The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

“A Chance to be Good Again.” Khaled Hosseini introduces his haunted narrator, Amir, by immediately revealing the root of all of his problems. Amir opens the novel by stating, “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past… 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.” In the winter of 1975 Amir watched his best friend, Hassan, get raped by Assef in a “deserted alley”, in order to protect a gift he retrieved for Amir. Amir did not save Hassan, even after all of the times Hassan had saved him; additionally, instead of confessing, he framed Hassan of theft, and sends him far away. He could not look his guilt in the face. All he could do is turn and run. Amir’s betrayal of Hassan is the climax of the first part of The Kite Runner, and it affects his life more than any other event of his childhood. The
It leaves him guilt ridden, heart sick, and tormented; however, his is too weak-kneed and selfish reconcile for his sins. This inability to reconcile himself leads to contempt as Amir soaks in self-blame, “...what would I see if I did look into his eyes? Blame? Indignation? Or, God forbid, what I feared most: guileless devotion?” He cannot bear to look into Hassan’s eyes, filled with crushed innocence. He can’t stand to accept Hassan’s “guileless devotion.” In Amir’s case, contempt turns to irrational action, where Amir betrays Hassan one final time by framing him as a thief and ending their friendship forever. Each grimm state of that Amir experiences is juxtaposed with the others through his initial betrayal of his best