THE KITE RUNNER
Essay
“There are only really a few stories to tell in the end, and betrayal and the failure of love is one of those good stories to tell”- Sean Lennon.
Khaled Hosseini’s ‘The Kite Runner’ is a story that really is quite relevant to this quote. People might say that it isn’t, but there betrayal in almost every nook and cranny of the story. Betrayal is simply defined as being disloyal to someone, yet it is so much more than that. Betrayal can cause the greatest sadness in life. It can cripple a man’s heart and could be the cause of one’s death. Amir’s betrayal towards Hassan; Baba’s betrayal towards Amir, Hassan and Ali; Rahim Khan’s betrayal towards Amir when he told him to get Sohrab and send him to John and Betty Caldwell. All of them terrible betrayals, but in the end, the reason for each and every person’s weaknesses, but more importantly, their strengths. These are probably what makes the book so interesting. “…The failure of love…” is also a main topic throughout the book, how characters repeatedly disappoint each other, creating hatred, anger, sadness, and eventually even loss. In this book betrayal is the main action, the dominant style and the prevalent idea. I suppose it makes it a lot like real life.
The first betrayal mentioned in the book, and possibly the most important one is Amir’s betrayal towards Hassan when he silently watches as Hassan is raped. Throughout the book, Amir remembers, and reminds us of this betrayal towards Hassan and how it was his fault that Hassan was raped and eventually, how it was his fault Hassan was killed. In his letter, Rahim Khan says, “What you did was wrong, Amir jan, but do not forget that you were a boy when it happened. A troubled little boy.” He was right, it didn’t excuse the mistake Amir had made but it gave him a reason to feel just a tiny bit better about himself. But he didn’t, Amir blamed himself for Hassan’s death, and over time in helped him grow as a person and even