Kite Runner Essay ( Is Amir An likable Character)

In the novel, The Kite Runner, the central character, Amir, narrates his personal journey from childhood to present-day adulthood. As a child, Amir is a member of a privileged Kabul upper class, until the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1978. Throughout the text, Amir experiences events that both cause his powerful and conflicting emotions and reveal his flaws and sins. It is his honest and heartfelt response to his wrongdoing that draws a positive connection from the reader. Although his sins are indeed grievous, Amir nevertheless remains likable because he ultimately has a strong moral conscience; he seeks redemption and he endures intense suffering in order to right his wrongs.
Amir’s conscience torments him because he has a clear sense of what is right and wrong. After leaving Kabul, Amir continuously has nightmares about Hassan. “I woke up with a scream trapped in my throat” (Hosseni 252). Later, Amir has a recreation of Hassan’s moments. This indicates that he is human because he experiences guilt and shame about his past. Furthermore, Amir sees himself as less than perfect. For example, he marries a woman with a tainted past. In the past, before meeting Amir, Soraya had run away with an Afghan and disgraced her family, but Amir loves her anyway. This illustrates that Amir accepts flaws in other people because he knows that he is himself emotionally imperfect. Although, he has a strong conscience, he really tries to redeem himself for what he has done in the past concerning Hassan.
Amir seeks redemption at all costs because he humbly recognizes his mistakes. First of all, he decides to return to Kabul to rescue Sohrab, Hassan’s son. So doing, he faces Assef, who is now a leader of the Taliban and the pedophile owner of Sohrab. “His name rose from the deep and I didn’t want to say it… but he was already here, in the flesh, sitting less than ten feet from me, after all these years. His name escaped my lips: “Assef” (Hosseni 295). In facing Assef, Amir