Kite Runner, Seeking Redemption

xxx xxx English 12 Honors
29th of November, 2013
Betrayal and redemption
In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, several major themes arise. One of the most dominant themes is betrayal. The protagonist, an Afghani-American named Amir, retells the story of his childhood; from growing up in Afghanistan and ending up in America. During his life Amir have been forced to make many difficult choices, several of which he is not proud of. In his early years he watched his best friend Hassan get raped without interfering, and later due to his own actions he forced Hassan and his father to leave their house. Most people would call this betrayal, and they would be right. But it is important to remember; would you have done anything differently? In the Kite Runner there is many betrayals, but the most significant one is when Amir does not stand up for Hassan. Hassan is by nature a very loyal person, and Khaled Hosseini shows early in the book the extent of his loyalty. “Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yard. And, under the same roof, we spoke our first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name.” (Hosseini 11) In this passage, Hosseini shows how innocent and loyal Hassan is, even from the very beginning of his life. It is remarkable that the first word Hassan say is the name of his master, but it is also important to take note of Amir’s first word; Baba. This also is very important because it illustrates how important Baba is to Amir, how important it is for Amir to impress him. Bearing Hassan’s loyalty in mind, we can look more closely at Amir. The following exchange between Amir and Hassan is important, because it prepares us for future events and shows a more cruel side of Amir.
“He turned to me. A few sweat beads rolled from his bald scalp. "Would I ever lie to you, Amir agha?" Suddenly I decided to toy with him a little. "I don't know. Would you?" "I'd sooner eat dirt," he said with a look of indignation. "Really? You'd do that?" He threw me a puzzled look. "Do what?" "Eat dirt if I told you to," I said. […] Kind of like when we used to play insect torture. Except now, he was the ant and I was holding the magnifying glass. […] “If you asked I would” (Hosseini 54)
Again, we see Hassan’s undying loyalty to Amir. However, this is one of many small exchanges where Amir is cruel to Hassan, or as he says himself, “toying with him.” This is Hosseini preparing us for Amir to betray Hassan. While this is not directly a betrayal, it clearly shows that Hassan stands up for him while he does not stand up for his friend. We see other similar situations, for example when Assef is bullying Amir and Hassan, Amir is not willing to acknowledge him as a friend. Most people will agree that Amir’s biggest betrayal is not helping his friend when Assef is raping him. Yet, it is so important to remember that it is a very difficult situation. Most people go through their lives without ever facing such a difficult situation. While this being said, Amir did take the coward’s way out. Furthermore, after the incident he made sure Ali and Hassan departed the house, by planting his new watch and some money under Hassan’s pillow. After looking at Hassan, it is important to look at Amir. We must ask ourselves; why did Amir betray his best friend? The following passage is helpful in explaining the matter. “I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.” (Hosseini 77) Baba, while not doing too much himself in the book is so incredibly important. This is because during his first years, he was the person Amir wanted to impress the most in the entire world. And for a little child that only wanted to impress his father, and the father does everything but reject him, it only enhances his need to impress him. As Hosseini describes, we see the extent of Amir’s needs when he says he can sacrifice his best friend in order to impress his father.