In the book, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a heartbreaking story between a rich Pashtun boy named Amir and his Hazara servant boy named Hassan. The book took place in a time where Afghanistan was in the process of being destroyed. Amir was twelve years old when he witnessed his best friend getting raped by his childhood bully, Assef, and did nothing to rescue Hassan. That event had caused Amir to kept that guilt to himself for years without telling anyone. When the war was reaching to his town, Amir and his father flew away to America hoping to escape. Twenty years later, Amir got a call from Afghanistan and was told “There is a way to be good again”. With that given chance to seek for redemption, Amir flew back to Afghanistan to achieve it. The phone call was from his father’s old friend Rahim Khan asking Amir to come see him one last time in Pakistan. So, Amir flew all the way to Pakistan and met up with Rahim Khan. During their meet up, they talked about what they been through for all these years. Amir learned that for the past years Hassan was living in their old house with his wife and son waiting and hoping that Amir would visit back. Sadly, Hassan passed away when the Taliban shot him in the head for refusing to give up the house. Rahim Khan then explained the reason why he called Amir to come back was to ask him to go to Kabul to retrieve Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from the orphanage back to Pakistan. Amir at first wanted to refuse the favor because he was
Hosseini gives many examples of how political power such as the Taliban can bring out the evil in people but he also demonstrates how there is oppressive male power in relationships that also brings out the same human nature. He uses overbearing masculine characters in the The Kite Runner and gender roles to express how men were given the right to act in such horrific ways towards women. In Afghanistan there are many restrictions against women. Men have control over their wives and girlfriends. They have the dominant power and since it has been this way for so long it has become a social norm. Eastern culture is obviously different than Western culture when talking about gender roles but, Afghanistan men’s social power over them is immoral
When Khaled Hosseini wrote The Kite Runner, he made several important choices involving narration. He chose to write the story in first person from a limited point of view. This is a very fitting decision because, writing in the first person adds a sense of intimacy that is crucial to this story; writing from a limited perspective allows the reader to make their own conclusions about what the characters are thinking. The way Hosseini writes The Kite Runner makes it very intimate, and feels like a person telling their life story. If The Kite Runner had been written in third person, or omnisciently, the story would not have impacted readers as much, and would have been too cold and impersonal to create emotional connections with the reader.
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.
One major theme that is evident in The Kite Runner is that scars are reminders of life’s pain and regret, and, though you can ease the regret and the scars will fade, neither will completely go away. We all have regrets and always will, but though it will be a long hard process we can lessen them through redemption. The majority of The Kite Runner is about the narrator and protagonist, Amir. Almost all of the characters in The Kite Runner have scars, whether they are physical or emotional. Baba has scars all down his back from fighting a bear, but he also has emotional scars from not being able to admit that Hassan was also his son. Hassan is born with a cleft lip, but for his birthday Baba pays for it to be fixed, which left a small scar above his mouth. Hassan also has emotional scars from being raped. The reader is probably shown the emotional scars of Amir the most. Amir has emotional scars because he feels that he killed his mother, and also because his father emotionally neglects him. In the end of the novel, Amir receives many physical scars from getting beaten up by Assef, when rescuing Sohrab. Though scars will never go away and are a reminder of the past, not all scars are bad.
When Amir got there, he was greeted by Wahid and his family. Amir and Wahid had a conversation and talked about why Amir came back to Afghanistan. Amir then showed Wahid the Polaroid photo of Hassan and his family. “I fished the Polaroid from the pocket of my shirt. Seeing Hassan’s picture again tore the fresh scab off his death. I had to turn my eyes away from it.” ( Hosseini, 237 ). When Amir looked at the picture, guilt starts to take over him. He remembers how he had treated Hassan in the past and now he was dead. Amir didn’t have a chance to be able to apologize to him. He feels sorrow and regret the moment he saw the photo. Through this quote, Hosseini highlights that Amir didn’t get to fix the mistakes and problems he had caused to Hassan and now he can never
“I thought about Hassan’s dream, the one about us swimming in the lake. There is no monster, he’s said, just water. Expect he’d been wrong about that. There was a monster in the lake… I was that monster.” When looking at this quote some may wonder who would be considered the monster; and in this case Amir would be. The idea of him redeeming himself from being a monster is a recurring theme in the story and the movie.
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.
