“The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, is a novel written from a narrative viewpoint from the author. As the novel starts the narrator is an adult, this then transitions to him “flashing back: to his childhood. He is able to implement a number of literary devices in the language used in order to portray the importance and development of the protagonist. The novel starts by introducing the main character, Amir. Then, readers are lead through Amir’s childhood in form of a 26 year-later flashback. Amir’s upbringing was very influential to the forming of his character, as to be seen later in the book. Amir was born to a very wealthy family, but due to complications at birth his mother passed away at the time of his birth. This is a fault he constantly blamed himself …show more content…
Amir grew very close with his father’s servants, becoming best friends and growing up with Hassan, who was near his age. Baba took very good care of his servants, even paying to fix Hassan’s cleft lip. Amir often became very envious of Baba and Hassan’s relationship. Hassan and Amir continued to be friends but this took a turn after they endured a very traumatic event. The two boys were flying kites and Hassan ran to get the kite. After a standoff with another boy with blurred political views due to his upbringing, Hassan was raped. Amir witnessed this and did nothing. This took a serious toll on Amir and he started to distance himself from Hassan out of guilt. It had risen to a point where he tried to blame Hassan for the theft of some of his father’s possessions in order to shake him off. After the Soviet invaded Afghanistan, Baba and Amir sought to leave. The two moved to the United States to seek political refuge after enlisting the help of an old friend. The two of them are not as financially stable as previously but Amir graduates from an American high-school and Baba works at a gas station. Amir then goes to
Amir’s mother, Sofia, dies in childbirth; Amir inherits her love of literature and probably her looks to some extent, but, her being dead, never receives any motherly love or guidance, which could have helped him out of the cowardly hole he later digs himself into. Amir’s father’s best friend and business partner, Rahim Khan, tries to give Amir the motherly love he clearly needs, fostering Amir’s love of writing and steadfastly standing up for him when Amir’s father, Baba, criticizes him, but Rahim Khan does not do enough to instill honesty, courage, and strength of conviction in young Amir. Amir’s best friend, Hassan, a servant a year younger than Amir, is everything Amir is not: athletic, brave, loyal, honest, and kind, inciting jealousy in Amir. Assef, a local bully, poses a real threat to Amir, hating Amir for the crime of befriending a Hazara (oppressed ethnic minority), but Amir is protected by Hassan, allowing young Amir to freeze and not stand up for himself in Assef’s presence. Last, but most importantly, is Amir’s father, Baba, and his views on Amir: he blames Amir for Sofia’s death,
Amir even says himself, “‘And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name. Looking back on it now, I think the foundation for what happened in the winter of 1975-and all that followed-was already laid in those first words’” (11). Hassan’s death even after years of not seeing Amir, is still in service of him. Hassan dies protecting Amir’s home in the hopes that Amir will come back to him. Amir, on the other hand, receives his own version of his dad’s love, and after coming to terms with the mistakes that he made as a child, adopts Hassan’s son with the hope that he can right his wrongs, and make up for his mistakes with
The character of Amir goes through drastic changes as he moves from adolescence to adulthood. As a child Amir begins his life in Kabul, where his character is shaped through conflicts with his father and Hassan. Later, when he moves to America he leaves these conflicts behind and is able to create a stronger relationship with his father. However, when Amir is an adult he is called back to Afghanistan by an old friend to confront these earlier conflicts. In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, observable changes can be seen in Amir’s character as he moves from Kabul, Fremont, and later back to Kabul.
Amir has shown to Baba that he is not a reflection of him, which makes Baba believe that it is not necessary to develop a connection with his son. This makes Amir feel guilty of himself which leads him to pursue a series of events where he attempts to win Baba’s love, even if those decisions put Hassan’s life in danger. After winning Baba’s affection and creating a stronger bond with his father in America, Amir still feels guilty for betraying his best friend in the winter of 1975. Amir’s guilt is not tearing his life apart as much as it did when he lived in Kabul, but it still affects him negatively. He is willing to do anything to let go of his guilt, even if it means putting his life at risk. After finding out Hassan is dead and he is Amir’s half-brother, Amir heads back to his childhood home during a time when the country is run by a terrorist organization, so he can rescue Hassan’s son, Sohrab, and finally be able to find peace in his life. Everyone makes mistakes in their life and even if those mistakes might have destroyed another person’s life, there is always a way to earn redemption and that is by letting the guilt that one carries lead to something
Both Hassan and Sohrab have gone through abuse at the hands of Assef, but Amir ends this cycle of abuse by rescuing Sohrab when he returns to Kabul. This shows how Amir has become nobler and made the decision to do what he feels as morally correct. When he was 12, he witnessed Hassan get raped by Assef in the alleyway and he did nothing to help Hassan. He tried
Since Amir's mother was dead of giving birth to him, Baba, his dad, blame him for losing her. This affect Amir to have a bad childhood, which caused him to do a lot of the things that he later regard in the story. 2. How does Hassan view Amir in the novel? And how does (young)
It is my belief that Hassan is part of the reason for Amir’s desire for acceptance, for Baba looks after his son and his servant’s son in similar ways. Although it is not highly common these days, Amir can relate to many children facing the same problem. Every child in this world needs affection, for affection allows a child to feel secure and loved. These are the things Amir lacks; therefore, he shows signs of insecurity and jealousy, traits his father
They are in the back of a truck fleeing the country when the truck gets stopped a russian patrol officer. For much of Amir’s young life in Afghanistan it appears that Baba is disappointed in Amir. The main cause for this is because whenever a conflict would arise it would appear that Hassan would get bruised up because he had to defend Amir because he would not fight. In the back of the truck, there is a young Afghan woman who has a young child and a husband. The Russian officer demands that if the truck is to continue by, the woman would have to spend a half hour with him.
