Redemption in Kite Runner

Redemption in Kite Runner Guilt can drive people to the ground. It can ruin ones life from top to bottom. Some people spend their whole life being guilty and they lose sight of what is really important in life. They spend way too much time trying to redeem themselves and it is in their conscious forever. In the case of Amir, he spends his entire childhood and midlife trying to redeem himself. He feels guilty for many reasons and all of his struggles in the novel are because of his feelings of guilt. Guilt and redemption are what drive this novel. Guilt starts for Amir at the very beginning of his life. When he Amir is born, his mother, the love of Baba’s life, is killed during birth. Amir always feels guilty for this and feels like Baba does not like him as much. This guilt fuels the fire for the rest of Amir’s childhood. He is always trying to prove himself to Baba. He even feels guilty when he cries at the match of buzkashi. He thinks that he embarrassed Baba. He also overhears Baba telling Rahim Khan that he thinks Amir is weak and thinks that he will become a man who can’t stand up for anything. Because of this, Amir wants so badly to redeem himself to Baba. He becomes to resent Hassan too because Baba respects Hassan. Amir thinks bad thoughts about Hassan and starts to distant himself from him. Amir’s constant desire for redemption with Baba leads to even more guilt. Amir is about to win the kite running tournament. He cut down the last kite and Hassan is running to go get it. Amir finds Hassan in the alleyway being beaten and raped by some boys. Amir has a chance to stop it but he wants the blue kite so badly so he can finally redeem himself to Baba so he lets Hassan get raped. However, this leads to the ultimate guilt. Amir can never stop thinking about it. He did the wrong thing. He stops talking to Hassan entirely and gets him kicked out of the house. He can’t stand to look at Hassan anymore. The guilt is too much. This guilt stays with Hassan for