The Extent Of Personal Responsibility

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.

This one decision left a stain on Amir for the next thirty years. A quote on pg. 88 states “I wish someone would wake me up, so I wouldn’t have to live with this lie anymore” This quote explains how guilty Amir felt after seeing Hassan get raped as he desperately sought for anyone to find out but didn’t chose to tell anyone the actual truth. Another example from the text is when Amir tries throwing pomegranates at Hassan, as an attempt to get Hassan to fight back and punish Amir for choosing to leave Hassan. However, Hassan refused to throw any pomegranates at Amir, but instead smashed one into his face. A quote on pg.94 states “I wanted Hassan to fight me back for the way I failed him” This quote indicates that Amir wanted Hassan to fight him back, so he could have the “punishment [he] craved” (93) This demonstrates that Amir wanted to feel the act of being punished for his wrongdoing, similar to how Hassan was brutally raped due to Amir’s apparent mistake. Amir’s guilt forces him to travel across two countries to seek redemption for the mistake he made. 15 years later, Amir’s guilt led him to make the hefty decision of returning to Afghanistan “to be good again” (189) by rescuing Hassan’s orphaned son, Sohrab, from the terrible conditions he was left to face in Kabul. Amir sees this as an opportunity to redeem and free himself from

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.

Throughout The Kite Runner, Amir is faced with many challenges; some he runs from, some he must face head on. The book is all about life lessons and how lessons will repeat themselves until they are learned. Khaled Hosseini, the author, portrays Amir, the main character, as a privileged young lad who grows up to be a man who doesn’t fight his own battles. One of the novels reoccurring life lessons is sacrifice for others, how putting someone else’s wants and needs before your own can turn out for the best. Amir must learn how to surrender himself his messy past, “because the past claws its way out.” (1)

In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Amir craves his father's approval. Amir becomes jealous of Hassan and turns to cowardliness to hide his guilt for what he saw in the winter of 1975. The author develops the theme of betrayal and redemption throughout the novel by Amir’s experiences of betrayal from his father and by betraying others in return. Amir goes through his life wanting redemption for the sins he has committed.

The Kite Runner is a powerful book contrasting selfishness and selflessness. The book follows the life of Amir, a character who experiences guilt and tragedy throughout his life. While growing up in Kabul, Amir witnesses the imperfect and prejudice society in his country. Within an imperfect society, there are many who are self-invested, and among those, there are those who are selfless. Characters Amir and Hassan possess selfish and selfless traits. The traits that these characters possess are influenced by fear, victimization, and loyalty, ultimately leading them to inaction and action.

Since Amir was a child he never had the confidence to defend himself but luckily whenever there was danger Hassan was there to protect Amir. Even Amir’s father Baba stated how Amir was unable to defend himself when he was discussing the issue with Rahim Khan, “You know what always happens when the neighborhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fends them off”. The truth of

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

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.

Through the character of Amir, The Kite Runner’s protagonist written by Khaled Hosseini, the author brings to life a character flawed by indecisiveness. This character battle against opposing forces but perhaps the greatest one of them is his own consciousness. Amir’s actions, cause one to question his honor, his morals, and whether or not he is able to live up to them. As a child, Amir grew up with privileges, with servants and perhaps the world at his feet, the one ting he most longed for however was his father’s love and affection.

All of the years that Amir has been away from Kabul, Afghanistan, the overwhelming feelings of his guilt and betrayal build up until he is not able to stand it anymore. He is appalled at his actions as a child, and wishes to return in order to gain closure. Baba one told him “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.” (24) Amir had chance after chance to redeem himself from his selfish ways while he was young. He did not realize the long term effect of his actions.

In the Kite Runner when Amir finds Hassan in the alley and he sees that he is being bullied and violated he does nothing to help hassan he can't work up. The courage to try to help him save him But it is like he is frozen. He can't move he wants to help but he can't what he does is he runs away from what he saw. Amir can't face the fact that what happened to Hassan was his fault that he would not. Have crossed paths with assef if he was not so devoted to Amir he wanted to find that kite for him his beloved friend . I believe that Amir feels guilty because his want to prove to his father that he was worth something . Costed him a friend but he doesn't see that

The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, is a novel telling the life story of a man named Amir. The novel begins in the year of 2001 when Amir, a grown man at that time, receives a phone call from a dear friend from his childhood. This call was not an ordinary one, nor a simple one to forget about. On the line was something much more powerful, much more deeper; “a past of unatoned sins and a promise that there is a way to be good again.” (P. 1, para. 2) This moment sparks the need to travel way back to the mid 1970s, the childhood years of the ‘inseparable friends’, Amir and Hassan, that brought the horrific moments.

When looking at taking personal responsibility for my actions and events that take place in my life, I think that I have a different viewpoint that most people in our society do. With me being of mixed races, white and black, and growing up in Mid-Tennessee as a child in the 80's and 90's I faced ridicule and discrimination for most of those years. A significant amount of the bias came from my mother's side of the family more than it did anywhere else. I was told that because of me being half black that I would never amount to anything. When growing up I learned to fight for myself, and that no matter what anyone else done I was in charge of my life.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a heart racing, an emotional, and a painfully beautiful book. Everything seems as perfect as can be like a kite floating in the steady air. Two boys, Amir and Hassan, different in social classes, but the same in heart and ethnicity live their lives as young boys do. As young boys, they are oblivious to the traumatic events that occur, and are afraid of the consequences that would follow. People say time heals, but for this two, time had strapped them on a kite for a flight of a life time with many ups and downs. The Kite Runner is filled with many themes that reoccur throughout the book, such as: betray a friend and you betray yourself, no matter what happens love will prevail all, and ethnic tension does not affect one minority, but everyone as a whole. These powerful themes make the book a never ending emotional roller coaster.