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The Kite Runner Essay

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The Kite Runner Essay
Redemption is something that has always been portrayed through movies as some sort of revenge and violence, but “The Kite Runner” written by Khaled Hosseni connects redemption with the circularity of events throughout the book without having someone killed off to end the story. This book written by Khaled Hosseini includes many important aspects of human nature such as betrayal and deception, but these aspects are well hidden behind the storyline, making it a great book. Redemption in this book is certainly very important and connects very often with the circularity of the book, as the story is essentially based on characters choosing to or not to redeem themselves for their mistakes, which also connects with the location of where these characters are doing trying to do this along with the consequences of not achieving redemption for these mistakes. First of all, karma is closely related in The Kite Runner along with circularity and redemption. Baba deceived his close friend Ali when he slept with his wife and had a child with her, who was named Hassan. Baba wanted to redeem himself for “stealing” Ali’s son, and also his wife. To do this, Baba would often do good deeds such as build orphanages and also treat Hassan and Ali with care. Rahim Khan, who is one of Baba’s closest friend and may also be the only one to know about him and Hassan pointed out Baba’s will to redeem himself. He said “ I think that everything he did, feeding the poor, giving money to friends in need, it was all a way of redeeming himself. And that, I believe is what true redemption is” (Hosseini 263). Even though he tried to redeem himself through good deeds, he never truly revealed his real relationship with Hassan with whom he did wrong to, Ali. Because of this, he never truly redeemed himself for the betrayal and deception of his friend. So where does karma and circularity come into play? Baba was a man who had been doubted on at first about his abilities to become successful. People doubted him when he wanted to plan the blueprints of the orphanage himself, people doubted that he could become a successful business man, and find a good wife, but he proved all his doubters wrong. Baba sat at the top of the world and whatever he wanted was at his disposal. That is, until he was forced out of his country and lost everything. Amir mentioned that he remembers when Baba was furious because a man working over a counter would not trust Baba when he tried to pay with a cheque, ultimately being doubted once again. This is Hosseini’s way of expressing circularity and karma because he did not fully redeem himself for his mistakes. Baba’s loss was not the only example of karma in this book, this book has several other incidences of karma relating to circularity and redemption. For example, Kamal had helped Assef rape Hassan, but both men who committed these crimes of indecency chose not to redeem themselves for their actions, and Kamal eventually gets raped while Assef loses his eye. The author combines these three attributes very well and shows how karma, circularity and redemption can be closely intertwined. Furthermore to expand on how circularity is connected to redemption, the locations of which the story takes place reveals the connection very well. The story takes place mainly in Kabul, America, Kabul and America again, in that order. When Amir grew up with Hassan in Kabul, he had witnessed Assef raping Hassan and did nothing about it, but later returns to Kabul from America to save his son, Sohrab in an attempt to redeem himself for leaving Hassan behind at the alley. Amir also brings Sohrab back to America with him, which was probably something he wished he could have done the first time but with Hassan. So the second time around, to redeem himself, he brought the son Hassan loved so much with him. This shows circularity and redemption because what Amir is doing is essentially like repeating the same steps over again. Going from Kabul to America, but the second time around Amir wanted to do the right thing and attempt to redeem himself by doing what he felt he should have been done the first time by saving Sohrab like he should have with Hassan, and bringing Sohrab to America with him like he also should have done with Hassan. Finally, because Amir witnessed Hassan get raped and did nothing about it, he carried that guilt with him for the rest of his life. But when Rahim Khan called Amir and asked him to save Sohrab, he accepted because he knew this was the only way he could truly pay Hassan back for all he’s done for him. In the beginning of the book, the reader quickly learns about how Hassan is a very innocent and loyal boy. He would do anything he could to protect Amir, who he sees as a very important friend. You could tell that these traits had been passed onto his son Sohrab as well, because even after Assef had raped him, he was concerned about hurting assef. Sohrab had said “Will God put me in hell for what I did to that man? Father used to say it’s wrong to hurt even bad people” (Hosseini 277). Sohrab is a very innocent and pure boy, just like his father was. He coincidentally had also been raped by Assef and lost his parents at a very young age, like Hassan except he had only lost his mother. So in a sense, it is like a bad cycle between Hassan and his son. When Amir decided to redeem himself and save Sohrab, he ended that cycle by stopping Assef and bringing Sohrab back to America. When Amir brought Sohrab back to America, he successfully ended that bad cycle and continued the one he had with Hassan, where Hassan did anything to assure Amir’s happiness. Amir showed that he had started this cycle with Sohrab by running down the kite for Sohrab and even saying “For you a thousand times over” (Hosseini 391) just like how Hassan had done for Amir basically switching roles with Hassan. All this showed what Amir was willing to do for Hassan who had given up so much for Amir, and also the circularity of the book, from a transition of Hassan being loyal for Amir to Amir being loyal to Hassan’s son, and also Hassan. In conclusion, The Kite Runner successfully included many aspects of humanity in a very unique way that’s different from the norm. To have included these aspects, it makes the book very unique and well thought out. The concept of circularity connects well to redemption in this book because the characters in the novel have gone through so many experiences, good and bad. This concept is connected through karma, Amir’s switch of roles with Hassan and also the location of where everything is happening. Khaled Hosseini brought the readers on a journey along with Amir and his road to redemption.

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