Theme Of Sacrifice In The Kite Runner

After losing his wife while she was in labor, he was burdened until the end of his life. Even his own son could not bring him joy due to the fact that he was not athletic nor could he stick up for himself. He as well as society looked down upon Amir for his lack of manliness. Baba was constantly dealing with his own self conscience yet did good deeds to cover them up and hide them from society so they also would not see how broken he was. He later on died with cancer but was happy for his son. He did not feel dishonored, he was proud of Amir. Like Rahim Khan said “ Children are not coloring books. You can’t fill them with your favorite colors.” This really spoke to Baba before his passing and made him realize that Amir was doing what he wanted to do, taking his own path. Baba found peace in himself with his son and therefore died with no regrets. Some parents passed with grief for their

One of the major differences between Amir and Baba is that Baba is seen as courageous, while Amir is more cowardly. Amir always seems to let hassan stand up for him, instead of standing up for himself. “‘Self-defense has nothing to do with meanness. You know what always happens when the neighborhood boys tease him? Hassan steps in and fends them off.’” When Amir sees that Hassan is being attacked, he has to make a decision on whether or not to save him. “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.” He was too scared to stand up for his closest friend. When Baba and Amir were escaping from Afghanistan, they were stopped by some russian soldiers and Baba was faced with a similar choice. “But the Russian soldier shouted something that made the other

Despite Ali and Hassan’s loyalty they are still betrayed by their masters. Baba’s betrayal is much worse than what Amir did to Hassan. Baba intentionally betrayed Ali who he claimed to be his friend. Baba even said that he felt Ali was like a brother to him. But Baba caused what happened and directly harmed Ali because of what he did. Amir didn’t directly harm Hassan and he also didn’t cause what happened to his friend like Baba did. But Amir didn’t do anything about what was happening to Hassan either. Baba broke his own rule; he robbed Amir and Hassan of their brotherhood by not telling them they were related. He robbed Ali of his honor by sleeping with Sanaubar. And he robbed his own wife of the truth by cheating on her while she was pregnant. He also robbed Amir of his innocence because while trying to make Baba proud he became guilty for what happened to Hassan. Amir could have run home to tell Baba what was happening to Hassan but he hid and waited so that his kite would be brought to him. Not only that but Amir goes to great lengths to try and get rid of Hassan so that his guilt can leave with Hassan. Both masters betray their best friends and “brothers;” but later on in life they try to compensate for it by doing good deeds. Baba builds an

When the Russian soldier asked for half an hour with the lady in the back Baba stood up and spoke against it. Baba had the courage due to his past experiences and adverse situations he has already faced. “I will take a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place.” His personal values and beliefs went against Russian soldiers demands only because incidents before have had an impact on his character and they shaped his identity. Baba constantly tries to do good deeds to redeem and perhaps forgive himself. Another example of shaping identity is society pressure. Baba’s image mattered, how other people saw him and how they treated him was a part of his personal values and self worth. Wealth, status and honor were how he was portrayed in front of society. Society pressure and judgment shaped Baba’s identity and impacted his decisions. He was ashamed to tell everyone that he is Hassan’s father, a father to a Hazzara. He did not want to lose his identity of being a Pashtun or be disrespected due to his past. Just as Amir Baba was willing to deal with guilt and regret for personal desires and searched for true redemption the rest of his life.

Baba immediately stands up and tells the soldier to leave her alone. The soldier then threatens to shoot Baba, to which Baba replies “‘[you’d] better kill me good with that first shot. Because if I don’t go down, I’m tearing [you] to pieces […]’” (Hosseini 123). Fortunately for Amir, the soldier’s superior calls the soldier off and Baba survives the encounter, but the act resonates with the reader: Baba is willing to sacrifice his life for others. A smaller example of his self-sacrifice is the orphanage that Baba had built before the start of novel. Baba is a wealthy man, and presumably it did not make to large an impact on his riches, but he went out of his way to build an orphanage simply because it was the right thing to do. Baba’s love of humanity in general inspired him to sacrifices quite a lot to make the world a better place.

Shortly after Baba’s death, his old friend Rahim Khan calls him to come back to Afghanistan to finally make amends. As Amir begins his journey back to Afghanistan, his character can be defined as empathic and loving.

Khaled emphasizes Baba’s sacrifices to show how they lead Baba to his atonement. First, Rahim Khan attests to Baba’s character and actions in his letter, saying: “He was a good man […] everything he did […] it was all his way of redeeming himself” (Hosseini 302). This reveals that Baba finds peace with his regrets and made up tor them by creating the orphanage and committing other kind deeds (302). Baba protecting the Afghani woman trom a violent rapist on the way to Peshawar also demonstrated Baba’s atonement. Baba protects the woman because he had already committed the worst sin in his own mind- theft of the truth trom Amir and Hassan; he had to continue redeeming himself by sacrificing his safety (115-16). Last, Baba helped so many people that not even was the parking lot tull at his funeral; people were parking blocks away. The mourners taking their time to commemorate Baba illustrate that Baba has truly made up tor his lies by giving all he can to the people around him (173). Baba’s actions are just one way Hosseini explains how devotion to kindness is connected to atonement.

