The Darkness Behind Hunger Hunger is a constant, everchanging human trait. Although it is almost always associated in the context of food, the characteristic of hunger can also relate to the craving of a certain aspect of life. When one hungers, whether for an aspect or for food, they will search for a method to quench their feelings of that certain hunger. Although this is not necessarily a negative outcome, for hunger can work to motivate and drive a person to an overall goal, a growing uncontrolled and unnoticed hunger can be very dangerous. If a person is unable or unwilling to reach their goal, they obliviously allow hunger to grow inside of them, causing them to commit vast and rash actions at an attempt to obtain the specific …show more content…
Amir’s cruel and shocking comment not only showcase his jealously and hatred towards the people Baba turns his attention to, but also reveals the evil actions Amir commits is directly related to his growing hunger. Similarly, to Amir, Ishmael is also introduced as a kind and innocent boy whose innocence is quickly lost as war erupts in Sierra Leone. As Ishmael struggles to obtain food and other necessitates, his hunger for survival rapidly increases. Ishmael’s increase in hunger ultimately drives him to extreme extents as he attempts to survive. For example, as Ishmael and his friends are unable to locate anything to eat, they decide to steal food from a boy instead, by “rush[ing] on [the] boy at the same time … [and] tak[ing] [his] corn from him” (Beah 30). The idea of stealing is clearly wrong, however, like Amir, both character’s hunger ultimately drive them to commit evil actions.
As Amir and Ishmael become increasingly desperate and allow their hunger to grow, they continue to commit evil actions and eventually lose their ability to suppress their inner desires. As Amir’s craving for Baba’s love quickly overcomes his conscience, he decides to abandon his friend being raped, claiming “[he] ran because [he is] a coward” (Hosseini 82). Although Amir states the reason why he ran was out of fear, his decision to run instead of giving the kite to Assef is a clear indication that the desire for Baba’s love greatly influenced his decision. After the
Did Amir have a choice when he found his best friend, Hassan being raped by Assef in the alley? Personally, I believe that Amir had all the choice in the world to interfere with the incident. If he truly cared about Hassan, he would have been willing to do anything to protect him. However, contrary to my opinion, there are many individuals that believe Amir is innocent, and did not have a choice.
The beginning of Amir’s journey causes him to feel guilty enough that he causes a chain reaction where he inflicts more cruelty upon himself and others. Amir and Hassan used to live a simple life with the biggest negative in Amir’s life being the fact that his father liked Hassan more. Right after a kite tournament that Amir won, Hassan goes to run the kite for Amir, and Amir finds him being abused by Assef in an alley. Amir decides to do nothing and feels guilty about it for most of his life. Although the initial cruelty is inflicted upon Hassan, it is Amir who is hurt the most. His guilt causes him to inflict cruelty upon Hassan in order to cause Hassan to “give [Amir] the punishment [he] craved, so maybe [he]’d finally sleep at night” (92). Amir’s cruelty leads Hassan and his father to walk out of Amir’s life, leaving Amir and his father, Baba,
Or I could run. In the end, I ran. I ran because I was a coward” (Hosseini 82). Amir openly admits that he is, in fact, a coward for leaving his best friend in the alley, and as a result, guilt taunts him throughout most of the novel. In order to escape from his guilt, he hides money and a watch under Hassan’s pillow framing him and Ali in order to get them thrown out of the house by Baba. Furthermore, Amir has always lacked courage whenever he was around Baba since he always felt insecure about whether Baba loved him or not, and this is witnessed when the annual kite tournament took place. Amir felt the need to make Baba proud by winning the kite tournament, but while he was there at the tournament he says, “What was I thinking? Why was I putting myself through this, when I already knew the outcome? Baba was on the roof, watching me. I felt his glare on me like the heat of a blistering sun. This would be failure on a grand scale, even for me” (Hosseini 65). Moreover, when Amir goes to save little Sohrab’s life from a head Taliban officer, who turns out to be Hassan’s and Amir’s childhood bully, Assef, he loses all the courage he had and gets saved by little Sohrab in the end. Another example of when Amir portrayed a lack of courage was when he was not able to tell his wife about his past mistakes, when she told him all her secrets before marriage on the phone by saying, “You need to know. I don’t want us to start with secrets. And I’d rather you hear it from me” (Hosseini 173). Amir is considered to be the least brave due to the reasons mentioned above, as well as for not admitting his past mistakes to people who he shared a close bond. He had
As a child, Amir constantly wants to impress Baba because he shows so little interest in him. Before the kite-fighting tournament, Baba tells Amir to win, which puts “a seed in my head...I was going to win. There was no other viable option.... Then maybe my life as a ghost in this house would finally be over”(Hosseini 56). Here, Baba has put at stake all Amir’s hopes of affection on winning the tournament. After Assef rapes Hassan, Amir decides that “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.” (77). Instead of stopping Assef from raping Hassan, he lets it happen so afterwards he can get the kite and earn Baba’s respect. This would not have happened if Baba had not pinned all Amir’s hopes for his affection on winning the tournament. Therefore, Baba is a bad father because by not showing affection to Amir, he caused Amir to have misguided morals.