Amir had always regretted his actions that day in the alley and wanted to repay Hassan by taking his son Sohrab to America with him. As soon as Amir saw Sohrab, he saw Hassan in him and wanted to do anything he could to help and resolve his guilt. He wanted to take Sohrab back to America with him so he could have a bed, food, shelter, and a good life. Amir knew “there are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood”
Amir goes back to Kabul because Rahim Khan told him to find Sohrab, Hassan's son, telling him "there is a way to be good again;" a way for him to atone for his past. Even though Amir made many mistakes in his past, going back to his homeland was a way for him to reconcile and redeem himself of his past sins. Amir, haunted by his past, is compelled to do good in Kabul and finally make peace with his past sins: leaving the money, finding Sohrab, fighting Assef, and practicing Islam again. Hosseini states, "Once, over those mountains, I had made a choice. And now, a quarter of a century
The novel, The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, is a story about betrayal, forgiveness, and redemption that revolves around that two main characters, Amir and Hassan. Amir is a young selfish boy who constantly manipulates and exploits Hassan for personal gains. He uses Hassan as a scapegoat to win Baba, but upon accomplishing this task, he is riddled with guilt. Amir uses his friendship with Hassan for ulterior motives. His lack of action caused severe guilt, which he tries to escape throughout the entire story. He uses various scapegoats to rid himself of his guilty conscience.
The film version of The Kite Runner omitted a scene from the book that vividly described a suicide attempt by a child. This scene was likely cut due to time constraints and the reality that a suicide attempt by a child would be very upsetting to many viewers. A scene as harsh as child suicide is not something that can be quickly processed and move on to the next scene. I believe the audience would require ample time to absorb what happened from beginning to end through the emotions of the characters; no doubt this scene would be too lengthy to include as a side-note to the main story. In addition, the scene might be so disturbing to some people they may not wish to see the film at all.
One of the controversial issues in the story is the diffident opinions between Rahim Khan and Amir about should Amir’s father admit Hassan’s identity. Amir’s father and his friend Rahim Khan decided to hide the truth that Hassan, the boy Amir always considers a servant, is actually Amir’s brother. When Rahim persuades Amir to save Hassan’s son by telling him that Hassan is also his father’s son, Amir strongly resists his father’s decision and cannot believe that the father he always admires cheats on him for all his life time. In my opinion, Amir’s father did wrong on hiding the truth and I supports Amir’s point of view that a father should not hide the truth but face the problem, carry the responsibility and establish a role model to his children. Rahim Khan tries to convince Amir that they
Social conditions are what shape a country. Over the years, people, not only in Afghanistan, but around the world create norms that define people’s roles in life, their future, and how they should be treated based on their gender and beliefs. Khaled Hosseini’s first novel, The Kite Runner, comments on the social conditions of Afghanistan through telling a story about the lives of two Muslim boys; a privileged Sunni Pashtun, Amir, and his long-time friend and servant, Hassan, a loyal but disadvantaged Shia Hazara. Hosseini expresses Amir’s uncertain feelings toward Hassan which form the decisions he makes throughout the book. These choices result in Amir destroying his relationship with Hassan. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini is a commentary on the social conditions in Afghanistan as shown through the roles of women and men in society and the ideals of Afghan culture. Unfortunately, these problems are still active in most of Afghanistan.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a story of a boy as he unravels his journey throughout his life. The novel consists of multiple themes such as love, friendship, betrayal, guilt, , secrets, loyalty, and redemption. As the main character, Amir recalls his past events, all of these themes start to unravel specific events that occurred in his life. “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 2) is where the novel unfolds the deep dark life of Amir’s regret and guilt, Baba’s secret, and Hassan’s devotion. The book is a true masterpiece which keeps the readers glued to the story as it unfolds. One of the reasons, the story attracts many readers is due to The United States recent conflict with Afghanistan. However, the story has a personal
On a day to day basis, an individual is faced with an obstacle they must overcome, ultimately defining their morals and values. In the literature perspective, the novel The Kite Runner delivers multiple thematic ideas that portray the struggles of characters in their ordinary lives. Khaled Hosseini, author and physician, released his debut novel The Kite Runner in the year of 2003. This novel is written in the first person narration of Amir, a Pashtun boy that lives with his father whom he addresses as “Baba” in a large estate in Kabul, Afghanistan. Hassan and his father, Ali, are servants that works for Amir’s father