“I had one last chance to make a decision.
“I had one last chance to make a decision.
Bravery is being strong in the moment of pain or fear. In Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, between Baba and Hassan I believe that Hassan showed to have more bravery of the two.…
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…
As a child and all throughout his life Khaled Hosseini loved reading. Khaled was born and raised, for a few years of his life, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Although Khaled has moved around quite a bit, he has lived in San Jose, California for much of his life. Khaled lived in Afghanistan during the years of the constitutional monarchy. He thought of his time in Afghanistan as very peaceful and quiet.…
Amir is very selfish and only does things for his own benefit. He did not have the courage or strength to step in and save his friend in the alley from Assef. He made the choice to betray his friend. As Hassan stood his ground in the alley and chooses to honor his promise to Amir and return the kite to him, Amir stood silent at the end of the alley and watched the beating and rape of his friend Hassan. The following quotation emphasizes how Amir is unworthy of Hassan’s loyalty: “I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – the way he’d stood up for me all those time in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran.” (82). Amir’s betrayal continues, as he later decides that he no longer wants Hassan and his father in the household, so he decides to set up Hassan and accuse him of stealing. “I went downstairs, crossed the yard, and entered Ali and Hassan’s living quarters by the loquat tree. I lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it.” (110). Amir betrays Hassan by trying to have his friend fired for stealing. Hassan took the blame to keep Amir out of trouble. This…
After Amir wins the competition, Hassan goes to retrieve his kite, when he then gets into a brawl with Assef and his two other boys. When Amir goes to find Hassan, he sees how he is getting abused by Assef and decides not to do anything about. He thought to himself, “I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan- the way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past- and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run” (Hosseini 77). In the end, Amir decided to run because he was a coward and only thought of the best for himself, not Hassan. Readers uncover irony within this section of the novel. In order for Hassan not to be raped, he had to give Assef Amir’s kite, which Hassan knew would help boost Amir and Baba’s relationship. So Hassan, being a great friend, sacrifices himself, just so that Baba can be proud of Amir for once. After the rape, Amir and Hassan become distant from one another. When the two are face-to-face, Amir wishes Hassan would punish him. For instance, he pelts Hassan with the pomegranates, because he wants Hassan to hit him back. Punishment, Amir feels, would at least begin to make up for the way he wronged Hassan. Hassan, however, will not retaliate, and that became the greatest torment for Amir. Since Amir is still filled with the guilt of leaving Hassan to be raped in the alleyway, he decided he has to put an end to this. Seeing Hassan everyday was a constant reminder of his wronged actions. So, Amir went into Hassan’s living quarters, lifted his “mattress and planted [his] new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it”, which made Baba believe Hassan stole all those items (Hosseini 104). Baba begs for Ali and Hassan to stay with them, but Ali makes the final decision that it would be best if they…
Amir's selfishness costs him his friendship with Hassan. From the beginning of "The Kite Runner" it is evident that Amir and Hassan's relationship was a very close one. However, Amir betrays Hassan and their friendship when Amir watches Hassan being raped by Assef. Amir makes no attempt to stop or prevent the rape. This can be contrasted to when Sohrab cuts himself with a razor when Amir makes the most effort that…
The day of the kite running Amir wins and Hassan goes off to run for the kite, this was the day Amir made his father so proud of him. But what he didn’t know is that while Hassan was running for the kite he was trapped by Assef and his two followers. Amir found Hassan but he was being beaten up and then he was raped. Amir decided that he would save himself and went away to pretend it didn’t happen. These responses that Amir…
One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan-the way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past-and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran" (Hosseini 77). The theme of journey towards adulthood emerges as Amir loses his innocence in life. Before the major event involving Hassan, Amir lived a normal life and did normal things in belief that the kite flying victory would guarantee a happy ending for him and Hassan. But in all actuality "Amir was just starting to think about real issues in life, his faith and the complex meaning of relationships and friendships, when the fateful day of both victory and defeat changed his life forever. Growing up was no longer gradual-he was thrust into adulthood" ("The Kite Runner as a Coming-of-Age…
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.…
Betrayal, almost everyone has betrayed someone, no matter if they were a friend or foe. In the Kite Runner, Amir betrays Hassan, his betrayal is the one the book focuses on the most. Although, he is not the only one who betrays someone. Throughout the whole novel there is betrayal and some inspire a few actions, a couple reckless, in the characters. Hassan is one of the very few people who never betrayed anyone. Betrayal is everywhere, but other stick with loyalty, Hassan was always loyal to Amir, while it was not returned.…
For those who don’t reach the end of the book The Kite Runner, they might consider Amir to be evil or immoral. Based on his actions from his childhood and teenage years he does things that seem inhumane and inconsiderate. However, the full presentation of Amir is very important to the complexity of his character. The events that happen throughout the book make readers feel more sympathetic because the author explains scenarios that readers feel bad that Amir had to go through those experiences. Readers begin to sympathize more with Amir because they understand what being neglected can make a person feel like. They can also relate to what it might be like to not have a mother as well as the despair of being betrayed by someone you love.…
In the Kite Runner, conflict is evident throughout; physical conflict of the war, Baba’s internal fight against cancer, Hassan’s constant battle with the society he lived in, Sohrab’s struggle to accept and trust Amir, but none more prominent than Amir’s conflict with his emotions and his own image of himself. The entirety of Hosseini’s novel is based around the self-conscious narrative of a guilty man who struggles to come to terms with the consequences of the, decisively wrong, decisions he made as a child, which seems to have caused a domino effect on his whole life, never truly able to make the right choice until the end of the novel when he finally chose to stand up and stand up for what is right instead of running and hiding- saving the last ounce of his brothers happiness, his son, Sohrab.…
When a life of wrong happens, people pay careful attention to the victims, but rarely look at the wrongdoers. Human makes mistakes, but what is done afterwards is what defines the nature of mankind. Some people repeat their faults without any regret, some people struggle over their life, trying to determine what is right and what is wrong. However, some people carry on with regret and guilt, spending the rest of their life to atone. Amir in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is one of them. In the novel, young Amir chooses not to stand up and fight for his companion and friend Hassan, indirectly resulting in the death of Hassan many years after they grow up. When Sohrab,…
In this article Jefferess critically analyzes Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” specifically highlighting the novel’s ethical demand using the following quote as a foundation for his subsequent arguments, “There is a way to be good again”. The author sources famous articles such as Butler's Theory of Interdependence and Appiah’s notion of Cosmopolitanism and concepts such as Mamdani’s analysis of the difference between the “good Muslim” and the “bad Muslim” to set up his points of the shift between morality due to morals or society. This article is highly credible as Jefferess is a professor of english literature at the university of british columbia, marking this genre as his expertise. Jefferess was not the only one that helped to write…
Amir is riddled with mental anguish as a young boy when he discovers the true nature of Hassan’s loyalty. As Hassan sets out to run the kite for Amir he says “for you a thousand times over” (67). The promise that Hassan makes seems simple in the beginning. Amir sees it as a reminder that Hassan will always…