The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner

Suffering is The state of undergoing pain, distress, or hardship. People can suffer in many ways such as physical, mental, and sometimes spiritual. The novel The Kite Runner takes place in Afghanistan and Khaled Hosseini wrote this novel. His novel about a guilt-filled child named Amir demonstrates true suffering. The characters in this book try to write the wrongs they have done and try to make piece with there suffering. Amir What is suffering to you? Suffering to me shows how a character comes in contact with a physical, mental, and sometimes-spiritual problem. I feel as if its Amir that suffers the most because his father never loved him also he feels like he killed his mother and that he had to deal with Hassan incident and that he suffers emotionally as well as physically from the incident and that he can’t stand up for himself.

When Amir was a kid he always try to prove to his father that he could be like him and tried to impress his father but his father never talk about Amir as if he was his son “If I hadn’t seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I’d never believe he’s my son” Pg. 25 and as much as Amir loves Baba, he feels Baba never fully loves him back. Amir desire to win Baba’s love motivates him not to stop Hassan’s rape. I feel as Baba feels guilty treating Amir well when he can’t accept Hassan as his son. He is hard on Amir, and he can only show his love for Hassan, by paying for Hassan’s lip surgery. Amir feels jealousies about Baba’s love for Hassan “I wished I too had some kind of scar that would beget Baba’s sympathy. It wasn’t fair. Hassan hadn’t done anything to earn Baba’s affections; He’s just been born with that stupid harelip.” Pg. 50 but as Amir tried to impress Baba with his stories Baba always turned a blind eye. Pg. 30 “Amir tries to show Baba the story while Baba is speaking with Rahim Khan, but Baba does not pay much attention”. But Amir always had a father figure in his life if he new it or not. Rahim Khan who always supported Amir though his writing “My door is and always will be open to you, Amir Jan. I shall hear any story you have to tell. Bravo.” (P.35) In the end Amir learns his father truly loved him even though he suffered to figure it out.

When Amir was looking down that cold dark eternal alleyway watching Hassan getting raped he did not help because he new if he did he would get hurt to so he decided to save him self rather than save Hassan and this brings us back to what baba said early in the story "And where is he headed?" Baba said. "A boy who won't stand up for himself becomes a man who can't stand up to anything." (Pg.60-66) And after Hassan got raped Amir could never look at Hassan the same way so he tried to frame Hassan for stealing his watch and money too make then leave the house and in the end Amir had to suffer a lot more than Hassan even though Hassan got rape Amir dealt with the more mental and spiritual suffering “That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.” (Pg.1-5) and in the end Amir try’s to make everything right and try to make things right when he goes to find Sohrab and when he’s done battling Assef he feels healed and he has nothing to run from anymore. “My body was broken—just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later—but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed.” (p. 289) and this shows in the end Amir really has changes into the man Baba always wanted him to be.

Amir was a good kid who went though a lot in his lifetime, but sometimes when you are afraid to be a friend because you hate everything about them. You suffer but maybe we suffer for the right reasons in life so you can change into someone you always wanted to be.