owardliness brings one to lifelong suffering! The story, “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini takes place over the course of twenty years, first beginning in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1975. Amir the main character, is faced with the cruel burden of cowardliness and guilt as a result of a childhood trauma, he has yet to seek redemption towards. Amir's childhood may seem nothing but perfect to many in Kabul, but his strained relationship with his father, Baba, leads the young boy into a whirlwind of competitive behavior towards the family's Hazara servant Hassan, all to win over Baba's affection. Although Hassan is Amir's best friend, Amir feels he is superior to Hassan and takes advantage of him, even though Hassan would do anything in the …show more content…
For example, Hassan is courageous and challenges the neighborhood bully Assef, when he is making fun of Amir in the streets. In the midst of the fight, Assef begins to swing at defenseless Amir, but Hassan musters up the courage and threatens Assef with his slingshot in order to save his friend from getting hurt. Clearly Hassan strongly entails bravery and courage at the very moment when it is needed the most, and stands up for what is right no matter what Assef could have done to him in the moment, or even in the future. Courage is evidently portrayed through Hassan's character, especially through the measures he takes to protect his friend. Meanwhile, Hassan's bravery manages to ward off Assef, and keeps the two out of trouble; however the bully promises to get his revenge on a larger scale in the future. Hassan and Amir brush off Assefs warnings as if they were nothing, but should have Hassan and Amir taken the future threats more seriously? Hassan exhibits great amounts of courage and bravery from the very beginning of the book in many ways, while doing so through the actions he himself takes, and the circumstances he subjects himself to. One would learn that Hassan has the courage and bravery to endure suffering and physical pain in order to remain loyal to Amir who is like a brother figure to him. For example, Hassan has the valor to stick up once again to the neighborhood bully Assef, in the name of successfully
When you were a child, do you remember ever making a promise to be loyal to a friend? Maybe you exchanged cute heart necklaces or pendants or carved your names into a tree. In Khaled Hosseini 's The Kite Runner, two kids, Amir, and Hassan seem to have a strong friendship, represented in their names carved into a pomegranate tree. However, Amir reveals weakness in their friendship when he betrays Hassan by not intervening when the town bully, Assef, sexually assaults Hassan. In Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol S. Dweck describes two types of mindsets. One is the fixed mindset, which is the belief that a person has a fixed amount of intelligence, and one cannot see growth in error, and a growth mindset, which is the belief that
The Kite runner is the first novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini, published in 2003 by Riverhead Books . It takes place before Afghanistan’s revolution and its invasion by Russian forces. The kite runner is a vivid and engaging story that gives a picture of how long Afghanis struggled to triumph over the forces of violence, forces that threaten them even today. In this novel , four themes have been introduced, first of all Redemption is a way to make up sins committed , secondly, Adversities contribute to a person’s personality , thirdly , Fear can lead to severe mistakes and long term consequences, before last, After pain and struggles come survival and lastly, Friendship is the essence of a bond that seek the best mutually.
“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
Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Amir was the son of a wealthy social worker. He was brought up with the son of his servant, and perhaps his only best friend, Hassan. Amir had a rocky relation with his father. At times, it seemed as his father loved him but those moments didn’t lasted forever. He thinks Baba (his father) wishes Amir were more like him, and that Baba holds him responsible for killing his mother, who died during his birth. Despite being best friends, Amir thinks that Hassan is beneath him because he belonged to an inferior cast. He used to mock him jokingly or tried to outsmart him. In all fairness, it was Amir’s cowardly nature that
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel about life in Afghanistan that follows a boy named Amir, his father Baba, and their two servants Hassan and Ali. Amir and Baba are wealthy Pashtuns, and Baba is well respected. Hassan and Ali, on the other hand, are Hazara, an ethnic minority in Afghanistan. The Hazara people are oppressed and seen as inferior to the Pashtun people. Baba, however, doesn’t treat them as inferior:this way, he shows kindness towards Hassan, instead ofunlike Amir. Throughout Amir’s childhood, he is constantly ignored by Baba because he does not fit Baba’s idea of the son he wants. Baba’s general disapproval and disinterest in Amir shows that he is a bad father to Amir, especially because he shows the opposite emotions to Hassan.
The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini establishes a theme of selfishness through Amir’s eyes through the course of the novel. Amir was an Afghan boy who was born in Kabul, Afghanistan who lived the majority of his life behind enemy lines. Amir had been living in a large mansion with his father Baba, and two family servants Ali and his son Hassan. Throughout the novel, Amir began to become annoyed at how Baba had almost favored Hassan over his own son. After a kite flying tournament in downtown Kabul that Hassan and Amir had participated in, Hassan had begun to track down his kite that had flown away. Upon finding it, Hassan had found himself cornered in an alleyway with the biggest bully in Kabul, Assef. Followed by two other boys, Assef and the boys had threatened to steal Hassan’s kite because he was of a religion that wasn’t “pure” in Kabul, Hazara. When Hassan refused to give up his kite, he had been raped by the boys with Amir watching and not acting to help Hassan. Through the course of The Kite Runner, Amir often felt sorry for himself for the incident with Hassan, when in reality he kept watching as the events unfolded in front of him, which ultimately transformed him into a selfish character.
