The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

One triumphant day, Amir won the local kite fighting tournament and finally earned Baba’s praise. Hassan ran to retrieve the losing kite, which was considered a trophy, and told Amir “For you, a thousand times over”. When Hassan finally obtained the kite, he was cornered by Assef and his friends. Assef was the neighborhood bully and had tortured Amir and Hassan for years. When Hassan refused to give up the kite, Assef beat and raped him. Amir watched the whole thing but didn’t interfe because he didn’t want to lose the respect of his father. The guilt ate Amir alive. “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.” Soon after the incident, Amir tried to distance himself from Hassan and Hassan and his father eventually leave. A couple years later, Amir and Baba flee to America to escape the war in Afghanistan. Amir graduates and gets married but even after all those years;

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

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

The novel The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, is the story of a young, upper class boy by the name of Amir and his friend, a lower class boy named Hassan. While Amir is a Pashtun and a Sunni Muslim, Hassan is a Hazara and a Shi’a muslim, which causes the main conflict between the two. Amir and Hassan learn more and more about their social status, as well as their personal friendships and problems as they grow up in Afghanistan.

“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, is the complex story about a father and a son who struggle to find common ground. They are from Kabul during a time where danger was everywhere. Amir was a conflicted boy trying to find his place and purpose. He believed his father; Baba disliked him because his birth was the reason his mother passed. While Amir’s father favored the son of their family servant, Hassan. Amir’s friendship with Hassan was genuine until a tragic event Amir witnessed of Hassan and Amir did not step into help. Amir’s father once told him he needed to learn to stand up to people. That crime against Hassan changed Amir for the worse, something he could never let go of throughout his life. These are the main characters of the

An incident from childhood can scar a child that can build guilt over time. Amir portrays a selfish boy in his childhood since his father’s words echo over time that, “A boy who can’t stand up for himself

sin and forget about it. Amir then faced the long bumpy road to redemption. Khaled Hosseini’s

For instance, Amir feels responsible for his mother's death since his father shows very little endearment towards him making Amir believe he doesn't love him. He doesn't understand the problems that can happen while giving birth, so he takes it upon himself, which also becomes a part of his internal conflict. Throughout Amir’s adulthood, his feelings grow to a point where he seems to have no way out. Revealing the regret Amir had for his actions in the past. Amir shows to be a bit hard on himself, especially when he remembers all times Hassan stood up for him revealing his loyalty. Most of Amir’s internal conflict is connected to his regret of not stopping Hassan from getting raped. Therefore, all he feels he can do is “[bury his] head under the pillow, and cry”(Hosseini 88) as he believes that “the nature of [his] new curse: [is] to live [his] life getting away with [his sin]” (Hosseini 86). Further into his older life we realize Amir has an overwhelming need to be chastised in order to feel redeemed from his guilty

​In the novel, “The Kite Runner”, written by Khaled Hosseini, was taken place in Afghanistan during the 1970’s to the year of 2002. Many historical events happened during this time period and Hosseini portrayed it into his novel. Kabul, the capitol of Afghanistan, was a free, living area for many Afghanistan families to enjoy the life they were given. Until one day, Afghanistan was then taken over and attacked. In the novel, Amir, the protagonist, must redeem himself and the history behind his actions because of his past decisions and make himself good again for the Afghanistan people.

The motifs that are being presented in this story are rape, irony and flashbacks. A recurring event that is crucial to this novel is the rape incidents of Hassan and later his son, Sohrab. From the beginning, Assef’s rape of Hassan is the primary source of Amir’s guilt. "I've changed my mind. I’m letting you keep the kite, Hazara. I'll let you keep it so it will always remind you of what I'm about to do” (Hosseini 73). To further elaborate, Amir being aware of the situation didn’t help the case due to his cowardliness. Because of this incident, Amir becomes emotionally distraught leaving him no choice but to set Hassan up for a ploy so that both of them would be separated. Going in hand with rape, irony plays a huge role. Amir realizes he is a cowards for the decisions he makes and only makes these decisions to get Baba’s approval, only to result in overwhelming guilt. To

Joseph Prince, a famous clergyman, says “ What you believe is very powerful. If you have toxic emotions of fear guilt and depression, it is because you have wrong thinking, and you have wrong thinking because of wrong”. This quote reveals your belief is powerful enough to change your perspective. Strong emotions like fear, guilt, and depression can lead someone to react or cause stress. Joseph goes on to say that your emotions can force you to make wrongdoings. These actions can haunt you forever. Author Khaled Hosseini, examines powerful emotions such as betrayal, guilt, and relief. He looks at how these emotions change your perspective. In the novel The Kite Runner, Hosseini uses the characterization of Amir to illustrate when man feels disconnected from his father, he will betray man, by having a strong sense of guilt, and he redeems himself by having a relief of pain.

When Amir was a kid he watched his Hazarra, Hassan, who was also his half brother get raped. When this happened, Amir stood and watched instead of trying to help Hassan. For the rest of Amir’s childhood he tried to get rid of Hassan because he could not face him. After Hassan left, Amir spent his life regretting what he did. Baba, Amir’s father says “It may be unfair but what happens in a few day, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime” (Hosseini 142). This pertains to how Amir feels about the rape. He feels bad for not stepping in and helping his friend. For the rest of his life he tries to find forgiveness and redemption from just standing there. Amir states, “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” (1). Amir tried to bury what happened by not telling anyone, then when he gets a call from Rahim Khan, everything changes and the past resurfaces. Amir uses this call as his chance for forgiveness and redemption.

Amir’s friendship with Hassan has transmuted his life during the progression of his childhood to adulthood, and later found happiness. Hassan, Amir’s best friend, showed him that friendship is the key to contentment and it will bring hope and optimism, “For you a thousand times over!" (Hosseini 53). However, having opposing threats will trigger the negative consequences to defect innocence and create instability. Though Hassan is Amir’s best friend, Amir feels that Hassan, a Hazara servant, is lower than him. When Hassan receives Baba’s consideration, Amir tries to affirm himself by emotionally attacking Hassan. This shows that Amir is a friend who is quite selfish and seems to lack the sense of empathy and compassion, “lifted Hassan's mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it…I hoped would be the last in a long line of shameful lies” (Hosseini 90). As Amir grew older he slowly started to let go off the burden and realized the negativity of his own actions. As a consequence, during Amir’s adulthood, he had come to understand that he had done the wrong thing, his maturity and self esteem brought his sense of happiness towards himself and others around him.

In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini creates an awareness and humanization of Afghanistan as a nation and as a culture. Through a postcolonial perspective, the main character, Amir resembles the internal conflicts and external tribulations that a country and its citizens’ face when living in a war-torn region.

Plot summary: Amir flashbacks to when he was twelve years old in Afghanistan. He lives with his father, Baba, and has two servants, Ali and Hassan, who are also a father and son duo. The latter two are Hazaras, Afghan’s minority, and as such, are subjected to racial slurs and cruelty. Amir and Hassan are playing when Assef, Kamal, and