The first reason why Baba is a good man is because he puts family and others he loves first. In chapter three, Amir asked if they could get new servants because their was something going on between him and Hassan. This quote will show what happened: “‘Baba have you ever thought about getting new servants?’ Amir said . . . ‘I grew up with Ali, My father took him in, he loved him like his own son. Forty years Ali’s with my family. Forty goddamn years. And you think I'm just going to throw him out?’”(Hosseini 89) Baba would not just throw out the people he calls family like that. The fact that Baba got so upset when Amir asked that shows that he doesn't care what happens, He will always

Baba’s lack of faith prevents him from finding atonement through God. Moreover, Baba is unable to find holistic atonement because he fails to admit and reconcile his sins to those who are affected by them. Although Baba preforms small deeds to redeem himself, such as providing cosmetic surgery to Hassan, he fails acknowledge him as his son, which would allow Baba to achieve true atonement. Evidently, Baba’s actions illustrate he only sought personal redemption. For instance, in an effort to ease his guilt, Baba constructed an orphanage in Kabul. While this initially depicted Baba as selfless, it is later discovered this act of charity is preformed predominantly to alleviate his guilt. Rahim Khan later tells Amir, “ I think everything he did, feeding the poor, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need, it was all his way of redeeming himself” (Hosseini 302). Although, as Rahim Khan also says, “real good was born from your father’s guilt” (Hosseini 302), Baba never achieved holistic atonement because he failed to make peace with Ali, Hassan and Amir. Opposed to amending his sins to the people directly affected by it, Baba preforms charitable deeds to his community to make himself feel better about his iniquities.

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.

Baba is one of the few muslims in Afghanistan that believes there is only one sin, theft. He states to Amir with a great sense of sterness, ''When you kill a man, you steal a life . . . [you] steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness” (18). Although Baba tries to teach this lesson to Amir, he himself is a thief; he stole the “right to the truth” by retaining the truth of Hassan (18). Along with Baba’s betrayal to his son, he also betrays his beloved servants, Ali and Hassan through adultery. Sanaubar, Hassan's mother was potentially driven away by guilt; leaving Hassan without a mother and Ali without a wife.

Baba never really confronted his mistakes, yet he seemed to live a fairly full and whole life. Amir and his father, Baba have a very distant relationship, they seem to be two very different people. “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?”(Pg. 18) In this quote Amir talks about his relationship with his father and how difficult it is. Although, he doesn’t know that the distance between them was because of Hassan, not the death of

Amir and Baba eventually leave Afghanistan as well, forced out by the Russian invasion of their beloved country. Everything he does at this point proves that he truly loves Amir; he sacrifices his wealth, business, and life to bring Amir to the safety of the United States. In response to this new country, filled with new people and languages, Amir and Baba’s relationship drastically transforms. Before, Baba was all powerful and knowledgeable, but now, Amir guides his father in the American way. Nowhere is this more evident than when Baba vandalizes the Nguyen’s store after they ask

I considered Baba’s choice of fleeing Afghanistan and coming to the United States. Judging from the previous chapters, the only reason Baba moved to the United States was because of Amir. He knew there is nothing left in Afghan for Amir. Amir was getting used to the new lifestyle, but Baba was not getting used to the US lifestyle. He got in a fight with the store owner because the owner asked for the ID. Back in Afghan Baba was a respectful and trusted man, but in the US, he felt that he was being disrespected and judged. Fleeing Afghanistan was Baba’s choice, but he solely did it to provide Amir a better life. He took a huge risk of crossing the border. He really wanted to take Amir to safety. He almost choked a man to death because smuggler’s

He also told Amir that all the religion that the teachers talked in school was nonsense. This set all of Amir’s believes as Baba was a god in a sense. Amir worshiped Baba and listencedand tried everything to get his attention. Amir felt proud and honored to be his son. This stayed with him throughout the whole book until he found out that Baba lied to him. This is very important because Amir’s whole system of religion and belief was set on this only rule that Baba made. When Amir finally found out that Baba lied to him his whole life, everything changed. Amir's system of sin was now corrupt because of his god, Baba, broke the only rule. This would make Amir change the way he thinks. Amir was proud to be his son. He looked up to Baba and hoped he would turn out like him, but now he hates him. This is important because of how close of a relationship Amir and baba had. It was so easily torn apart because of how much impact Baba had on Amir. Theft had turned into more than a sin. It was Amir's