from Assef. When getting beat up by Assef, Amir feels good that he is standing up for himself and Sohrab, just like Hassan stood up for him in the alleyway. Amir also redeems himself from the guilt he had felt toward Hassan. An example of Amir feeling as though he stood up for Sohrab and redeems himself from the guilt or jealousy toward Hassan is when he says,” "He got mad and hit me harder and the harder he kicked me, the harder I laughed" (Hoseini,297). Hassan forgives Amir for betraying him in the alleyway by not bringing it up to Amir and throwing it away like nothing happened. In the end, both characters found a way to forgive one another for the main conflict within story, The Kite

Amir decided to study English and major in it.  Baba considers it petty and not an actual job.

“The relationship between Amir and Hassan. It’s so different from any relationship I’ve experienced. Amir and Hassan are as closeas a servant and master can be, yet Amir acts like Hassan, a Hazara, is beneath him. Amir never learns to assert himself against anyone else because Hassan always defends him. I think these factors play into his childhood cowardice of sacrificing Hassan. Hassan however remains loyal, forgiving, and good natured,” replied Jack. “So what do you think of their friendship?”