Throughout people’s lives, there is a call for redemption. Some people will face their past and others will leave it behind. The people who face their pasts will be more than likely to succeed at redemption. Some characters from Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, are seeking redemption. The novel is placed in Afghanistan and later shifts to the United States. Amir, a young Islamic boy who grows up in Afghanistan, watches Hassan get raped when they were young. When he is older, moving to America is when Amir finds the best opportunity to redeem himself by starting a new life and adopting Sohrab. Amir goes back to Afghanistan and Rahim Khan describes the troubles in Afghan during this time and also explains to Amir how Hassan stays by …show more content…
He’s been rescued from the orphanage and adopted by Amir. While Amir was trying to adopt Sohrab, he had realized that the Taliban official is Assef who had raped Hassan. Amir is allowed to adopt Sohrab, but Assef tells him he has to earn it. Sohrab knows about what Assef had done to his father and wants to redeem him. He is questioning the redemption and wonders whether he should. Amir has to fight Assef in order to adopt him. Sohrab has drawn his slingshot back and is ready to take a shot at Assef while he is beating on Amir. While Assef is beating Amir, Sohrab cries, “Please, Agha...Stop...Don’t hurt him anymore” (290). Sohrab is begging for Assef’s mercy and this shows how he is hesitant about shooting Assef with his slingshot. After Sohrab had shot Assef he yelled at Amir, “Let’s go!” (291). He was in a hurry to leave, proving that he was scared about the fact he had shot Assef. Sohrab was sobbing and Farid is waiting in his car. That was the last thing Amir had heard right before he passed out. Sohrab, Amir, and Farid were quick to leave, but Sohrab had successfully redeemed his father from Assef raping him years …show more content…
Amir has asked her father if they could get married and he approved. Amir is thrilled to marry Soraya, but she wants to tell him something. Amir is excited to marry her and he says without a doubt, “I don’t care what it is” (164). He isn’t worried about what Soraya is going to tell him and says it won’t change his mind. Soraya begins to tell him about how she ran away with and the Afghan man, got into drugs and was rebellious at the time. She tells about when she came home, her mother had a stroke and felt guilty. Soraya asks Amir if what she told him had bothered him. Amir says it has in fact bothered him a little and is thinking, “I owed her the truth on this one” (165). It has stung his pride, but he does still love her and has not changed his mind. After he tells Soraya that he still wants to marry her, she broke out in tears. Soraya had the courage to tell Amir about her past and he accepted it. She successfully redeemed herself of her past life of drugs and regret.
In Khaled Hosseini’s story, The Kite Runner, Amir, Sohrab, and Soraya have tried to find redemption. The three have succeeded, but their path to redemption has been difficult. Overall, Amir, and Soraya were struggling with their own past lives, and Sohrab sought redemption for his father’s. Hosseini’s novel portrayed how redeeming yourself, or others isn’t easy. Some people will face their past and
Amir’s mother, Sofia, dies in childbirth; Amir inherits her love of literature and probably her looks to some extent, but, her being dead, never receives any motherly love or guidance, which could have helped him out of the cowardly hole he later digs himself into. Amir’s father’s best friend and business partner, Rahim Khan, tries to give Amir the motherly love he clearly needs, fostering Amir’s love of writing and steadfastly standing up for him when Amir’s father, Baba, criticizes him, but Rahim Khan does not do enough to instill honesty, courage, and strength of conviction in young Amir. Amir’s best friend, Hassan, a servant a year younger than Amir, is everything Amir is not: athletic, brave, loyal, honest, and kind, inciting jealousy in Amir. Assef, a local bully, poses a real threat to Amir, hating Amir for the crime of befriending a Hazara (oppressed ethnic minority), but Amir is protected by Hassan, allowing young Amir to freeze and not stand up for himself in Assef’s presence. Last, but most importantly, is Amir’s father, Baba, and his views on Amir: he blames Amir for Sofia’s death,
Eventually, Amir received a call from his old mentor, who told him to come back to Afghanistan because "there is a way to be good again." What Amir learned while he visited his mentor would lead him to what he considered redemption. Hassan had been killed, which Amir partially considered his fault, but Hassan's son, Sohrab, was still alive. With the idea of giving him to a good placement organization, Amir set out to save Sohrab. Amir found Sohrab in the possession of a Taliban member, the same man who had raped Hassan when they were children. In order to save Sohrab, Amir had to fight the man, and he was injured very badly in doing so. Despite his injuries, he felt better about himself. He felt free, at peace. He finally had the courage to tell his wife about what he had done, and that took a weight off of his shoulders, as well. Even though Hassan had forgiven him long ago, Amir refused anything less than Hassan's fate.
Moreover, Amir tries to redeem himself to Sohrab. Sohrab had one request, and that request was to never go back to an orphanage. When a lawyer tells Amir that sending Sohrab back to an orphanage is their best bet, Soharb tries to kill himself by slitting his wrists. Amir was always “... met by silence” (352) whenever he tried to talk to Soharb. Soharb went silent when they moved to America, and Amir did everything in his power to give Sohrab a good life. He wanted to make up for the pain he had caused Sohrab, Amir couldn’t live knowing that Sohrab tried to kill himself because of what he had done. Sohrab had also saved Amir’s life. When Amir unexpectedly confronted Assef, the man who raped Hassan, he almost beat him to death. but Sohrab stepped in and shot Assef’s eye with a slingshot, saving Amir’s life. Amir owed his whole life to Sohrab. Amir tried everyday to redeem himself to Sohrab subconsciously speaking, Amir was trying to give him a better life than Hassan, to be the man he should have been all those years
“True redemption is when guilt leads to good,” Rahim Khan asserts. Khaled Hosseini compels the readers to think in the novel, The Kite Runner, by analyzing Amir’s quests. Additionally, readers must understand Amir’s journey to maturity throughout The Kite Runner, as a Bildungsroman novel. Amir’s journey to redemption ultimately accentuates his quest for adulthood.
