Guilt is a psychological feeling where one feels miserable and unworthy, and it gives the feeling as if one has committed a sin or a crime. There are many causes that create that feeling, such as doing something wrong, that goes against your morals and ethics, or not doing the right thing which leaves you ashamed and disappointed in yourself. In the novel “The Kite Runner”, the New York’s best seller, written by “Khaled Hosseini”, guilt is a major theme that plays an important role in how the characters feel and what they do, and it strongly contributes to the outcome of the story. Both Amir and his father are a tortured soul, that are feeling the guilt through the story The author used this story to communicate many universal truths, one of …show more content…
After committing a sin, the guilt feeling will stay with you until it is resolved or redeemed, it might take years for it to go away. According to psychology today, an article published by Guy Winch, a licensed psychologist, says that “Unresolved guilt is like having a snooze alarm in your head that won't shut off, Indeed, it is not uncommon for guilt to persist over lengthy periods of time”. As the study suggests, guilt will stay with you until it is redeemed, just like a snoozed alarm in your head until it is shut, during the time your feeling guilty, you will have a negative mood, and it is hard to concentrate because of the negative thoughts. In The Kite Runner, the author shows us this universal truth after the rape incidence, Amir is feeling guilty because he didn’t stand up for Hassan, he kept feeling guilty all through the book until he redeemed himself and stood up for Hassan’s son, Sohrab, later on in the book. “What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace”. It is here where Amir redeems his guilt, after taking a beating from Assef on his mission to rescue Sohrab, Amir feels that he finally stood up for what is right, that can Intercedes for his past. Thus, guilt haunts people for as long as it takes until it is
The quote,“Guilt is to the spirit, what pain is to the body” said by Elder David A. Bednar, really proves that guilt can be very painful and it is especially painful for Amir because he dealt with the guilt of choosing to not help Hassan his whole life. As soon as Amir decided to run away instead of trying to help Hassan and stop him from being sexually assaulted by Assef, he immediately felt guilty and that stuck with him for the rest of his life. The author really shows Amir’s guilt throughout the novel through different negative events that always seem to happen to Amir, he uses the idea of “full circle” throughout the novel to express Amir’s guilt. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini shows the motif guilt by adding important details throughout the novel: these include how Amir continues to feel guilty for the way that he treated Hassan throughout their childhood, he never stood up for Hassan when he needed him the most, and even when Amir tried to get rid of his guilt by bringing Sohrab back to America, he still felt guilt for everything he had done to Hassan.
“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.” – Voltaire. Guilt is an emotion that comes from believing that you were responsible for a particular mistake (usually the violation of some moral code) whether or not this guilt is accurate. In the novel The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the main character Amir portrays guilt as being destructive. Amir’s experience leads to him feeling guilty for the rest of his life. This guilt breaks up the relationships he once had, it also affects the people around him. In the novel The Kite Runner, Khlaed uses Amir to show how violence leads to betrayal, then guilt and at some point destroys relationships between people. This is mostly proved in the novel by the impact of violence on Amir which
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.
The quote, “Guilt is a destructive and ultimately pointless emotion” (Crilly, 2012), shows the effect of guilt on a person. Guilt can control a whole person’s life at times, and constantly causes them to think about events that caused the emotion. Two characters in The Kite Runner, Amir and Baba, constantly experience guilt due to important events that occured in their lives. In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the motif of guilt is shown when looking at how Amir lived with the death of his mother, how Amir responded to the attack of Hassan, and how Baba dealt with being the biological father of Hassan.
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
Guilt has the incredible power to change an individual’s perspective and affect them for the rest of their life. The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, is a world-renowned novel published in 2003 that tells the story of a young boy named Amir who grows up with the guilt of having failed to fight the group of boys who raped his closest friend. One of the main themes Hosseini emphasizes in the novel, is the powerful affect of guilt on one’s self. Different characters such as Amir, Sanubar and Baba use the guilt that exists in every one of them as a motive to their actions to further develop the plot. Amir, the narrator of the novel, witnesses his closest friend, Hassan, get bullied by an older boy named Aseef and decides not to
“Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt”-George Sewell. Guilt is just like fear, it will always haunt you until the day you be strong enough to face them. The book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini shows these two statements throughout the story. In the book in different situations when the characters faced their fears and dealt with their guilt. Different situations in the book would have maybe had a different outcome if some guilts and fears were faced and dealt with. Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, teaches the reader that guilt is just like fear it will hunt you until you until you face through Amir trying to overcome his guilt by facing his fear of Assef and getting beaten by him to forgive himself for the things he had done in the past,(3)and when Amir felt guilty when he made Hassan and Ali leave.
“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do,” Voltaire once said. Every choice in life comes with a consequence that follows. A common consequence is guilt, a bad feeling caused by knowing or thinking that you have done something wrong. Amir, the main character in The Kite Runner, discovers the consequence of guilt after making decisions throughout his childhood that were destructive. Khaled Hosseini describes the destructive ability of guilt to consume one’s life through the the relationships of Amir and Hassan, Baba and Ali, and Amir and Sohrab.
Throughout The Kite Runner the main character almost constantly endures guilt. The guilt stems off the relationship with Hassan, and his constant battle to not become too close to him because of their social differences alongside the fact that Amir was jealous of Hassan’s relationship with Baba, Amir’s father. The reader can begin to notice Amir’s guilt with the scene in the alleyway between Hassan and Assef, in which Hassan is raped.
The guilt Amir feels for his decisions and actions is excessively prominent throughout the entire novel as he begins to “realize the depth of the pain” he had
“I lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it… Then I knocked on Baba’s door and told him what I hoped would be the last in a long line of shameful lies.”(Hosseini,104)- The guilt building up in Amir is causing so much tension between him and Hassan that he just wants Hassan to leave. However it won’t be easy because his father will not fire his “family”. Theft is the only sin Baba cannot tolerate and Amir knows this.
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
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.
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.