Part of the reason Amir did not stand up for Hassan, was because he cared too much about others opinions , especially his fathers. Amir was constantly tormented about what he thought his father thought of him, and tried relentlessly to do what he thought would make him proud. Part of the reason Amir left Hassan in that alley, was because he thought that by bringing the kite back, and winning the competition would make his father proud. Amir would do whatever he could to make his father proud, even if it came to such dramatic circumstances. Throughout the novel, Amir realises that his loyalty to his father should not influence his better judgement. He himself needs to know right from wrong, and act upon his morals. It is this fire within him that partially inspires him to protect Sohrab from Assef, because this time, he knows it’s the right thing to do. Secondly, although Baba is not very fatherly, he does teach Amir to be strong. Baba was never very fatherly to Amir, and certainly never coddled him. This forced Amir to learn to fend for himself a lot sooner than most children. Although it took some time for him to really grasp this fact, Baba did have an impact on how strong and passionate Amir turned out when he grew up. Amir describes Baba as a legend, stating, “Lore has it my father once wrestled a black bear in Baluchistan” with his
In The Kite Runner Amir feels estranged from Baba because he “killed” his mother in birth. Baba stresses the idea to Amir that“There is only one sin,only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is variation of theft” There constantly this underlying feeling a hatred between Baba and Amir, because Amir “stole” his mother from Baba. Some places in the book make the hatred seem very real while other places show the love Baba has for Amir was very evident.
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:
Amir’s selfishness is often channeled through his guilt and sense of fear. Although Amir witnesses the tragic event that unfolds in front of his eyes, he immediately realizes that he fails to prove his loyalty to Hassan. While staring down the alley, Amir realized that he “had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan-the way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past-and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end…I ran because I was a coward” (77). By witnessing what was happening in the alley, a sense of fear rushed over Amir, ultimately leading to his decision of running away like a coward. By running away, Amir shows that he cares more about himself in this situation than he does about Hassan. He has a fear of what will happen to him if he intervenes, when
Near the beginning of the novel, it was essential for Amir to gain the approval and affection of Baba. Baba’s wife had died during Amir’s birth, which makes Amir feel guilty. Throughout his childhood, Amir felt like he was responsible for his mother’s death, thinking was why his father did not love him. Determined for restoration, Amir wins a kite running tournament, making his father proud of him. Growing up, Baba always said that Amir would never stand up for himself and be a true man. When older, Baba had grown sick of cancer and Amir looked after him. Despite the inability to prove his manhood, Amir’s father died proud of him. This, of course, was not good enough for Amir to live satisfied. Later on, Amir had learned that Baba had wronged Ali. Both Baba and Amir had betrayed their faithful and loyal friends, and it was only right for Amir to atone for them. Rescuing Sohrab would prove to Amir that he is in fact the man his father wanted him to be. Also, Amir knew that his father would be proud to know his son fought for what was right with Sohrab’s situation.
In the literature, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the idea and representation of justice, and its relationship to that of the treatment of women in Afghan society, the ever-changing politics of Afghanistan, and the desired results of redemption and forgiveness, become illustrated through the novel’s characters and motives. Justice can be defined as the quality of being guided by truth, reason, and fairness. The Kite Runner illustrates the power of influence from an outside power and its effects on society, and the minds and lifestyles of the people. In relationship to the Cheverus High School Grad-at-Grad profile the actions and wrongdoings that take place in the The Kite Runner and in Afghanistan prove to be injustice.
