The Kite Runner

Ignorance is bliss. Or so one may think....in actuality ignorance is merely an illusion of bliss, a false occurrence produced by telling secrets when one fears the truth. .Just like a dream though, one most eventually awake from the ignorance in secrets, and the protection that secrets provide fades away into nothingness.....and the truth explode into the world and people finally see things the way they really are and realize they much rather handle the truth. In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini's characters keep secrets to protect each other, but the ignorance that they spread causes more pain to the people then the truth would have. They learn this harsh reality by suffering from massive guilt, realizing the aftermath of the secrets, and by experiencing the joy of turning ignorance into enlightenment.

Secrets are made up of perpetual deception, which causes guilt to build up because without the truth there can be no closure to the pain with the continuous cycle of lies. Amir suffers profusely from guilt because the huge secret he holds creates pain through guilt. When Amir visits Whahid's family Whahid says to Amir, "You are an honorable man, Amir Aga. A true Afghan " (238). Amir's response to this is he "cringes inside." This shows that something inside Amir's heart is bothered by this compliment, this statement. The more and more lies he tells to conceal his true nature, the more the truth comes knocking on his door, and the more pain he suffers. Guilt is essentially the pain causes by a conflict of truth and lies, and the battle will never end until the truth prevails. Amir therefore gets stuck in this perpetual cycle of lies to cover up more lies, and eventually his internal pain reaches such a deep level that it also becomes physically unbearable, and he instinctively cringes inside for each new lie he covers. By telling the truth sooner, Amir could have relieved much of this guilt and created closure for himself, instead of running in circles around the endless pain of guilt.

Baba is a prime example in this novel of a character who suffers harshly from the aftermath of his secrets, because he harms his childhood best friend and half-son by keeping secret that he was Hassan's real father. This causes Baba an immense amount of pain because he never expressed this truth to Hassan, which might have prevented him from leaving. Instead, however, Baba keeps his secret and it continues to cause him a substantial amount of pain. When Baba gives Amir his first car, the first thing he says is "I wish Hassan had been with us today" (133). He feels a lot of pain when saying this because it causes him to reflect that the situation probably would have turned out drastically different if he only told his secret. But again, these characters hold close to this false sense of protection called ignorance. Baba chooses to keep the people around him ignorant about his secret, because he thinks it will protect them. Secrets don't offer protection, they instead offer a false sense of reality, and eventually everyone must come back to reality. Baba never reaches that reality in his earthly life, but Amir definitely does when he learns the truth. If Baba had shared his secret earlier in life, many things might have turned out differently.

Although learning that secrets cause pain can cause despair, enlightenment of the truth can bring great joy. While the characters in this book often have to learn from their mistakes, they also benefit by learning from what they, or others, did correctly. For example, Soraya tells Amir her secret about her eloping scandalous rebellion very earlier in there relationship and this act not only makes their relationship even stronger, but makes Amir respect greatly for her courage. Another instance is when Amir tells his wife the truth about his past and he reflects, "I told my wife everything. Everything. I had pictured this moment so many times, dreaded it, but, as I spoke I felt something lifting off my chest." At this point in the book, this great load of guilt was lifted off Amir's back, and he experiences the full joy of telling the truth. Amir then realizes that he was always better off telling the truth, and breaking out of this shell of secrets and lies makes him incredibly happy since it sets him free. This freedom is the result of the secret's illusion being cleared away, and all that's left is true wisdom.

Ignorance is bliss. As Khaled Hosseini shows us in the novel The Kite Runner, this statement is not true. Ignorance is merely an illusion of bliss, a false occurrence produced by telling secrets when one fears the truth. Amir and the other characters in this novel learn they must fight this ignorance and not keep secrets, or they will suffer the despairs of guilt, suffering, and even death. Towards the end of the novel when they reach this truth, the hearts become filled with joy because they don't have to keep up the illusion anymore. Amir is able to forgive his father, forgive himself, and help his adopted son. Soraya is able to move on with her marriage, and reach a new level of understanding with her husband when she tells the truth. Although Baba doesn't tell his secret in his earthly life, when his secret is revealed his memory is finally able to rest in piece in Amir's mind. Kite Runner reveals to its readers that secrets provide only in illusion of bliss that is very harmful, but truth will always prevail and save the day in the end if you only set it free.