Terry Goodkind, an American writer, once said “Only those you trust can betray you”. We see this in The Kite Runner as Amir ends up letting down those who trust him with acts of betrayal. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini argues that pashtunwali sees betrayal as something that is unacceptable, which prevents Amir from realizing the damage he has caused. Despite Amir being surrounded by those who show him loyalty, he has failed to live up. After realizing the damage he has caused, Amir then looks for redemption and reduces the amount of guilt he has. Amir is expected to live up to this standard of morality and has shown more acts of betrayal in his life despite being surrounded by acts of loyalty. Body Paragraph 1 Arguable Topic Sentence that re-argues the thesis more specifically. Topic sentence 1: Throughout the book Amir has been influenced by many acts of betrayal around his community which led him to betray the ones he cares about without noticing. Context and lead in for quote number one: Amir has had many acts of betrayal, but before that he has a choice to help out Hassan like he has done for Amir or let it go. Quote number 1:“I 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...and accept whatever happened to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran”(77). Commentary that explores deeper meaning from words/phrases from the quote: In this passage, the phrase “I ran”
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.
When Amir is confronted by Assef, who has possession of Hassan’s son, he challenges him to a fight. When Assef brutally abuses him, “[Amir] for the first time since the winter of 1975 felt at peace” (Hosseini 303). This portrays a pivotal moment in Amir’s life as it proves that Amir is willing to sacrifice his life for Sohrab just as Hassan sacrificed his life for him. Also, the guilt that has haunted him since his childhood is finally lifted, and his mind is at peace. On top of that, Amir has redeemed himself as he has compensated for the pain he caused Hassan. On his arrival back to America, General Sahib asks Amir, why he has brought this Hazara boy back with him. Amir responds by telling him “that he should never again refer to him as a Hazara in [his] presence” (Hosseini 380). This displays that Amir is once again redeeming himself to Hassan by finally standing up for Sohrab. For Amir, he believes that he is proving his loyalty and faithfulness to Hassan. Furthermore, this displays that Amir is once again redeeming himself to Hassan by finally standing up for
This Statement refers to how Amir is done sacrificing for Baba because he realizes where it has gotten him. The only reason Amir let Hassan get raped was because he knew that returning the kite home to his father meant. Amir would finally get his approval and love from his dad that he always wanted. This was all Amir ever wanted and to have Hassan get in the way of that was the reason he didn’t help. This was the last straw this time Amir was through trying to do things right for his dad. Amir became conscious of his actions and that he should follow his gut.
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
In the book the kite runner Amir betrays Hassan when he watches Hassan being abused by Assef. When Hassan is confronted by Assef he wants the blue kite but Hassan will not give it up. Assef Abuses him instead and Amir just hides in the corner and then runs away instead of helping Hassan.“I ran because i was a coward” (Hosseini)(pg82). This quote proves betrayal because this
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.
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
Amir's forgiveness of himself is the most important one in the book and drives him to go back to Afghanistan.
In our current society, people constantly make bad decisions that lead them in the wrong path for the majority of their life, which may put them in jail or even get them killed. The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, is a famous novel that portrays the story of Amir, a boy who tries to escape the constant guilt that has followed him since childhood because of the bad decisions that he made. Khaled Hosseini used the novel’s devastating depiction of sacrifice, honor, and redemption to explain that there is always a way to be a righteous and respectable person again. Through sacrifice, Amir was able to relieve his guilt and become the virtuous person that he has always wanted to be.
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.
“I 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
To begin with, Amir demonstrates the act of betrayal because he had a choice to stand up for Hassan in the alley in the winter of 1975. In the winter of 1975, Amir witnessed his friend, Hassan getting raped by Assef, a kid who thought he was superior to others, and Amir had a choice to either stand up for Hassan or run. His choice was to run because he was scared of what Assef would do to him. Hosseini states, “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” (77). In other words, Hosseini believes that Amir had a choice in helping who he said was his friend or he could run, and as Hosseini said, he chose to run. This is showing how Amir betrayed Hassan in a way that was not fair because Hassan would always stand up for him when others were bullying him and he could’ve done the same but chose not to, now because of his choice he cannot forget this day.
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
He knows that he needs to risk his life for Hassan’s son and be the person that Hassan had always been to Amir. Amir is finally able to make a good decision; a decision that would change his character and his life.
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