Assef and baba are able to pull this through tempting his cowardice, both breaking him, making him who he is. Baba destructively forms Amir’s attitudes towards his sense of identity from a youth. His displeasure, dissatisfaction, and unfulfilled nature near his son is clearly apparent to Amir. Amir feels humiliated mostly unwanted, adding on to his uncertainty. He throughout the novel forces himself to constantly seek his father’s approval.
As a child, Amir struggled with jealousy and ultimately that ruined his friendship with Hassan. He had always assumed that Baba had loved Hassan more than him because of his brave personality. In the time period of this novel, Amir was more favoured societally because he was Pashtun and not Hazara like Hassan. This added to the reason why he was jealous that Baba had favoured Hassan more than him. He felt Baba should love him more because he was Pashtun and his son. This racial tension in the country led to Hassan getting beaten and raped by a group of boys. Amir watched his supposed friend get harassed and he did nothing about it because in the moment he was only thinking of himself. Though Hassan had always stood up for him, the one time
Amir had great influences on him as a child; Baba was a brave person, generous to everyone, and should’ve influenced Amir to be the same. On the contrary, Amir was selfish and chose not to stand up for his friend, even when the situation desperately needs it. This is not because of how he grew up, of his environment. Amir’s genetics made him to be fearful and mean, as shown throughout the book. “I knew I was being cruel, like when I’d taunt him if he didn’t know some big word. But there was something fascinating - albeit in a sick way - about teasing Hassan.” (Hosseini 54). Even though Amir had great influences growing up, Hassan took the brunt of his attacks and neglect. Near the beginning of the book, Hassan is raped in the alleys running a kite for Amir. Going after Hassan, Amir finds Hassan while this is going on but does not stop the rapist or stand up for his friend. Instead, Amir ran away and proceeded to abandon Hassan emotionally after the event. Baba was a brave man and would’ve stood up for Hassan, regardless of the danger to him, but Amir was not influenced nearly as much by his positive environment rather than his negative cowardice, or
Throughout the novel, Amir endeavors to be approved by his father, Baba, who is admired by people in Kabul. Unfortunately, Baba believes that Amir, unlike him, is very unmanly “and [that he] never fights back. He just... drops his head ” (Hosseini 24). Since Baba wishes for a son who would stand up for himself, he can’t help but observe that Amir’s friend Hassan, as the guy who “steps in and fends the [bullies] off” (Hosseini 24) is his idea of the ideal son. Though aware of his father’s expectations, Amir is unable to change himself and instead envies Hassan and the fact that Baba treats him like his own son by“[patting]Hassan on the back. [and even putting] his arm around his shoulder [like a fatherly figure]”(Hosseini 15). Despite the manifestation of this hatred in Amir, he continues to recognize the bond that he shares with Hassan, “ brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast” (Hosseini 11) which is because both their mothers died during birth. The confusing emotions he feels for Hassan has Amir face a situation in which he acts inappropriately and allows the guilt to manifest upon him. After winning a very important kite tournament for the first time and “seeing Baba on that roof, proud of [him] at last” (Hosseini 71) Amir begins to search for Hassan who had gone to run his kite earlier. Finally, Amir finds him in a dark alley and as he “peeks around the corner” (Hosseini 75) he witnesses a sight that eradicated not only his relationship with Hassan but also Baba’s brotherly relationship with Ali, Hassan’s father. Peeking through the corner of the alley, like a bystander, he watches his one and only friend getting raped. The guilt that came upon him was for two reason; one, his lack of courage to stand up to
Amir stumbles upon an alley. In the alley, he sees the Hassan trap by three boys named Assef, Kamal, and Wali. All they asked of Hassan is to give up the blue kite. However, Hassan’s loyalty and friendship toward Amir prevented Hassan to give up the kite. As the tension built, Assef lets Hassan have the kite, but in-return he does unthinkable. Assef rapes Hassan as Amir watched unnoticeably from the alley (Hosseini 62-66). This was Amir’s chance to prove his true friendship by stepping in to save Hassan. Instead, Amir ran “because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he could do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt. That’s what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan” (Hosseini 68). According to Amir, “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (Hosseini 68). “He was just a Hazara, wasn’t he?” (Hosseini 68).