Amir’s misadventures begin as a boy living in an affluent Afghanistan world. On the day of his birth, his mother hemorrhages to death. Robbed of any feminine influence or comfort, he goes to his overshadowing Baba for love and acceptance. His father denies his only son the tenderness he desires, leading Amir to believe his father despises him. After all, Amir’s
Baba, Amir’s father had always treated Hassan like a second son and did not forget when his birthday was. The jealousy was taking over Amir and leads him to commit an act of betrayal against his best friend. After Hassan leaves he knows what he has done was a sinful act. The war starts and everything is devastated.
The novel The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, depicts the story of Amir and his journey throughout life. Hosseini separated the novel into two different parts; the first part narrates Amir’s childhood in Afghanistan, and the latter half discusses his adult life in America. As a child, Amir had a best friend named Hassan. One day, after the kite running competition, Amir witnessed Hassan getting raped. Instead of stepping in and helping his friend, he simply watched from afar and did nothing to stop the situation.
Amir had great influences on him as a child; Baba was a brave person, generous to everyone, and should’ve influenced Amir to be the same. On the contrary, Amir was selfish and chose not to stand up for his friend, even when the situation desperately needs it. This is not because of how he grew up, of his environment. Amir’s genetics made him to be fearful and mean, as shown throughout the book. “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.” (Hosseini 54). Even though Amir had great influences growing up, Hassan took the brunt of his attacks and neglect. Near the beginning of the book, Hassan is raped in the alleys running a kite for Amir. Going after Hassan, Amir finds Hassan while this is going on but does not stop the rapist or stand up for his friend. Instead, Amir ran away and proceeded to abandon Hassan emotionally after the event. Baba was a brave man and would’ve stood up for Hassan, regardless of the danger to him, but Amir was not influenced nearly as much by his positive environment rather than his negative cowardice, or
Amir lost his mother when he was born but he looked up to his father and thought of him in the highest way. But he felt as though his father didn’t love him and was mad at him for killing his beloved wife. Amir did whatever he could to make his dad proud of him but it just always seemed like he was embarrassing his Baba. Then, one day, his dreams finally came true by winning the kite flying tournament, and they started sending more and more time together like he always wanted. That didn’t last very long though, Amir asked his father whether he ever though of getting new servants out of guilt for what he did and that put an end to their hang-outs.
Throughout the novel, Amir endeavors to be approved by his father, Baba, who is admired by people in Kabul. Unfortunately, Baba believes that Amir, unlike him, is very unmanly “and [that he] never fights back. He just... drops his head ” (Hosseini 24). Since Baba wishes for a son who would stand up for himself, he can’t help but observe that Amir’s friend Hassan, as the guy who “steps in and fends the [bullies] off” (Hosseini 24) is his idea of the ideal son. Though aware of his father’s expectations, Amir is unable to change himself and instead envies Hassan and the fact that Baba treats him like his own son by“[patting]Hassan on the back. [and even putting] his arm around his shoulder [like a fatherly figure]”(Hosseini 15). Despite the manifestation of this hatred in Amir, he continues to recognize the bond that he shares with Hassan, “ brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast” (Hosseini 11) which is because both their mothers died during birth. The confusing emotions he feels for Hassan has Amir face a situation in which he acts inappropriately and allows the guilt to manifest upon him. After winning a very important kite tournament for the first time and “seeing Baba on that roof, proud of [him] at last” (Hosseini 71) Amir begins to search for Hassan who had gone to run his kite earlier. Finally, Amir finds him in a dark alley and as he “peeks around the corner” (Hosseini 75) he witnesses a sight that eradicated not only his relationship with Hassan but also Baba’s brotherly relationship with Ali, Hassan’s father. Peeking through the corner of the alley, like a bystander, he watches his one and only friend getting raped. The guilt that came upon him was for two reason; one, his lack of courage to stand up to
The later half of the book centers on Amir 's endeavours to make ammends for this transgression by rescuing Hassan 's son over two decades later. Amir’s father fails to comprehend his son and his emotions at numerous points in the story. He fails to comprehend the bond of the two children and their genuine bond of companionship.