Set in the 1970s in California, the novel The Kite Runner is told in flashback as the reader follows the main character through his resolutions to life-long conflicts. The Flashbacks are set in pre-civil war Afghanistan in the home of a wealthy man. The main character, Amir, is an intellectual character, loving books more than sports, a major disappointment to his powerful father. Amir’s best friend is also a Hazara servant, Hassan. Although they are master and servant, the boys’ relationship is more of friends and companions.…
Amir changes to become worthy of Hassan’s love and loyalty. After many years Amir returns to Afghanistan to learn the fate of his childhood friend and he finds a very different country than the one he left as a boy. Even as an adult, Hassan had remained loyal to Amir by asking Rahim Khan about his friend and he wrote a letter to Amir in hopes that it would be passed along. Amir’s guilt is brought back and he feels he owes Hassan loyalty in return. The friendship is developed further when Amir finds out that Hassan was actually his brother. At that moment, Amir became determined to find Hassan’s son. Only when Amir goes to rescue Sorab, Hassan’s son, does he truly start feeling “healed at last” (289). As an act of loyalty back to Hassan, Amir’s journey and heroic efforts allow him to adopt Sorab. This showed that Amir really had a deep respect and love for his best friend. The parallelism of Amir and Hassan’s last kite flight together and Amir and Sorab’s first kite flight together shows that Amir’s and Hassan’s friendship never died. In the final scene of the novel, Amir yells to Sohrab, “for a thousand times over” (391). This statement proves that Amir has become loyal to Hassan. The past clearly dictates who one is in the future, and the previous actions of Amir have taught him to accept his betrayal and account for it in the end. By lovingly and wholeheartedly adopting Hassan’s son, it proves to…
The novel, The Kite Runner, is about a young boy named Amir who forever lives a life full of shame, quilt and regret. These feelings are brought out by things that Amir has done in his past such as refusing to stick up for Hassan and lying to his father. By the end of the novel, Amir fully atones for his sins by returning to Kabul, adopting Sohrab and being beaten by Assef.…
The political discourse and historical tragedies that affect a country can cause turmoil in the lives of the citizens that reside there. The people of Afghanistan have been forced to cope with the chaos of their country which has left them traumatized and inconvenienced. In the novel, The Kite Runner, each character has their lives drastically changed as the events of Afghanistan's past world issues create hardship, grief, and difference for the lives of Amir, Sohrab and Farid.…
The story opens in pre-Taliban Kabul, Afghanistan. The protagonist, Amir, is recalling events from his childhood. He lived a lavish life with his father, Baba, and their servant, Ali and his son Hassan. Hassan and Amir grew up together and were almost like brothers, however Ali and Hassan belonged to the religious minority group, the Shias, and Baba and Amir, Sunni Muslims, superior. The different religious sects made it difficult for the boys to be real friends, despite their many character similarities and personal connection to one another. Hassan and Amir had a lot in common, such as the fact that they both grew up without a mother. Though they were raised with different beliefs, they were brought up together, and spent their entire childhoods making memories with each other.…
The commitment he makes to Sohrab relates to the one that Hassan made with him. For Amir, saving the young boy is a _form_ of atonement for the boy he did not save when he was younger. Once Sohrab is brought to safety, Amir is treated for external wounds. For the first time in his life, his pain is being shown on the outside, rather than being pent up inside. In the hospital, a new acquaintance of Amir’s is there to comfort him. The man, Fahrid, tells Amir that he will do anything for him, he says “For you a thousand times over” and as soon as the words escape his mouth, Amir begins to cry (305). His sudden display of emotion depicts a healing man. The tears represent the idea that Amir has recognized the quote’s effect on his life. It’s return in this way shows Amir that even a person that barely knows him can make the pledge. While he struggled to return the promise to a boy that he knew and loved. It turns his heart away from guilt and leads it to understanding. Even though he cannot erase the wrong he has done, he can recover from it by pledging himself to someone…
Where he failed to take action as a child, he now has the chance to do the right thing as an adult. Family friend, Rahim Khan telephones Amir and tells him to come to Pakistan. Amir realizes that Rahim Khan knows of his betrayals to Hassan for he said, “Come. There is a way to be good again” (202). Even though it was twenty-six years later, Rahim Khan understands that Amir can atone for the past by helping Hassan now. Meeting Rahim Khan, Amir learns that the Taliban has killed Hassan and his wife yet Hassan’s son, Sohrab has survived. Amir further learns that he and Hassan share the same father making Sohrab his nephew. The way for Amir to make amends for his past actions is to go back to Kabul despite the danger and rescue Sohrab from an orphanage: “Hassan had loved me once, loved me in a way that no one ever had or ever would again. He was gone now, but a little part of him lived on. It was in Kabul. Waiting” (239). Amir knows that he will never have a friend as loyal and loving as Hassan again. The best way he can repay Hassan is by helping Sohrab. Amir must be selfless and possibly sacrifice his own family’s happiness and his life to find Sohrab: “I have a wife in America, a home, a career, and a family. But how could I pack up and go home when my actions may have cost Hassan a chance at those very same things?” (238). If Amir acted differently when he was younger, Hassan may still be alive today. Amir…
