“There is a way to be good again” (2). This is the line that rolls through Amir's mind over and over throughout Khaled Hosseini's novel, The Kite Runner. This is the story of a mans struggle to find redemption. The author illustrates with the story of Amir that it is not possible to make wrongs completely right again because its too late to change past. In this novel Hosseini is telling us that redemption is obtainable, and by allowing us to see Amirs thought process throughout the novel, Hosseini shows us that it guilt is the primary motivation for someone who seeks redemption. Hosseini also uses not only the main character, but other secondary characters to show how big of a part that guilt plays in the desire for redemption. In this …show more content…
A past that has been hovering over his life. He gives us the idea that he is not happy with who he has become, and it was his wrong doing that made it that way. Hosseini shows that it is Amirs immense guilt that drives him to want to make things right and to earn redemption. We learn the basis Amir's guilt through his memories. It is caused by a lack of response at a time when his loyal servant and close friend Hassan is in trouble. Amir makes a conscious decision to hide in the distance and just watch, not because he was afraid. He sacrifices Hassan in order to earn his fathers attention and affection. This decision results in Hassan suffering though a traumatic experience and is the root of Amir's lasting regret. 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. This is just the beginnings of his guilt. We leave Amirs childhood memories and return to the summer of 2001, where Amir and Baba, Amir's father, have moved to America (191). Amir
Amir has had to deal with his guilt for years. Every time Amir seen Hassan he had to get reminded of what he had seen and did nothing about. In the article of how to deal with guilt it states , “what was done can't be undone , but the guilty one doesn't need to continue to be identified with the sin” (Century 1). This means that Amir's actions can't be undone , but he shouldn't feel guilty within himself after it's already happened and Years have past. Amir shouldn't have to live with that guilt throughout his life it was a careless
Guilt is a strong emotion that haunts us all, others hide it deep within themselves, some try to fix the wrong, and few people do good from it. The Kite Runner is the story of a boy named Amir, he struggles to find his place in the world, reason being of the all of the traumatic childhood events. He sends most of his time and life just sulking in guilt about the decisions he has made. Khaled Hosseini has given the idea that guilt can make you do good things, but all relies on what you're guilty about. The way this is portrayed is through the novel is through rhetorical strategies and imagery.
When this horrific event occurs, Amir chooses not to interfere. From that point on, he is clouded with questions regarding Hassan and is unable to escape his shame even when he moves to America, gets married, or launches a successful writing career. Amir’s
The guilt Amir felt because of letting Hassan be raped affected many of his future decisions. He made the choice to make it look as though Hassan stole from him, which caused Hassan and Hassan’s father to leave. Amir then moved to America with his father and thought moving would diminish his guilt.
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
Throughout the novel , Amir is plagued with guilt. He constantly thinks about his actions, is bothered by them but does not seem to know how to resolve the situation , how to stop the battle going within him, until Rahim Khan gives him a way, a way to be ‘good’ again. First we observe that Amir seems to be guilty as a child as he blamed himself for his mother’s death and believed it was the reason why Baba never truly loved him, he also was ashamed and unsatisfied with himself because he wasn’t strong and masculine like his father. : “ I always felt like
Amir cannot stand to look at Hassan and seeing the lamb-like eyes, so to make himself feel better about the situation, he frames Hassan. Amir is upset that Baba forgives Hassan but it is ironic because he is the one doing the sinful act and yet again it is Hassan who is saving and protecting Amir. These unfaithful acts are not in fact an act of selflessness but and an act of selfishness. Everything Amir is doing is for himself. He only cares about his own feelings but never is he putting himself in others people’s
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;
Through amir's perspective him and baba relationship becomes more distant as time goes on. The lack of acceptance that amir feels towards baba changes his perception of Hassan. He thinks of him as a human punching bag that he can abuse in order to get the attention that baba never gives. The relationship between Amir and hassan is literally and figuratively dangerous as, the constant emotional abuse that Hassan experiences can destroy an individuals self-worth, their pride and the little confidence that still remains just so other can fill the emptiness in his heart and feel he has redeemed himself. Through this Khaled Hosseini comments on the nature of humans and how the world has steered us, through corruption and media us into believing the notion that in order to have a sense of redemption we should take out our anger and frustration on others
Right after the Hassan’s rape, Amir cannot confront Hassan due to his inability to save him: “I didn’t speak to Hassan until the middle of the next week” (Hosseini 86). It is absolutely not Amir’s fault that Hassan was raped, however it is Amir’s fault that he is ignorant to rectify the situation by judging what is right or wrong. His sense of responsibility towards his action is where guilt comes from, and it is inevitable to remain ignorant from it. Even after years moving to America, he feels hesitant whenever people mention about Hassan. Baba mentions about Hassan that he wants to share the happiness and Amir’s growth with Hassan in the United States: “I wish Hassan had been with us today” (Hosseini 131). Amir’s reaction shows how remorseful he still is, as he claims that guilt is harming him: “A pair of steel hands closed around my windpipe at the sound of Hassan’s name”(Hosseini 134). The steel hands represent the stiffness of his guilt suffocating himself every second, and whenever people brings up topic about Hassan, his guilty conscience suffocates him. Likewise, Amir is not completely feeling free about Hassan even though he is miles away from him. Lastly, he is too late to learn from mistakes when he is told that Hassan passed away, thus he adopts Hassan’s son, Sohrab. Sohrab serves a huge role in this
Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is a remarkable coming-of-age novel describing and revealing the thoughts and actions of Amir, a compunctious adult in the United States and his memories of his affluent childhood in the unstable political environment of Afghanistan. The novel showcases the simplistic yet powerful ability of guilt to influence decisions and cause conflict which arises between Amir’s childhood friend and half-brother, Hassan; Amir’s father, Baba; and importantly, himself. Difference in class The quest to become “good again” causes a reflection in Amir to atone for his sins and transform into the person of which he chooses to be.
Since he was twelve, Amir has been struggling with his sin against Hassan; the fact that he did not come to the rescue of his friend. Deep down Amir always feels like he should have done something and feels horrible because he had chosen not to. Due to his nagging guilt, Amir is notable to live a peaceful life. Amir has an overwhelming need to be punished, to be redeemed from his sin, so that he does not have to live with his remorse. Amir’s feeling of guilt and his vital need for redemption are always a part of his life as he is growing up.
The expression "riddled with guilt" is a good way to describe the main character's life, Amir, in the book The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner is a story about an Afghan boy, Amir, who has many hardships throughout his life as he grows from a boy living in war-torn Afghanistan, to a successful writer living in America. Amir experiences many events that caused him to carry a great amount of guilt throughout his life. So much guilt that it even turned him into an insomniac. He needed to find a way to make amends which would allow him to forgive himself and hopefully, one day, be able to sleep soundly again.
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
He is to be a declared good moral person to feel guilt, an amoral person has no guilt complex to be burdened. Amir has recognized his behaviour and feels his guilt. The way Amir dealt with his guilt was with restorative change. He swallowed his pride and lied to avoid justifying the situation by revisiting its details. So, Amir lied and said Hassan had stole Amir’s birthday money and watch. Ali, Hassan’s father felt humiliated and insisted he and Hassan leave, that they no longer live in Kabul with Amir and Baba. Amir was not searching for Amends, though Hassan was searching for a friend. Perhap Amir was also guilty of never being the reliable friend that Hassan was to him. He had ridiculed him on his illiteracy, referred to Hassan as only his servant, and neglect Hassan when