The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

“A Chance to be Good Again.” Khaled Hosseini introduces his haunted narrator, Amir, by immediately revealing the root of all of his problems. Amir opens the novel by stating, “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past… about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty six years.” In the winter of 1975 Amir watched his best friend, Hassan, get raped by Assef in a “deserted alley”, in order to protect a gift he retrieved for Amir. Amir did not save Hassan, even after all of the times Hassan had saved him; additionally, instead of confessing, he framed Hassan of theft, and sends him far away. He could not look his guilt in the face. All he could do is turn and run. Amir’s betrayal of Hassan is the climax of the first part of The Kite Runner, and it affects his life more than any other event of his childhood. The
cowardice Amir displays reappears throughout his story-arc, and it is ultimately the goliath he has to face in order to achieve redemption. The root of all of Amir’s problems lie in his spineless abandonment of his best friend.
It leaves him guilt ridden, heart sick, and tormented; however, his is too weak-kneed and selfish reconcile for his sins. This inability to reconcile himself leads to contempt as Amir soaks in self-blame, “...what would I see if I did look into his eyes? Blame? Indignation? Or, God forbid, what I feared most: guileless devotion?” He cannot bear to look into Hassan’s eyes, filled with crushed innocence. He can’t stand to accept Hassan’s “guileless devotion.” In Amir’s case, contempt turns to irrational action, where Amir betrays Hassan one final time by framing him as a thief and ending their friendship forever. Each grimm state of that Amir experiences is juxtaposed with the others through his initial betrayal of his best
friend. More than simply altering his childhood, Amir’s betrayal is what finally drives him to selflessly sacrifice himself for Hassan’s orphaned son. When Amir is called to return to Kabul in order to become “good again,” he is faced with an opportunity to either run or stop his “cycle of lies, betrayal, and secrets.” After discovering that Hassan is his brother, Amir faces Assef, the very man who raped Hassan. Amir reconciles his sin, and saves Hassan’s poor orphaned son from Assef’s rape. Without his betrayal, Amir would never have redeemed himself, found peace within himself, discovered that Hassan was his brother, or faced the man who caused him to betray Hassan in the first place, and throughout the rest of the story, Amir dedicates himself to protecting Sohrab, Hassan’s grief-ridden son, to assure he never betrays Hassan, or anyone else again. “For you, a thousand times over,” exclaims Amir as he runs a kite for Sohrab, just as Hassan had said to him, just before his rape. Amir’s betrayal of Hassan completely structures the haunting plot of The Kite Runner. It separates loving brothers, summons gut-wrenching guilt, spills sacrificial blood, and, ultimately, breeds an extremely loving and humble man in Amir jan. Though it appears as a bleak event, it leads Amir to achieve what he yearns for, for so long--redemption.