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The Kite Runner Analysis

Decent Essays

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini uses betrayal as key plot points and the underlying motivation for many characters throughout the novel. The guilt and anguish that comes from betrayal caused the characters to make important decisions that would affect the rest of their lives. The main character, Amir, was haunted by his betrayal of Hassan, this led to him later risking his life to attempt to do right by Hassan. Baba constantly felt guilty for not accepting his son and often treated his illegitimate son better than his own. Lastly, Afghani society betrayed Hassan on multiple occasions, whether it was by forcing Hazaras to a worse life, keeping him from his true father, and finally taking the life of him and his wife. The theme of betrayal appears throughout the novel and has a major impact on the entirety of the story. The most prominent betrayal in the book is the betrayal of Amir to Hassan throughout their lives. This betrayal started when they were young and culminated in a graphic and intense scene where Amir stood idly by while his best friend was raped. Amir struggled to have the courage and stand up to Assef, the scene ended with this struggle, “I stopped watching, turned away from the alley... From just around the corner, I could hear Assef's quick, rhythmic grunts...I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be...In the end, I ran.” (page 77) This decision would haunt Amir for decades and shaped his personality as a passive and often cowardly person. This The rest of the book is Amir’s struggle to move on and redeem himself for his betrayal of Hassan. Throughout a majority of the book Baba is illustrated as a near perfect, god-like man, someone that stuck to his values and could do no wrong. However, it is later revealed that he had lied about Hassan being his child and through this action had given Hassan a difficult life. This betrayal towards Hassan was horrible, and unlike Amir’s betrayal there was no real way Baba ever redeemed himself. He lived with this guilt his entire life and the weight he must have felt from it is immeasurable. When Amir learned about Hassan from Rahim Khan he was devastated and confused, he expressed this by

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