The Kite Runner Betrayal Essay

While Amir is lying in the dark, with nothing but his own thoughts, he feels that his guilt is taking over his life. He realizes that he is going to get away with his betrayal and yet he feels terrible. He decides that the only way he is going to live with his remorse is to ignore Hassan, blot him out, so he does not have to think about his sin. Amir’s guilt is so great that he cannot bear to have Hassan under the same roof, so he commits another sin. He lies to his father and accuses Hassan of stealing. “…I took a couple of the envelopes of cash from the pile of gifts and my watch, and tiptoed out…I lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it…I knocked on Baba’s door and told what I hoped would be the last in a long

One night he was tossing and turning and said to no one, "'I watched Hassan get raped.' A part of me was hoping someone would wake up and hear so I wouldn't have to live with this lie anymore...I was the monster...That was the night I became an insomniac." (pg. 86) At that point even being around Hassan was a constant reminder of Amir's failures and that made him angry but feeling angry added even more guilt.

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Amir was the son of a wealthy social worker. He was brought up with the son of his servant, and perhaps his only best friend, Hassan. Amir had a rocky relation with his father. At times, it seemed as his father loved him but those moments didn’t lasted forever. He thinks Baba (his father) wishes Amir were more like him, and that Baba holds him responsible for killing his mother, who died during his birth. Despite being best friends, Amir thinks that Hassan is beneath him because he belonged to an inferior cast. He used to mock him jokingly or tried to outsmart him. In all fairness, it was Amir’s cowardly nature that

In the book the Kite Runner there are many examples of betrayal and here are two of them. First Amir betrays Hassan by watching and doing nothing when Hassan is abused by Assef“I ran because i was a coward”(pg82).“But before you sacrifice yourself for him think of this would he do the same for you”(pg77). Secondly Amir is betrayed by Rahim Khan when he learns that Hassan is his half brother“How could you hide this from me from him”(pg235).“i’m 38 years old and i’ve just found out whole life is one big lie”(pg235).

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

Hosseini tragically displays the betrayal of a so-called friend. When they were young, Amir and Hassan did everything together and they were inseparable. Amir’s obsession with gaining Baba’s love not only made him lose someone that adored him, but also someone that would always stay by his side. Later on, Amir redeems himself of his horrible past by taking in Hassan’s son, so he can have a clean future. Hosseini depicts good versus evil to question readers if Amir is forgiven for his one good deed compared to his many bad deeds.Was Amir really Hassan’s friend considering how disrespectful he is to Hassan? In the novel Kite Runner, Hosseini shows that Amir did

After he nearly convinces himself Hassan is “not [his] friend,” Amir is ashamed for neglecting his best friend in pursuit of his own safety. By portraying Amir’s guilt, the author displays Amir’s conflicted feelings for Hassan—the person who he has always treated “like a brother”—thus highlighting his inability to be decisive. Hosseini seems to believe that, although humans make mistakes, the following guilt can strengthen a person’s relationships in the long-term, provided they avoid making similar mistakes in the future. Later in the story, Amir and Hassan have a second encounter with Assef when Hassan is raped, but Amir simply watches the scene as a bystander, traumatized and scared to stand up for his friend. Amir continues to carry the burden of guilt for the rest of the novel and expresses his frustration by attempting to cut ties with Hassan. In chapter 9, Amir frames Hassan for stealing by placing his birthday money and his watch under Hassan’s mattress. When Baba finds out that Hassan had “stolen” from Amir—as Amir had planned— Hassan shockingly admits to stealing the watch and money, even though he was not responsible. However, Baba forgives Hassan, leaving Amir in a

“Sometimes, the person you’d take a bullet for ends up being the one behind the gun” (Picture quotes). People are not what they seem; selfishness and greed can play a huge part in betrayal. Betrayal often comes with great consequences of guilt or a need for forgiveness. Most often, it is driven by selfish desire, greed, hatred or lust. In most cases, the act of trying to redeem oneself becomes a prolonging guilt stuck for the rest of one’s life. Learning to forgive oneself becomes the passage to gaining the desired redemption. In the novel The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Hosseini displays the theme of forgiveness and redemption. After Amir and Baba’s betrayal toward those most loyal to them, they realize that one must forgive themself

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

Betrayal is something that can’t be exonerated. Trust is lost when someone is betrayed. A bond between two friends is slowly broken. There are times when Amir tried to get rid of Hassan. He is doing this to rid himself of the severe guilt that is slowly deteriorating him on the inside. Amir’s lack of action during Hassan’s rape causes him to use Hassan as a scapegoat to abscond from his guilt. Amir is clearly using Hassan and hoping to get him in trouble when, “Baba came right out and asked, ‘Did you steal that money? Did you steal Amir’s watch, Hassan?’ Hassan’s reply was a single word, delivered in a thin, raspy voice: Yes” (Hosseini 105). The sexual assault incident with Hassan symbolizes a kite. A kite is free, happy, carefree, and represents a strong bond between itself and the owner. However, a sudden gust of wind can violently change the kite’s

At first, Amir does not seek to earn redemption. We know that he is ashamed at what he has done but he prefers to hide his guilt rather than confess and redeem himself right away. After the incident, Amir attempted to avoid Hassan at all costs. Even when Hassan approached him to see if he wanted to go for a walk, like they used to do frequently, Amir refused to go with him and told him to go away (88). He knew that he didn't deserve his friends unwavering love and loyalty.

Nobody can believe that the innocent activity of kite flying could ever lead to betrayal and eventually redemption yet, in the novel The Kite Runner, Hosseini manages to mend one man’s path through betrayal and ultimately to his redemption. Throughout this novel you will see many acts of betrayal between enemies, loved ones and strangers.

Regardless of whether or not betrayal is intentional, it creates feelings of pain and hurt between people. Amir gives a perfect example of this when he flees the scene of Hassan’s rape. Hassan has been nothing but loyal to Amir up to this point in the novel and it is reasonable to believe Amir would return his loyalty. Right before Amir runs away, readers get a glance into his thought process when he thinks to himself, “I had one last chance to make a decision...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” (Hosseini 77). Amir turns his back on Hassan despite the fact that Hassan has done everything for Amir, even saying he would eat dirt if Amir asks him too (54). Amir might not have wanted to betray Hassan, but he knew he had more to lose if he stayed and helped rather than if he just returned home and said nothing. Although intervening

Betrayal is the action of disloyalty towards one’s country, a group or a person. Sometimes betrayal can be considered a form of sin and this ends up occurring in The Kite Runner. During majority of the novel, Amir attempts to deal with his guilt by avoiding it. As time goes by this clearly does nothing towards him redeeming himself and therefore his guilt remains. This is why Amir crouches in fear every time he hears Hassan’s name being mentioned. “That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years” (Hosseini 1). This quote from the novel hints at the main point of the story and the reason he is telling it. To anyone as a reader the quotation is almost a teaser. It triggers a spark in the reader’s mind of what it could be without telling exactly what Amir is talking about. Later on in the story it then explains that the deserted alley Amir refers to is the place where Hassan was raped and Amir has not stop thinking about it since. This is what metaphor Amir used means how the past tries to claw its way out, because Amir had so much guilt the whole time. He kept trying