The Kite Runner and Emmanuel Levinas
By V. Mirafuente
“Since the Other looks at me, I am responsible for him, without even having taken on the responsibilities in his regard; his responsibility is incumbent on me.”
This is a quote from the reading, The Face, on Levinas’ philosophy of Responsibility of the Other. He speaks of the responsibility we all have for others, for the Face of others—for their very Being. No matter what, we must always act on our responsibility for other people, and sacrifice for their well being. In the movie, The Kite Runner, one can immediately see the impeccable responsibility that the characters have for the Other, most particularly in the character of the little boy, Hassan, who gave everything he had without question, for another person.
Majority of us all live our lives with that initial instinct that we need to put ourselves first. If we feel hungry, we feed ourselves, if we feel cold, we warm ourselves, as we all have that desire to preserve ourselves in our being. Thoughts of other people and sacrifice seem, for most, to come second. And yet, there is still something within us that always awakens our need to put someone else before us. This feeling is most felt when we recognize someone as a face—as a subject instead of an object, as someone we cannot kill, and as someone we need to put before us.
Hassan, the son of a servant of Amir’s father, and Amir’s best friend, showed us this exact characteristic of preserving not his own, but the Being of Others, and sacrificing himself for this very reason. This is first seen in the very first scene of their childhood, wherein Hassan tells Amir that if Amir asks him to, he would eat dirt for him. The loyalty and love that this young boy has for his best friend would shock any viewer, as his heart and love is so genuine, so immediate, and, sadly, so rare, that it is hard to believe. And yet Hassan goes on to prove this quality of his throughout the movie, in acts of putting Amir before himself, no matter the
“Since the Other looks at me, I am responsible for him, without even having taken on the responsibilities in his regard; his responsibility is incumbent on me.”
This is a quote from the reading, The Face, on Levinas’ philosophy of Responsibility of the Other. He speaks of the responsibility we all have for others, for the Face of others—for their very Being. No matter what, we must always act on our responsibility for other people, and sacrifice for their well being. In the movie, The Kite Runner, one can immediately see the impeccable responsibility that the characters have for the Other, most particularly in the character of the little boy, Hassan, who gave everything he had without question, for another person.
Majority of us all live our lives with that initial instinct that we need to put ourselves first. If we feel hungry, we feed ourselves, if we feel cold, we warm ourselves, as we all have that desire to preserve ourselves in our being. Thoughts of other people and sacrifice seem, for most, to come second. And yet, there is still something within us that always awakens our need to put someone else before us. This feeling is most felt when we recognize someone as a face—as a subject instead of an object, as someone we cannot kill, and as someone we need to put before us.
Hassan, the son of a servant of Amir’s father, and Amir’s best friend, showed us this exact characteristic of preserving not his own, but the Being of Others, and sacrificing himself for this very reason. This is first seen in the very first scene of their childhood, wherein Hassan tells Amir that if Amir asks him to, he would eat dirt for him. The loyalty and love that this young boy has for his best friend would shock any viewer, as his heart and love is so genuine, so immediate, and, sadly, so rare, that it is hard to believe. And yet Hassan goes on to prove this quality of his throughout the movie, in acts of putting Amir before himself, no matter the