Theme Of Betrayal In The Kite Runner

Throughout the whole book, Amir has been vying for love from his father, often against Hassan, and feels powerless when he does not get it; this causes him to attempt to assert power in other aspects of his life, usually over Hassan. Amir feels as if Baba does not love him, and feels powerless to fix it; he says, “I always felt like Baba hated me a little, And why not? After all, I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn’t I? The least I could have done was to have the decency to have turned out a little more like him. But I hadn’t turned out like him. Not at all” (Hosseini 19). He believes there is nothing he can do to make his father love him; after all, he cannot change the past, and he cannot change himself substantially. This feeling of powerlessness affects him in such a way that he feels the need to compensate for this loss of power elsewhere in his life. He would exploit the kindness and forgiveness Hassan always showed him, and would try and prove his superiority and worth in that relationship. Amir once asked if Hassan would eat dirt if he asked him to, and afterwards said, “I knew I was being cruel, like when I’d taunt him if he didn’t know some big word. But there was something fascinating--albeit in a sick way--about teasing Hassan. Kind of like when we used to play insect torture. Except now he was the ant and I was holding the magnifying glass,” (Hosseini 54). Amir is filling the power gap he feels in his life with power over Hassan, and is trying to show Hassan how much control he has over him. Hassan, Amir’s servant and a genuinely kind person, is in a vulnerable position against Amir,

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

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

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

The beginning of Amir’s journey causes him to feel guilty enough that he causes a chain reaction where he inflicts more cruelty upon himself and others. Amir and Hassan used to live a simple life with the biggest negative in Amir’s life being the fact that his father liked Hassan more. Right after a kite tournament that Amir won, Hassan goes to run the kite for Amir, and Amir finds him being abused by Assef in an alley. Amir decides to do nothing and feels guilty about it for most of his life. Although the initial cruelty is inflicted upon Hassan, it is Amir who is hurt the most. His guilt causes him to inflict cruelty upon Hassan in order to cause Hassan to “give [Amir] the punishment [he] craved, so maybe [he]’d finally sleep at night” (92). Amir’s cruelty leads Hassan and his father to walk out of Amir’s life, leaving Amir and his father, Baba,

    Amir had been disloyal to Hassan his whole life. He did not stand up for Hassan when he needed it most and Amir even ran away when he could have helped Hassan. Amir constantly tortured Hassan as he tried to make Hassan eat dirt, throw fruit at him, or even when he tried to get Hassan to punch him. Amir wanted Hassan to stoop to his level and beat him up, so his guilt would disappear.

Amir had many thoughts of betraying Hassan for his father’s love and acceptance that he thought would bring him happiness. Khaled Hosseni (Amir) comments “If I changed my mind and asked for a bigger and fancier kite, Baba would buy it for me - but the he’d buy it for Hassan too. Sometimes I wished he wouldn’t do that.Wished he’d let me be the favorite”(51). This is a sign of jealousy, he doesn’t want Baba treating Hassan and him as equals. He feels like he should be above Hassan

“This was Hassan’s final sacrifice for me… He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again.” (Chapter 7) Betrayal in the novel Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, has many clips of betrayal between the characters. In this particular quote, it was Amir betraying Hassan. The main conflict of betrayal in the Kite Runner deals with the protagonist, Amir betraying his “best friend”, Hassan.

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.

Every one of Amir’s faults can be compared to one of Hassan’s strengths, and so Amir was a reminder of Baba's betrayal to Ali. Amir can identify with this because Hassan has been a reminder of his own guilt and his betrayal of his friend and brother. He understands that people are imperfect and that guilt and regret can cause more mistakes. Of all the ways Amir is changed by the events of December 1975, his decision to adopt Hassan’s son is the most profound.

We often over complicate the definition of betrayal. There is nothing complicated about it, in fact, it is actually quite simple. As Amir did in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, we hide behind our shame- act as if we’ve done nothing wrong when in reality, we know the damage we’ve done. The Kite Runner exemplifies the most painful form of betrayal- allowing self-image dictate the way in which treat others. Amir allowed his social status, as well as his own insecurities, distort his sense of morality.

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

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a historical fiction novel set mostly in Kabul, Afghanistan and Fremont, California. The novel spans the time periods before, during, and after the reign of the Russians (1979-1989) and the Taliban’s takeover (1996) of Afghanistan. It is told through the first person perspective of Amir alongside his father, Baba, his half-brother, Hassan, and Baba’s companions Ali and Rahim Khan. Growing up, Amir and Hassan are practically inseparable, as they are always playing games, reading poetry, or simply spending time together. Hassan’s mother, Sanaubar, is never present during the children’s youthful years, but they both have Baba as a shared father figure in their lives. The themes of betrayal and redemption

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.

In the book The Kite Runner there are multiple themes that are a prominent analysis of the text. Betrayal, forgiveness and love are three that are used a lot throughout the novel but then have a deeper meaning.