How Does The Kite Runner Affect The Future

Ethan Shan
Ms. Yamamoto
World Literature II
9 November 2015
The Past Doesn’t Affect the Future Some say that the future is always influenced by the past. This is often applied to The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. In this book, the protagonist is haunted by guilt his entire life from the failure to help his friend when he needed it, but is given the chance to redeem himself later on in his life. Many people say that the idea of the past influencing the future appears frequently in The Kite Runner. However, one can find that the future is influenced more by the present than by the past, no matter what time period. In the marriage between Amir and Soraya, only the actions leading to their marriage influenced their future together, not their past histories. The two were in love with each other since they first met. Neither of them knew about the other’s histories. However, this did not get in the way of their relationship. On the day that Amir and Soraya decide to get married, they speak on the phone with each
other, Soraya reveals her darkest secret to Amir. After telling him, she asks, ‘“Does it bother you enough to change your mind?” “Not even close,” I [Amir] said. “Nothing you said changes anything. I want us to marry”’ (Hosseini 165). This quote shows that Amir doesn’t care about the past because to him and Soraya, only the present matters. Amir at this time is still harboring his secret of betraying Hassan and his father from many years ago. However, he does not let this affect his marriage with Soraya. Even with tumultuous pasts, the marriage still continues because of their love with each other. Sohrab is destined to live a better life in America, despite his violent past. Sohrab was raised by his father Hassan, who was Amir’s half-brother and friend. However, his father was murdered by the Taliban, and Sohrab was placed in an orphanage. He was then taken by Assef, Amir’s old enemy, and sexually abused by him; fortunately, Amir took him to safety. After Sohrab’s suicide attempt, Amir talks to him in the hospital about moving to the United States. Amir tells him, “Sohrab, I can’t give you your old life back, I wish to God I could. But I can take you with me” (Hosseini 355). In this quote, Amir tells Sohrab that only the future remains, but it offers many new opportunities to recover from the past and forget about it. Although the past is full of pain for Sohrab, the future can change his life for the better. The history of Afghanistan from 1973 onwards decided to break ties with the past completely.
After the king was overthrown, the future became uncertain. The only way to know about the future would be to analyze the present: look at how events were playing out. Sometimes deviations occurred: in 2003, America invaded Iraq, which no one expected. For example, after the coup in 1973, “for the next couple of years, the words economic development and reform danced on a lot of lips in Kabul” (Hosseini 43). None of this would have happened during the monarchial rule of Zahir Shah. Instead, these radical changes were based on the present, and would continue to influence the future until the Russians invaded in 1979, bringing in an era of pain and suffering that continues to this very day. The idea of the present’s future influence is clearly seen throughout the modern history of Afghanistan, showing the radical changes in its history is independent of previous
events. The past doesn’t have much influence on the future. Instead, it is the present that determines one’s fate. This can be seen in the marriage of Amir and Soraya, and the conservation between Amir and Sohrab in the hospital in Peshawar. In each case, the characters must face the future, and not look back at the past, since the future leaves it in the dust. What is done in the present is the only indicator of what the future could be.