The Kite Runner Betrayal Analysis

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.

In “The Kite Runner,” Amir and Baba both betray the servants most loyal to them. Hassan and Ali both do everything in their power to please their masters and remain loyal to them. Hassan and Ali differ from their masters in numerous ways but both pairs have similar differences. The master servant relationship between Baba, Ali and Amir, Hassan both differ in the characters’ attitudes, relationships, loyalty and courage.

Amir's entire life had been haunted by what he saw happen to Hassan. Although he was a child at the time, he couldn't accept his shortcoming during a time of need. He was jealous of his father for being able to stand up for himself and others and Hassan's undying loyalty to him. He developed a pattern of behavior - of covering up his mistakes and hiding his past – that he could not rid himself of until he suffered like Hassan did. He made it up to Hassan by saving his son, and he made it up to himself by suffering the way he

When Amir was looking for Hassan after the kite flying contest he is talking to someone asking if they had seen him. He refers to Hassan as “our servant’s son” (69). He and Hassan are best friends at home through their entire childhoods. Despite this, he still does not even refer to him as a friend to society; to the people around him Hassan is just his servant. Then later in the novel after he has witnessed Hassan getting raped, he does not want Hassan to be living with them anymore. He asks Baba “have you ever thought about getting new servants?” (89). He tries to exile his best friend for no reason at all even though they have been through everything together. This is the foundation of Amir showing this theme of exile towards Hassan, and it only gets worse. Hassan begins to notice what Amir is doing and tells him “I don’t know what i’ve done, Amir agah I wish you’d tell me. I don’t know why we don’t play anymore” (88). He ignores Hassan and shuts him out into exile even though all he has done is be loyal to Amir. Soon after Amir wants to completely exile Hassan and get him out of his home for good. Amir decides to frame him so he “lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted [his] new watch and handful of Afghani bills under it” (104). Amir lets Hassan take the blame for this act completely and exiles him out of his life forever. Hassan even writes to him but Amir does not respond. Amir exiles Hassan and shows the theme of exile through his actions toward Hassan throughout the

In spite of the fact that Hassan and Amir had been raised as brothers, Amir had never appreciated Hassan. Amir grew up envious of Hassan despite of having so much more than he did. Despite the two boys always being together and playing with one another, Amir never stood up for Hassan when the neighborhood kids had picked on him, he “ I ran because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would 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. That’s what I made myself believe. I actually aspired to be a cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.” (77) Hassan has always taken the blame for Amir, and Amir could not stand up for him. Amir had been attentive of Hasans disadvantages but instead of aiding him, Amir had decided to tease Hassan for them. Such as Hassan not being able to read or not knowing the definition of a

Honesty and respect are among many qualities that deep relationships carry, especially loyalty. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, he uses two young boys to convey his theme, “loyalty is not freely given, it is learned.” This theme is portrayed as Hosseini uses examples of devotion from his character, Hassan, to teach Amir what defines loyalty. While these two boys grow up together and form a friendship, a life-changing event splits them apart, only to take Amir twenty-six years to discover the truth of their past, their fathers, and their lives.

To maintain a healthy relationship, trust must be built between people. However, actions can change the course of that relationship based on one decision. Throughout the novel, the readers get a glimpse of how choices the characters make can change the outcome of their lives. Throughout The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses the theme of betrayal to demonstrate the domino effect it can have on relationships.

Both of these characters are similar regarding the trait of forgiveness. Although Amir never really apologized to Hassan for all of the evil things he did to him, Amir forgave himself and truly attempted to makeup for the mistakes he had made in his childhood, by making a new life for Hassan's son, Sohrab in his adulthood. One of the attempts Amir did to makeup for the betrayal of Hassan is to take a beating from Assef. When getting beat up by Assef, Amir feels good that he is standing up for himself and Sohrab, just like Hassan stood up for him in the alleyway. Amir also redeems himself from the guilt he had felt toward Hassan. An example of Amir feeling as though he stood up for Sohrab and redeems himself from the guilt or jealousy toward Hassan is when he says,” "He got mad and hit me harder and the harder he kicked me, the harder I laughed" (Hoseini,297). Hassan forgives Amir for betraying him in the alleyway by not bringing it up to Amir and throwing it away like nothing happened. In the end, both characters found a way to forgive one another for the main conflict within story, The Kite

All the books in my group had the theme of betrayal in common. In A Thousand Splendid Suns betrayal was demonstrated when, Jalil lying about seeing Mariam, Rasheed being set up, Mariam being betrayed by her husband constantly. In The Kite Runner betrayal was demonstrated when, Amir not protecting Hassan from Assef, Baba not telling Amir that he fathered Hassan, amir running away for the second time. In To Kill A Mockingbird betrayal was demonstrated when, the lawyer deciding to take on his case, Dill running away from home, Tom Robinson getting put on trial, In Things Fall Apart betrayal was demonstrated when, Okonkwo beat his second wife, Okonkwo feeling betrayed towards his god, and his own son joining the white missionaries. In Oliver Twist

Amir breaks Hassan’s trust in this story multiple times but Amir stays loyal to him through it all. Amir sees the assault of Hassan, but fearing the confrontation of the bullies, he does nothing. I saw this as an act of betrayal where even Amir recognizes himself that he is not loyal to Hassan. I even see that it affected him on his road to adulthood also. However, Amir seemed not to be disturbed with his actions until the kite incident happened.

When an individual betrays, it inflicts pain on others and on themselves. The act of betrayal is an act of selfishness, we do it for our purpose and for our benefit. Betrayal is a choice that many chooses to act upon, one may use it as if it is the only choice they have but in fact, there are many different routes to take. Betrayal is in our nature and one way or the other we will do and use it, especially in times where we are in our desperate situations, however sometimes one betrays because it is the easier path to take. Betrayal may come easy on others, like an everyday act, lying is an act of betrayal that all of us do every day, we know it is wrong and yet we do it anyways, constantly.

Even as literature has multiple genres, themes can still parallel each other regardless of appearing in two altogether varying works very different authors of distinctly separate time frames conceive and write. Even as The Kite Runner is written as a work of historical fiction and Oedipus Rex develops a well known and praisable Greek tragedy, a theme of betrayal places itself throughout both. Literature demonstrates that morals can genuinely be learned through any method. In both pieces of literature, betrayal is a shared and understood theme throughout, the discourse and contemplations of each character magnifies the author’s treatment of the theme, and the author’s

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

Betrayal is a selfish action where one puts themselves before others which can result in painful difficulties amongst individuals. Most individuals choose their actions based on the situation and what the best possible outcome is for themselves. These selfish decisions of betrayal can cause lasting negative effects, damaging relationships and trust. Throughout the book, The Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini portrays the theme of betrayal in various ways through the actions of Amir, Baba, and Assef.

In the book The Kite Runner there are multiple themes that are a prominent analysis of the text. Betrayal, forgiveness and love are three that are used a lot throughout the novel but then have a deeper meaning.