The overarching theme of Kite Runner is redemption. Taking that in the violence and misery incorporated in the book was necessary. With its use a realistic picture of Afghanistan and decisions that could lead to regret one almost forgets it’s a work of fiction. The violence, especially regarding the rape of Hassan and Sohrab, was written so detailed that it leaves scars on the reader. It fully captures the readers and embeds the feeling of guilt Amir holds, into ones conscience. It is almost as if the readers themselves is Amir instead of just following his story line.…
When the novel begins and Amir says “I became what I am today at the age of twelve,” he is referring to when he witnessed his friend get rapped and made no action to do anything about it. His assertion is not entirely true, because he underwent many other life transforming actions. Amir was changed by the facts of growing up with no mother and a unusual afghan father, his character was undoubtedly changed when he went back to Afghanistan and found out that he and Hassan were half-brothers and went on a treacherous journey to find his half-brother’s son. Amir would be described as a sensitive, caring man who was hard on himself in his childhood all the way up to his adult years.…
When Amir was listening to the phone conversation, Rahim Khan says “There is a way to be good again” (script) This phrase morally affects Amir. He decides to go to Pakistan; even though, Rahim said “very bad time now” (script) When he is heading to meet Rahim, the taxi driver says “it is terrible what’s happening in your country”. Amir put himself in danger to go Afghanistan to rescue his friend’s son. Amir watches the stone to death punishment carried out by the Taliban in the stadium in Kabul. He urged to meet the Taliban authority consider as life threatening situation. When Amir rescue Soharb from Taliban, he is beaten, wounded but he focuses on his mission to Afghanistan. When he returns to California, he plays with Sohrab as he played with his friend Hassan. Amir said to Sohrab “do you want me to run that kite for you? For you, a thousand times over”. (script)The same phrase Hassan said to Amir earlier. This indicates sacrificing his life for his friend’s son Soharb gives him complete redemption.…
Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner tells the haunting tale of redemption and how one choice could lead to a life regret and guilt. The story details the life of Amir, and the way he allowed a mistake to unfold, continuing a damning cycle his father Baba started. Yet this man who started the lie first appears as an icon of morality and determination. However, as each page unfolds it is unraveled that he is flawed just like the rest. Through Hosseini’s characterization of Baba, it is revealed that he is a man who donned the armor of morality, hiding the mistakes he committed within.…
Unlike how The Kite Runner begins, “I became what I am today at the age of twelve” (Hosseini, pg.1). Amir became what he is today through Baba’s upbringing and his surroundings. Baba influenced Amir in positive and negative ways. Rich surroundings made Amir feel superior. But in America, he was poor and forced to work hard for a better life. Lastly, Amir’s character was greatly influenced by his move to America.…
The main idea of The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini is redemption. Amir’s betrayal of Hassan is selfish and has consequences that Amir can’t imagine. Amir feels guilty for what he did and what he didn’t do. As Rahim Khan affirms in his letter to Amir, “[. . .]true redemption is, Amir Jan, when guilt leads to good” (Hosseini 302). At the beginning of the story, Amir is selfish, scared, and guilt-ridden. He treats his servant Hassan poorly and doesn’t see him as a friend or his equal, and he abandons him in his hour of need. Amir’s relationship with Baba was also strained because he feels that he is a disappointment to him. However, Amir finds his true redemption at the end of the novel when he rescues Sohrab from the Taliban.…
In Khaled Hosseini 's The Kite Runner, we see that the character Amir can be defined as a hero. A character who seeks to redeem himself in a world where there can be good. Yet the Kite Runner can be interpreted in many different ways, not just the character Amir. Perhaps it represents a longing for something out of reach or something more symbolic such as an emotion. But within the novel, The Kite Runner can be focused very thematically with the character Amir. He becomes a hero after finding what truly matters in the world and suffers to obtain that goodness.…
Afghanistan has been struck with great devastation throughout the past couple decades. It is clear to anyone who watches the news, and pays attention to world issues that the troubles these people have had to face, through extremist groups controlling their country, have been life altering. A situation that Canadians have been honoured to have never understood. Author Khaled Hosseini, displays a new perspective in this novel, which describes the upmost issues which Afghans’ were forced to deal with and the difficult realities which they seem to face.…