He has traveled to Afghanistan to save his nephew he never knew. At this point Amir knows the dangers he faces in the war riddled country but he must seek a way to forgive himself for what he did to Hassan. In his quest to make things right again, Amir confronts Assef, ““WHAT’S SO FUNNY?" Assef bellowed. Another rib snapped, this time left lower. What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden nook in a corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this.” (Pg. 289) This is a large turning point in the novel. Amir can finally feel like he is doing right by everyone and gaining redemption for his
Finding redemption is often the only way many people can escape the demons of their past. Actions have consequences and those consequences haunt people for the duration of their lives. Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, presents seeking redemption throughout his novel by sharing the breathtaking story of Amir, a Sunni boy who struggles to forget his guiltridden past. Despite his greatest efforts, Amir finds it impossible to bury his past, so he returns to his home Kabul, Afghanistan to redeem himself of his wrong doings. By incorporating
In the Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini wrote that “true redemption is […] when guilt leads to good” (Hosseini 302). this connection between suffering and redemption develops throughout the whole story. Hosseini hints that sacrifice leads to redemption in the book the Kite Runner through the actions of Baba, Sanaubar’s return, and Amir’s journey to atone for his sins.
“There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love” (Bryant H. McGrill). This message is greatly conveyed throughout Khalid Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. The main character, Amir, experiences certain situations which require him to stand up for those he loves or which require him to forgive either others or most importantly: himself. The whole novel leads us through a roller coaster of Amir’s life, which in the end, finally finds peace and forgiveness within himself. Hassan, “the innocent lamb,” teaches Amir and the readers how to live a life of love and virtue. Although Baba’s betrayal and Hassan’s departure cause sorrow for all, Hassan’s naiveness and loyalty show Amir the power and significance of
When Amir and his wife, Soraya, can’t seem to have a child, Amir believes that it is because of his wrongdoings in the past. Right up until Amir is in his 30’s does he confront his mistakes. It takes a call from Rahim Khan to persuade him that there is ‘a way to be good again’ (Pg. 2). Amir knows that he needs to make up to Hassan for the wrong that he did all those years ago, and so by confronting his mistake and trying to redeem himself by rescuing Sohrab, Hassan’s son. Amir’s confrontation with Assef when he is getting back Sohrab made him feel like he was confronting his mistakes and gaining redemption ‘For the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace… In some nook in a corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this.’ (Pg. 265). This is the punishment and redemption that he has been waiting all these years for, because Hassan wouldn’t punish him all those years ago when they were under the pomegranate tree.
How, after years of guilt, self-disgust, and deception, is it possible for one person to become good again? Entrapped in a cage of cowardice for so long, can they ever develop and grow as a normal human being? Amir, the anti-hero in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, seeks to answer these questions in his own search for atonement through various existential events in his life.
Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is an award-winning novel and considered one of today’s most popular, contemporary classics. The story is one of familiar themes such as loyalty, forgiveness, betrayal, love, and redemption. It follows the tale of Amir and how he must atone for his sins and find a way to “be good again” (Hosseini 2). The quintessential message of this book relies on the idea of second chances. Themes of redemption, betrayal, loyalty, and forgiveness are not only shown without doubt through this book, but are also common among many literary works and religions. Hosseini is successful in showing the significance of these themes throughout the novel.
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.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini tells the coming of age story of the main character Amir. Throughout the novel, many themes are apparent as Amir gets older and deals with the events of his past. One of the main themes is regardless of any action there is always a way to redeem yourself. There are many examples of this theme in The Kite Runner, like when Rahim Khan tells Amir that he can redeem himself, another would be when Assef beats up/hurts Amir but he feels healed, finally were Amir is flying a kite with Sohrab and he smiles. The theme of redemption is present throughout the events of the novel.
“I opened my mouth, almost said something. Almost. The rest of my life might have turned out differently if I had. But I didn’t.” This quote on page 73 in Khaled Hosseini’s, “Kite Runner” shows one of the many times in which Amir betrayed his “friend” Hassan throughout their childhood. The time when he stood cowardly and idle as he witnessed his closest friend, Hassan yet once again stand up for him , an action that would not be repaid until many years later.This particular betrayal may have been the single reason why Amir found himself abandoning his American dream life and family in America almost twenty years later to search for an orphaned boy throughout dangerous and war torn Afghanistan. Doing so, Amir was putting his life and future in danger for attempt in redemption of his poor choices as a child. Redemption is only possible when an individual is willing to do whatever it takes to
Conflict between guilt and redemption has been one of the big themes of mankind, as it is described in many notable literary pieces and scriptures including the Bible. Similarly, The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini vividly depicts a young Afghan man, Amir, suffering between sin and guilt, realizing how he could’ve changed one’s destiny. This story is not merely about repentance, but also about the whole process of realization. Although Amir remains guilty by avoiding Hassan consistently after the betrayal, he seeks true repentance after realizing that apologies towards Hassan are too late.