In the novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini writes a fictional story about a young Pashtun boy named Amir, who lives with his wealthy father, Baba, and his two Hazara servants, Ali and Hassan. Amir and Hassan share a strong bond with each other despite the fact that both of them are part of different ethnic groups. However, their friendship is torn apart when Amir decides to betray his best friend for Baba’s love during a time when political tensions were high in Afghanistan. When the Soviet Union decides to invade Afghanistan, this causes Amir and Baba to flee the country to Fremont, California, leaving behind Hassan and his gentle father, Ali, to a terrible fate. For many years, Amir has carried a strong guilt with him throughout his adulthood…
The novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini discusses the life of Amir and his quest for redemption. In his early childhood, Amir forms what appears to be a strong bond with Hassan, his servant; however, Amir betrays Hassan after only seven chapters of the story which begs the question: Why does Amir allow his friendship with Hassan to fail? After some analysis, a few possible reasons for this betrayal can be deduced, but what ultimately causes the destruction of this friendship is the imbalance of power. Similarly, brothers Salim and Jamal from The Slumdog Millionaire experience this uneven distribution of power as well. Salim holds power over Jamal simply because he is the older brother and that makes him feel more entitled to power. In…
The political discourse and historical tragedies that affect a country can cause turmoil in the lives of the citizens that reside there. The people of Afghanistan have been forced to cope with the chaos of their country which has left them traumatized and inconvenienced. In the novel, The Kite Runner, each character has their lives drastically changed as the events of Afghanistan's past world issues create hardship, grief, and difference for the lives of Amir, Sohrab and Farid.…
Amir talks to his father-in-law to figure out any ways they can get custody of Sohrab without Sohrab parents death certificate. The general finds a way and let Amir know so Amir tells Sohrab, but Sohrab does not look or seem to be excited. Amir buys a kite for Sohrab and two get into a battle with another kite and win. Amir goes to run to catch the kite and says (in the text), “For you, a thousand times over.” With Amir saying he would do any and everything for Sohrab in the quote made Sohrab smile knowing someone cares about him even with his parents gone. With Amir going to run the kite for Sohrab he says to Sohrab the last words Hassan said to him before Hassan was raped, but despite the fact that those were the circumstances the last time these words appeared in the book, the hopeful tone suggests Amir has paid his price and found his redemption with justice in rescuing his…
Amir changes to become worthy of Hassan’s love and loyalty. After many years Amir returns to Afghanistan to learn the fate of his childhood friend and he finds a very different country than the one he left as a boy. Even as an adult, Hassan had remained loyal to Amir by asking Rahim Khan about his friend and he wrote a letter to Amir in hopes that it would be passed along. Amir’s guilt is brought back and he feels he owes Hassan loyalty in return. The friendship is developed further when Amir finds out that Hassan was actually his brother. At that moment, Amir became determined to find Hassan’s son. Only when Amir goes to rescue Sorab, Hassan’s son, does he truly start feeling “healed at last” (289). As an act of loyalty back to Hassan, Amir’s journey and heroic efforts allow him to adopt Sorab. This showed that Amir really had a deep respect and love for his best friend. The parallelism of Amir and Hassan’s last kite flight together and Amir and Sorab’s first kite flight together shows that Amir’s and Hassan’s friendship never died. In the final scene of the novel, Amir yells to Sohrab, “for a thousand times over” (391). This statement proves that Amir has become loyal to Hassan. The past clearly dictates who one is in the future, and the previous actions of Amir have taught him to accept his betrayal and account for it in the end. By lovingly and wholeheartedly adopting Hassan’s son, it proves to…
Amir is essentially a selfish character who needs to redeem himself. At the beginning of the book, Amir witnesses the rape of Hassan. Towards the end of the book Amir brings Hassan's son to America after Hassan's death. Collecting Sohrab and bringing him home to America has challenges which Amir must face in order to redeem himself.…
Before the incident, Hassan pledges himself to Amir saying, “For you a thousand times over” (67). The statement, as normal as saying I am here for you, takes on a greater meaning after Hassan, a young boy is raped. At the scene, Amir is capable of…
Where he failed to take action as a child, he now has the chance to do the right thing as an adult. Family friend, Rahim Khan telephones Amir and tells him to come to Pakistan. Amir realizes that Rahim Khan knows of his betrayals to Hassan for he said, “Come. There is a way to be good again” (202). Even though it was twenty-six years later, Rahim Khan understands that Amir can atone for the past by helping Hassan now. Meeting Rahim Khan, Amir learns that the Taliban has killed Hassan and his wife yet Hassan’s son, Sohrab has survived. Amir further learns that he and Hassan share the same father making Sohrab his nephew. The way for Amir to make amends for his past actions is to go back to Kabul despite the danger and rescue Sohrab from an orphanage: “Hassan had loved me once, loved me in a way that no one ever had or ever would again. He was gone now, but a little part of him lived on. It was in Kabul. Waiting” (239). Amir knows that he will never have a friend as loyal and loving as Hassan again. The best way he can repay Hassan is by helping Sohrab. Amir must be selfless and possibly sacrifice his own family’s happiness and his life to find Sohrab: “I have a wife in America, a home, a career, and a family. But how could I pack up and go home when my actions may have cost Hassan a chance at those very same things?” (238). If Amir acted differently when he was younger, Hassan may still be alive today. Amir…
