The Kite Runner Theme Essay

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossenini deals primarily with the theme of guilt and redemption and subtly approaches the correlations between religion and violence through these main themes. The novel centers on the relationship between the narrator Amir and his friend/servant Hassan and Amir’s guilt when he witnesses an act of violence done to Hassan that he fails to intervene in. This personal conflict ties into the narrator’s experiences with religion as he attempts to redeem himself. Through this aspect of the novel, we can see the personal journey of finding the true Self through traumatic experience and the dichotomy of religion as a tool to explain suffering and violence as well as a justification for violence. Set against the backdrop of the gradual rise of the Taliban, the novel follows the life of it’s the narrator, Amir, who faces a personal crisis when he witnesses an act of violence done to his loyal friend and servant, Hassan, which he fails to prevent. The guilt of his inaction overwhelms Amir and he eventually forces Hassan and his father Ali to cease their servitude, much to the dismay of
Baba responds with “You’ve confused what you’re learning in school with actual education” (p.16) and insists, “You’ll never learn anything of value from those bearded idiots. God help us all if Afghanistan ever falls into their hands” (p.17). Baba’s opinion of religion seems to be that it cannot be learned or experienced by institutional means, and he furthers this by questioning the existence of God and the importance of adhering to the laws of their religion. Baba subscribes to a common notion of religion as a practice that does more harm than good and Amir seems to mirror his father’s view and does little in the way of religious