The Kite Runner

Guilty or Not Guilty? “My hands are stained with Hassan’s blood; I pray God doesn’t let them get stained with the blood of his boy too.” (Hosseini, 2003, page 346) Amir, the main character, said this while his nephew was in the hospital because of a potentially fatal suicide attempt. Many people would say, because of this quote, that Amir is not worthy of forgiveness. This makes Amir, the main character in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, not worthy of forgiveness. There are many examples of Amir being selfish in the novel which proves that he is not worthy of forgiveness. When Amir was a kid his half brother, Hassan, was raped by Assef. This event left Hassan scarred and caused him to stay distant from everyone. Amir couldn’t handle the guilt and asked Baba to find new servants but Baba refused. Ali and Hassan left anyways. This shows Amir is too caught up in himself to care for anyone else’s feelings, which proves that he is not worthy of forgiveness. Another example of Amir not being worthy of forgiveness is that he expects everyone to fight his battles for him. There are two strong examples of this in the novel; once when Hassan is getting beat up by Assef, and a second time when Assef was beating up Amir. Hassan took the beating from Assef so that he could keep the kite Amir wanted. Sohrab, Hassan’s son, saved Amir’s life while Assef was beating him up. SInce Amir is not capable of standing up for himself, he should not be worthy of forgiveness. The last big example of Amir’s selfishness is shown when Sohrab is in the hospital after his failed suicide attempt. The only thing Sohrab asked Amir for was to not be put back into an orphanage, and Amir told him he might have to do so. After Amir told Sohrab about the orphanage, he left him unsupervised and took a nap. When he woke up he found Sohrab clinging to life in the bathtub. While Sohrab was fighting for his life in the hospital Amir prayed that Sohrab’s “blood wouldn’t be on his hands.”