In the novel, “The kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseni, multiple themes are clearly demonstrated. However, the two themes, Loyalty and Betrayal, are mostly displayed throughout the book. Hassan proved his loyalty to each and every character in the book, especially to his master, Amir. Hassan never denied to do anything for his Amir agha. In the beginning of the book, Hassan always used to make Amir very happy by firing walnuts with his slingshot at the neighbor’s German shepherd. When Ali scowled at Hassan, he just mumbled but never incriminated Amir. Hence, this proves Hassan’s genuine love, and loyalty toward Amir. Similarly, When Amir hits Hassan with pomegranates and asks the same in return, the loyal servant declined to throw the pomegranate…
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…
In the book, The Kite Runner, the main character Amir faced a conflict in which he has let down his friend. In chapter 7, the author shared that Amir ran away from the situation leaving Hassan hopeless…
While Hassan is kite running for Amir, Amir betrays him. Hassan is doing a favor for Amir, and Amir allows him to be violated. At the beginning of the novel, Hassan is kite running for Amir, and Hassan gets raped while Amir watches and chooses to do nothing.…
Throughout this novel, there are several different events of betray depicted, mainly between Amir and Hassan. However, one of the most significant example is when Amir etches Hassan as he gets raped by Assef. Amir states, “I had final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan the way he stood up for me all those times in the past-and accept whatever would happen to me if I could run, In the end, I ran. It shows that Amir had a chance to save Hassan, however he ran out. (68)” It shows that Amir is a coward, and he runs always runs away from his problem. Furthermore, he backstabbed Hassan by not standing up, nor fighting Assef to help save him. Another example of betrayal is portrayed by Amir. After the rape incident that happened to Hassan, Amir did not speak up for him. As Amir thinks about the alleyways, and is constantly reminded about Hassan rather than speaking up for him, he wanted Baba to dismiss, both of them so they can move on with their own lives. Amir states, “I went downstairs, crosses the yard, and I 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” (9.21-22). Therefore, this shows now Amir lied and told Baba that Hassan stole the watch and money, when he was once betrayed, and deceived Amir. However, Hassan consistently stays loyal to Amir, and tells Bab that…
At the beginning of the novel, Amir is a young selfish child who cares about himself and only himself, which is evident by the choices he makes. His obsession to please Baba, his father, causes him to betray his best friend, later known to be his half-brother, Hassan. Hassan was raped by Assef, the novel’s antagonist, because he was protecting the kite Amir yearned for to satisfy Baba. Amir later confesses, “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (Hosseini 7). As a consequence, Amir lives with an abundant amount of guilt, in which he tries to avoid, but as the years crawl by, he is unable to find tranquility. His guilty conscious troubles…
Saw the resignation in it. It was a look I had seen before. It was the look of the lamb. (Hosseini, 133)” Betrayal is the one of the more obvious themes in the novel because it occurs multiple times. Hassan’s persistent resistance to give the kite to Assef results in rape. Amir purposely let his best friend get raped, he believed that kite would redeem his relationship with Baba. It displayed how self centered he was; it displayed how much of a coward he was; and it displayed how much of a mediocre “friend” he was. A major problem was that Amir had a lack of independence. He was afraid to stand up for himself. Assef and his gang of friends would pick on him all the time, in retrospect Hassan would stand up and fight for him. He never turned his back on Amir one time not even when Amir framed him for being a thief. That is not what a real friend would do. In today’s society the word friend is misused a great deal. While growing up I recognized everybody as my friend, whether I talked to them or not. If they were in my class I called them a friend. What defines a true friend? A person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations, is the formal definition. In…
Firstly, throughout the whole novel, the story is always linked with the relationship between Amir and Hassan who is the servant of Amir. Hassan is a person who has brave and positive character, but Amir’s character stand on the opposite side of Hassan, which is cowardice. Amir shows the feeling that he is jealous of Hassan…
Who knew that a square of paper, a wooden frame, and a strand of twine could have so much meaning hidden beneath the surface? In the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, among many layers of plot twists and character development, symbolism is an integral part of the storyline. Particularly, the symbol of the kite was one that remained prominent throughout the entire plot. The kite could be interpreted as a representation of freedom, among other ideas. For the protagonist Amir, the kite was arguably what shaped him as a…
One of the more prominent relationships one may observe in The Kite Runner is between the Hazara boy, Hassan, and Amir. This relationship is one the most important in the novel as it acts as a large foundation which is required for the rest of the novel. “…we were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that either.” (27, Hosseini). Amir and Hassan were very close from a very young age, they had grown a very strong friendship with each other. Throughout the early stages of the novel, their strong bond was highly evident through many of their actions, including their collaboration during the kite fighting tournaments. However, tension became evident amongst the two, a large…
Even though Hassan is with Amir nearly all the time events occur that push these two apart. The obvious occurrence was the rape of Hassan and the cowardly act of Amir to sit back and watch. Hassan faces complete humiliation and Amir faces the constant guilt for the rest of his life. Amir’s guilt and Hassan’s…
In The Kite Runner, Amir claims that he “became what [he was] today at the age of twelve” (Hosseini, 1). It is discovered that he is referring to a particular set of events early on in the novel, that include, but are not explicitly limited to: Assef’s rape of Hassan and Amir’s cowardice in not trying to save Hassan. These events would lead one to consider Amir as a traitor, and a coward, and that if Amir believes that the events in that year define him, then one would would believe that Amir thought this of himself as well. This statement, like many other facets of the novel, however, is not that straightforward. This proposition that Amir makes has a double meaning to it. The first, as implied, is that he became a someone who put his own priorities far ahead of the needs of others. But with these events came with consequence: the guilt that Amir feels immediately after both Hassan’s rape and Amir’s framing of Hassan of theft, and the prolonging haunting guilt that followed him every day and only began to diminish after returning to Afghanistan and helping those around him, namely Sohrab. It is seen that at the age of twelve, while Amir became an unloyal friend, he also became a seeker of punishment for his sins, as demonstrated when he barks at Hassan to throw a pomegranate at him. After hitting him the the fruit repeatedly, “[Hassan] opened [the pomegranate] and crushed it against his own forehead… I let the tears break free, rocked back and forth on my knees. ‘What am I going to do with you, Hassan?’” (Hosseini, 98-99) Another case of positive attitudes towards punishement is where he feels good to be beaten up by Assef, redemption, and atonement for his sins. These qualities are two sides of the same coin, as they both come at once, and are both absolved at the same time; after saving Sohrab, he is no longer a coward, or a traitor, as he has proven his courage by risking his life to rescue Sohrab, and has amended his betrayal of Hassan through being there for…