Set in the 1970s in California, the novel The Kite Runner is told in flashback as the reader follows the main character through his resolutions to life-long conflicts. The Flashbacks are set in pre-civil war Afghanistan in the home of a wealthy man. The main character, Amir, is an intellectual character, loving books more than sports, a major disappointment to his powerful father. Amir’s best friend is also a Hazara servant, Hassan. Although they are master and servant, the boys’ relationship is more of friends and companions.…
The novel, The Kite Runner, is about a young boy named Amir who forever lives a life full of shame, quilt and regret. These feelings are brought out by things that Amir has done in his past such as refusing to stick up for Hassan and lying to his father. By the end of the novel, Amir fully atones for his sins by returning to Kabul, adopting Sohrab and being beaten by Assef.…
He is selfish, demanding, cowardly, disrespectful and jealous. He does not seem like the type of person that will do something for another out of the kindness of their heart. He always thinks about himself and what he wants. He has never sacrificed anything for the people he loves. Growing up with the memory of Hassan’s rape still fresh in his mind like a situation that has just unfolded has finally opened his eyes and makes him realize he needs to be brave for once in his life. So Amir acts. He goes back to Afghanistan to find Hassan’s son, Sohrab. Rahim Khan’s advice, “There is a way to be good again” (pg.2) helps Amir to put his feelings into action. Assef, now a Taliban officer, beats Amir up badly, but this, heals Amir of his wrong doings from the past and he takes Sohrab back to America with him to live a good life. Amir finally puts someone before himself after all the sacrifices Hassan has made for him in the past. This shows the love and sacrifice he makes for Hassan’s child knowing it is the only way he can ever repay Hassan for the years of mistreatment in their…
Amir climactically achieved redemption with Hassan when he rescued Sohrab from Assef and brought him to America at the end of the narrative. Although Amir wasn’t able to prove his final loyalty to Hassan himself, he was able to prove it to Sohrab, who was suffering in a way parallel to his father. This is supported by Rahim Khan in his phone call telling Amir to come back to Afghanistan, because “There is a way to be good again.” Amir’s loyalty was tested later in the book, when the American embassy said that Sohrab couldn’t be taken to the United States with him. Amir could have just given up then and left Sohrab in Pakistan in another orphanage. However, he worked to find a way to bring Sohrab to America. When faced with troubles, Amir stayed true and loyal to Hassan, letting him achieve ultimate redemption.…
When Amir was listening to the phone conversation, Rahim Khan says “There is a way to be good again” (script) This phrase morally affects Amir. He decides to go to Pakistan; even though, Rahim said “very bad time now” (script) When he is heading to meet Rahim, the taxi driver says “it is terrible what’s happening in your country”. Amir put himself in danger to go Afghanistan to rescue his friend’s son. Amir watches the stone to death punishment carried out by the Taliban in the stadium in Kabul. He urged to meet the Taliban authority consider as life threatening situation. When Amir rescue Soharb from Taliban, he is beaten, wounded but he focuses on his mission to Afghanistan. When he returns to California, he plays with Sohrab as he played with his friend Hassan. Amir said to Sohrab “do you want me to run that kite for you? For you, a thousand times over”. (script)The same phrase Hassan said to Amir earlier. This indicates sacrificing his life for his friend’s son Soharb gives him complete redemption.…
After Amir finds out that Hassan has passed away, his first instinct is to go and save his son Sohrab. Amir returns back to Kabul and finds out that Sohrab is under the control of the Taliban. As Amir finally finds Sohrab he is faced with the leader of the Taliban which is the man who sexually assaulted Hassan as a child. Amir then sacrifices himself for Sohrab and takes a beating from the leader and escapes with Sohrab later on.(Hosseini 247).This is showing that Amir has figured out that he has to put others before himself sometimes in order to make them happy and do what is right. It is a major step for Amir because he has not done this before. After Amir rescues Sorhab from the Taliban he brings him to a hotel so they can stay together until he brings him back to America. The morning after they settle at the hotel, Sohrab runs away to a Mosque and Amir had no idea where he went. Amir then started to panic because he knew that Sohrab was now his responsibility. Amir then asks the man at the front desk several questions until he mentions the Mosque and Amir immediately ran there hoping to find Sohrab. He finds Sohrab there and has a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders because he has found him, and knows that he is okay.(Hosseini 271). As Amir stays with Sohrab he is trying to get the papers which allows…
In the alley, when watching transfixed as Hassan is tortured and humiliated by Assef, Amir opts to “[run]. [He] ran because he was a coward. [He] was afraid… maybe Hassan was the price [he] had to pay, the lamb [he] had to slay, to win Baba”. Knowing full well that Hassan would have gone to any length to protect Amir, for his perpetual loyalty never faltered, Amir fails to help the one who was always by his side in his time of need. For purely egocentric and self-protective reasons, and the fleeting gain of Baba’s attention, Amir betrays Hassan in an appalling manner, severing the ties of allegiance and brotherhood once holding them together.…