The Kite Runner - Response

The Kite Runner Response
Title: The Kite Runner
Author: Khaled Hosseini
The text The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, incorporates two dominant themes that really stood out to me. The first was man’s inhumanity to man and the second was the search for redemption. The further I read into the text the more it shocked me because of the actions of Amir and how truly cruel he was to Hassan early on in the text and what his motive was. The attempts for his father’s love and affection was what drove Amir into acting in such a terrible way towards his best friend and evidently his half-brother. These were selfish actions that included the teasing and mockery Amir made of Hassan, the time he resisted saving from Assef when being raped in the alley and in the end, framing Hassan to rid himself of the hassle of thinking about what had happened. Amir made these decisions out of pure selfishness, he wasn’t thinking about the consequences that might occur not just for him, but the people around him. When teasing Hassan, he did it so he could have some fun. When he didn’t help Hassan with Assef, he did so only thinking of himself and how he needed that kite for his father’s love and acknowledgment. And when he framed Hassan so they had to leave, he did so to make life easier for himself. This involves man’s inhumanity to man through the way in which Amir acted and how it impacted others in his life, even the closest of family members. It made me think about what drives us as human beings. What do we live or fight for? Some fight for freedom, for justice. However in domestic disputes such as Amir’s case, it was just the love and affection from a fatherly figure which Baba did not provide for Amir and so that hunger for that power forced him to make irrational decisions that were not intended for a young person such as Amir. I don’t think Amir is a genuinely bad person, as we see later in the novel, however people such as Amir have that motive which forces us to do bad things to those who are closest.
The second dominant theme that I could identify would be the search for redemption for Amir. After all, this is the backbone of the entire story. We start in Amir’s past where he struggles to find himself in the heart of Baba and when the opportunity arises to redeem himself by winning the Kite tournament and arrive home to present the last kite which Hassan was to run. This is what lead to Hassan’s rape and Amir’s refusal to not help Hassan and instead run away and arrive later with the Kite for his father. This significant event set the rest of the novel in motion because Amir’s guilt led to him being forced to frame Hassan into theft and the eventually Hassan and Ali leaving. An important quote that shows this guilt and search for redemption is when he was staying with Farid and his brother in Afghanistan when looking for Sohrab. “I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.” This shows us that Amir is aware of his sins that he committed as a child had followed him into his adulthood and he is forced to find a way to redeem himself and to help Sohrab. It is Hassan’s rape that motivates Amir to search for Redemption however it is the task of saving Hassan’s son Sohrab that becomes the journey for Amir on his way to redemption. He has to stand up for what is right which is save Sohrab instead of being passive and not standing up for himself or Hassan which leads to his rape. I believe the Amir is a good person, even though as a young boy is forced to make complex decisions which were important. His search for Redemption is a way of apologizing to Hassan even though could not physically after Hassan’s murder, so instead he believes, as do I, that the best way to honour such an influential character in Amir’s life is to save and adopt Hassan’s child.
In conclusion, Khaled Hosseini produces a powerful novel which inspires me to think about the motives for us as human beings to act in evil ways that can inflict harm and misfortune on others even if are close or related. It also made me think about the kind of environment today in which people are forced to make decisions that impact on the lives of others and result in us having to search for forgiveness for sins and that search for redemption that drives the evil away and the good back in. Amir is definitely a complex character who even though is fictional, represents plenty of people in today’s society.

Nathan Harrison