“Amir’s road to redemption only comes about when he can forgive himself.”
There are many themes in The Kite Runner and one of those themes is redemption for Amir. This theme constantly runs through for both Amir and Baba I believe that Amir’s road to redemption starts when he goes to see Rahim khan when Rahim khan is dying and he tells Amir that there is a way to be good again. That is when Amir Relises that he can be redeemed for what he has done to Hassan in the past.
The definition of redemption is paying for something that you have done wrong in the past so therefore Amir’s road to redemption can not start when he forgives himself it has to start before then for it to be a road because the definition of a road is a way of means to achieve something so it can not be a road to redemption if he has already achieved his redemption. His road to redemption only can start when he finds out what he can do to achieve his redemption and then he is on the road that leads him to that redemption. That point is when Amir returns to Afghanistan to go to the death bed of Rahim Khan and he tells Amir that he needs to take Hassan back with him to America. So now Amir knows what he has to do to achieve his redemption and he sets out to achieve it.
The first time that Amir really feels that he is on the road to redemption is when he allows Assef to beat him up because in the book he starts to laugh and mocks Assef. This shows that he being beaten up is his way of paying for what he did to Hassan and also how he left Hassan to be raped by Assef when he just watched and then ran away when they were boys.
When Amir brakes his promise to Sorab he tryed to cut his wrists in a suiside attempt and Amir is horrified at what Sorab has done that and he tells Sorab that when the ambulance carried him away he was still screaming. This tells us that the key to Amir’s redemption lies with Sorab Surviving and making it out of Afghanistan. There were problems in trying to get Sorab out of Afghanistan but there is a great turning point in this struggle to get Sorab in out of Afghanistan and that is when Amir does something he has not done in fifteen years and that is he prays. Even though praying is a great literary way to redeem yourself but this shows us that Amir is acknowledging his past and taking responsibility for what he has done.
Amir’s road to redemption only starts when he know what he has to do to redeem himself and ends when he is able to save and make Sorab happy Amir’s redemption never actually come about because the book ends before they tell us that he is happy. At the end of the book the roles are revesed because Amir runs the kite for Sorab and tell him “For you a thousand times over.” This shows us that Amir is at peace with his past.
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