Hassan is a loyal and caring person even though these traits are the ones that hurt him the most. Hassan does not betray anyone in the book yet is continuously the victim of betrayal. One example of how he was betrayed is when Amir witnesses his rape and does not help him. Amir says "Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba," in reference to why he had betrayed Hassan (77). Hassan was Amir's sacrifice to gain Baba's attention. Another example of betrayal towards Hassan is the betrayal he caused toward himself. Hassan's loyalty ultimately caused his demise in the end. Rahim Khan explains Hassan's last moments to Amir saying, " The Talibs said he was a liar and a thief like all Hazaras and ordered him to get his family out of the house by sundown. Hassan protested... Hassan protested again. So they took him to the street... and shot him in the back of the head," (218-219). Hassan was so loyal to Rahim Khan and to the land he grew up on that he sacrificed himself in the effort of it preservation. This ties in with his character and actions throughout the rest of the book. Loyalty was not a foreign trait to Hassan and, unfortunately, neither was
Hassan was an amazing little boy since the very beginning of the book, with a huge heart who cares deeply for his family and friends. Even when Amir, who he idoled so dearly, took advantage of him, he would do absolutely anything for Amir. When Assef tries to bully Hassan and Amir one day, Hassan was the one that stood up to Assef. Right when Assef was about to punch Amir, Hassan raised his slingshot,
“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, is the complex story about a father and a son who struggle to find common ground. They are from Kabul during a time where danger was everywhere. Amir was a conflicted boy trying to find his place and purpose. He believed his father; Baba disliked him because his birth was the reason his mother passed. While Amir’s father favored the son of their family servant, Hassan. Amir’s friendship with Hassan was genuine until a tragic event Amir witnessed of Hassan and Amir did not step into help. Amir’s father once told him he needed to learn to stand up to people. That crime against Hassan changed Amir for the worse, something he could never let go of throughout his life. These are the main characters of the
In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini tells a notable coming-of-age story portraying the actions and thoughts of Amir, a penitent adult living in the United States and his reminiscence of his affluent childhood in the unstable political environment of Afghanistan. Throughout the novel Khaled Hosseini uses character description to display his thoughts on sin and redemption.
Customs serve as a significant stand out as to why Afghanistan and America are not on the same page in many instances. For example, Afghanistan permits men the right to more than one wife because Baba’s second cousin, Homayoun, family consisted of two wives (82). America’s men are only supposed to be married to one women or else it is considered polygamy. If any American man was married to more than one woman at the time then it would be unacceptable and the punishment would most likely be jail. In the story Amir describes the traditional family dinner he has that consists of eating on the floor while sharing the meal on a common platter in groups (85).However, most Americans eat dinner with their family at
In The Kite Runner, the author utilizes the abstract idea of cowardice to demonstrate the differences between characters. Amir lacks bravery when it comes to standing up for himself or his loved ones. Hassan, on the other hand will do it no matter what. A factor that contributes to their actions, or lack of actions, would be their role in society. Hassan is a servant due to the fact that he is a Hazara
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a haunting story of the power of friendship, loyalty, betrayal, and guilt. The story begins with an almost utopian picture of Afghanistan. Amir, the main character, is a 12 year old boy who lives a life of luxury. His father is a successful businessman who lives in a mansion and has servants, one of which is Amir’s best friend. What could go wrong? The story is wrapped around a single event, one that, according to Amir, burdens him forever. Guilt is a major theme in the book, which constantly lurks within his psyche, until it forces him to act in an effort to assuage the “monster in the lake”. Amir’s guilt causes him to accept the challenge and finally redeem himself.
From generation to generation, the constant struggle for males to live up to the expectations of their fathers often affects the choices made and actions taken by the sons. Perhaps, the overbearing testosterone levels claim responsibility for the apparent need for sons to impress their fathers, but not all boys consider the realistic consequences of their decisions. In Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner, young Amir's admiration for his father Baba, coupled with the constant tension in their relationship obscures his mind from making clear decisions as he strives to obtain his father's love and approval.
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, follows the maturation of Amir, a boy from Afghanistan, as he discovers what it means to stand up for what he believes in. His quest to redeem himself after betraying his friend and brother, Hassan, makes up the heart of the novel. When Amir hears that his father’s old business partner, Rahim Khan, is sick and dying, he travels to Pakistan to say his goodbyes. Rahim Khan tells Amir about Hassan’s life and eventual death; the Taliban murdered Hassan while he was living in Amir’s childhood home. As his dying wish, Rahim Khan asks Amir to rescue Hassan’s son, Sohrab, from an orphanage in Afghanistan. Although Amir refuses at first, he thinks about what Rahim Khan had always told him: “There is a way to be