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Theme Of Betrayal In The Kite Runner

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The Kite Runner is a story about a boy named Amir who grew up in Afghanistan and has gone through some hardships in his life, like the war in Afghanistan and moving to America. Hosseini shows betrayal, forgiveness, and redemption through the scenes of violence such as rape, Amir/Assef fight, and murder. One of the first scenes of violence in The Kite Runner is Hassan’s rape which shows us Amir’s betrayal to his friend. On page 77 of the book it says, “I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step up 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.” The event of Hassan’s rape showed us Amir’s true self because he chose to run instead of helping shows his betrayal to his friend. His betrayal towards Hassan shows us that he is a selfish person who at this point only cared about himself. Also on page 77 it says, “Nothing was free in the world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.” This again shows us that Amir betrays Hassan by not being a courageous person and instead let him get raped in order to get the blue kite from him that he feels he needs to make Baba proud. Sohrab’s rape is also another scene of violence in the book that contributes to the theme of the book. On page 286 it says, “I took Sohrab’s hand. I was small, the skin was dry and calloused.

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