Relationship With The Past In Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner

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.

Forgiveness is a necessary part of human existence, although it is rarely easy to give, and sometimes hardest to give to ourselves. The Kite Runner illustrates humanity's tendency, and even willingness, to dwell on past mistakes. The opening sentence sets this theme with "I became what I am today at the age of twelve," as Amir unapologetically relates how he believes one action at that young age defined his entire life. However, as the novel progresses, the reader comes to the conclusion that it was not one action, but a series of choices and events that created Amir's persona as an adult. By holding onto his guilt and fear of discovery, Amir could only bury his past for short periods of time before his own conscience uncovered it and the

An important theme that relates to the physical journey in The Kite Runner is the past. The influence of the past affects Amir in his life as we see from the very first sentence of the book until the end. “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of the 1975… 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,” (Hosseini 1). Throughout the book, Amir’s past haunts him in every action he takes and the journey for his redemption. To Amir, the past defines who he currently is. All of his feelings of guilt stimulate him to make up for his mistakes. For example, he feels responsible for the events leading up to Hassan’s murder by the Taliban because he pushed Hassan and Ali out of Baba’s house. So, years later when he goes back to visit Rahim Khan, Amir is told to make amends by finding his nephew, Sohrab. The past is mentioned in many parts of the book in his quest, Amir faces many obstacles from his past.

The desire to feel loved and wanted by your parents can drive a person to go to extreme limits to get that love. One boy that goes to these extreme limits is Amir. All Amir wants is to have a good, strong relationship with his father. He feels the death of his mother was his fault, and he needed to make it up to his father. In doing so, Amir let’s horrible things happen to his friend Hassan. Many many years later, after fleeing to America, Amir returns to Afghanistan in search of redemption of his actions all those years ago. The theme of The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini is redemption. Through Amir’s life, that’s what he’s been doing to himself, trying to redeem himself from his acts that have brought pain

“True redemption is when guilt leads to good,” Rahim Khan asserts. Khaled Hosseini compels the readers to think in the novel, The Kite Runner, by analyzing Amir’s quests. Additionally, readers must understand Amir’s journey to maturity throughout The Kite Runner, as a Bildungsroman novel. Amir’s journey to redemption ultimately accentuates his quest for adulthood.

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.

Throughout the story The Kite Runner an important central theme displayed by the other is the idea that it is important to be able to confront your past mistakes or else those mistakes will torture you for the rest of your life. Many of the main characters came face to face with this idea and each of them dealt with their mistakes in different ways. Despite this, it was made clear that the characters that were able to deal with their problems ended up much better off mentally than those of them that were unable to. Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, teachers the reader that confronting past mistakes is better than running from them through Amir’s feelings following his betrayal of Hassan, how Soraya felt after telling Amir about her past, and Amir’s reaction to finding out Baba was Hassan’s father.

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

The Kite Runner focuses on the journey of Amir as he struggles both mentally and physically to make up for a horrible wrong that he committed in his past that continues to haunt him to this day. He encounters many difficulty, fear, and happiness. Hosseini teaches his readers that it is necessary to channel one’s guilt into a means of redemption because although forgiveness may not be granted right away, as long as moral actions are taken, atonement will eventually ensue.

“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.” (Hosseini 1-2) Khaled Hosseini published the book The Kite Runner in 2003. This book includes the characters Amir, Hassan, Baba, Rahim Khan and many more. This book is mainly about Amir’s childhood in Kabul, his move with baba to California, and lastly his return to Kabul. Amir is also someone who falls in the shadow. He doesn't really know who he is because of the things that happened to him in the past. In this book he also gives the reader an understanding of what

In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Amir is a man who looks back on his life. At first, he feels only selfishness and terror caused by past tragedies. He grows up with his friend and servant Hassan whom he treats poorly and bosses around. Hassan is raped trying to protect Amir and Amir watches and says nothing. As they get older they fall out of contact and Amir moves to California while Hassan stays back in Afghanistan. Amir learns that Hassan is killed by the Taliban, and is asked by his trusted mentor Rahim Khan to go and take care of Hassan’s orphaned son. Amir gets scared and wants to run from this task. Rahim reflects with Amir, and tells him, “‘You know,’ Rahim Khan said, ‘one time, when you weren’t around, your father and I were talking. And you know how he always worried about you in those days. I remember he said to me, Rahim, a boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything. I wonder, is that what you’ve become?’” (Hosseini ch.17). Khan tells Amir that he must be strong and do what is right because he has never been courageous enough to commit himself. In order to forgive himself for his past, Amir must take charge of his future and finally find his voice. He must find the courage to do what he knows is right: go back in time and help the boy who could not be helped; rescue Hassan’s legacy. Amir had the support of

The consequences of the past are inescapable and the choices a person makes can influence the rest of his life. There is no way to change the past, so once important choices are made it is impossible to reverse time and change those decisions. Khaled Hosseini explores this idea of having to live with past decisions in his compelling novel The Kite Runner. To enforce the message of how inescapable the past truly is, the main character of Hosseini’s book, Amir, betrays his closest friend and struggles to cope with the haunting consequences of this betrayal. Through Amir’s complex character development and The Kite Runner’s distinctive plot structure, those who read the novel gain a deeper understanding of Amir’s decisions as a result of his past mistakes via Hosseini’s use of foreshadowing and flashbacks. By creating a unique relationship between the past and present in the novel, Hosseini urges readers to ponder the consequences of mistakes and reflect on their own past.

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.

In the novel Kite Runner the past plays a major role throughout the story, the main character Amir’s actions that were made during his childhood would follow him throughout the rest of his life. No matter how hard he tried to escape the events of his unfortunate past, he was plagued with unending guilt and regret. The story truly begins when a childhood friend calls asking Amir to return to the war-torn nation of his childhood, offering an opportunity to make up for his past and to “be good again.” This truly show that even if someone moves thousands of miles away, the past will continue to exemplify its persistence and catch up, no matter how long it takes.

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.