...relationship with others, Amir’s relationship with Hassan, and Amir’s struggle to undo the damages done by his negligence. This illustrates that, “Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.” (Rowling). Self-hatred is the damage that is caused by Baba’s actions of neglect. By neglecting Hassan’s right to know the truth, and by not showing him fatherly love – Baba betrays his own son. As a result, his actions of neglect are...
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...Afghan boys Amir and Hassan. Amir is a Pashtun and Sunni Muslim, while Hassan is a Hazara and a Shi’a. Despite their ethnic and religious differences, Amir and Hassan grow to be friends, although Amir is troubled by Hassan, and his relationship with his companion, one year his junior, is complex. Amir and Hassan seem to have a "best friend" type relationship. The two boys, Hassan and Amir, are main characters in the book titled, The Kite Runner. The two boys have a relationship that is significantly different compared to most. There are many different facets that distinguish the relationship the boys possess. The boys do write their names in a pomegranate tree as the "sultans of Kabul" (Kite Runner 27) but, their friendship is not strong and it is one sided. Hassan has love for Amir. He loves him like a brother. Hassan is exceedingly loyal to Amir. The relationship between the two boys is emotionally wearing and rather gloomy for the most part. The main reason for their complicated relationship is the fact that Amir is Pashtun, and Hassan is Hazara. The Afghan society places Hassan lower than Amir. Hassan is Amir's servant. The placement of Hassan in the Afghan society disenables Amir from becoming Hassan's true friend. Amir sees Hassan as lower than human. Amir ruins the chance for friendship between himself and Hassan because he is jealous of Hassan, he thinks of Hassan as a lower human, and because Amir possesses such extreme guilt for what he has done to Hassan. Amir is an unforgivable...
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...you are and what you have become. We all have live a past of which was once present. The ways you act can affect your future in many ways. Just one unthoughtful choice can cause you to regret your past. No matter how much one wants to change the past, the feeling of guilt can never change that. Guilt can never change the past as worrying can never change the future. In the Novel, The Kite Runner, Amir witnesses Hassan's encounter with Assef, since that incident, Amir suffers the thought of guilt throughout his whole life. His relationship with Hassan was broken and it lead to many events that Amir wish he could reverse. This lead to many events that molded Amir into the present man he is today. The past reminisces the minds and actions of several character in the book and Amir's future will continue to change due to the actions he has done in the past. People's respect in Afghanistan is mainly based off their social class. Pashtuns treat Hazaras poorly and they are above them. The difference in social class set Amir and Hassan apart. Although Hassan was Amirs servant. They were best friends. For an example, during an incident in the beginning of the book, Amir said,"I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran." (7.137-139) Amir is faced with...
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...sin, but the one who causes the darkness.” – Victor Hugo. In the novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Khaled effectively portrays guilt as being destructive to oneself and affecting others around it. The violence that the main character, Amir, experiences leads to him feeling guilty for rest of his life, which breaks up the relationships that he once had in his previous years. Amir’s guilt turns brother against brother and friend against friend. In the novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled uses the character, Amir, to demonstrate how violence leads to betrayal, which creates guilt within oneself, and ultimate destroying relationships. The impact of violence on Amir leads him to betray Hassan, his only friend, brother and servant by running away from helping Hassan. Amir’s first experience of violence is when Amir wins the Kite fighting Tournament, and Hassan, runs off in pursuit of Amir’s trophy. Hassan is gone long enough to alarm Amir, who begins to search for him and once he finds him, he sees Assef, a bully, raping him. Amir at first is scared of Assef but later convinces himself by says, “Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba (Amir’s Father) Was it a fair price?” (Hosseini 82). As Amir never helps Hassan, this shows that Amir will do anything to get Baba’s love and intention. Amir uses Hassan as a tool even though Hassan was his best friend from birth. Hassan’s friendship for Amir is not worth more than...
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...The Kite Runner Final Essay It is normal for human beings to make mistakes that cause oneself to feel guilt, but what matters the most is how one fixes their mistakes that dictates what kind of person they truly are. In the book, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, it shows that the quest for redemption is the way to atone for guilt. The author uses the literary technique of symbolism to enhance the theme of feeling guilt and its quest for redemption throughout the book. Amir has done many things that cause him to feel guilt that cause him to go on a quest for redemption. For example, in the beginning of the book, Amir says, “That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, 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.”(Khaled Hosseini, 1) This shows not only how Amir has been feeling guilt for the last twenty-six years but also how one as a reader can see how Amir finds redemption later in the book. Amir has clearly stated that he has tried to bury his past, his mistakes, but they eventually “claw” back out, forcing Amir to face his guilt and redeem himself. Also, later in the book Amir says “I flinched, like I’d been slapped… Then I understood: This was Hassan’s final sacrifice for me… And that led to another understanding: Hassan knew. He knew I’d seen everything in that alley, that I’d stood there and done nothing...
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...In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the main character, Amir, is in a constant struggle between morality and immorality. The relationship between Amir and Hassan shows dominance on Amir’s part, which is obvious when Amir constantly puts blame on Hassan, when he left his friend to be abused by other men, and when he delivers the harshest blow by attempting to frame both Hassan and his father for stealing in order to get rid of Hassan. This obvious mistreatment towards his friend indicates both his lack of ethics and his selfishness, therefore causing ill feelings towards him. Whereas characters with similar personalities as Amir would become instantly disliked by all, his intense desire to win his father’s affection and approval evoke a sense of both sympathy and understanding. Furthermore, later in the novel, Amir’s apparent guilt and attempts at atonement make up, to a certain extent, for all of the wrongs he did in the past. The novel opens with the introduction of the relationship between Amir and Hassan. Right from the very beginning, Amir’s establishes the class distinction between them by stating that both Hassan and his father are the servants of Baba, Amir’s father; thus, Hassan is automatically ranked “below” Amir. Further showing his believed superiority, Amir refers to Hassan as a “Hazara,” though he doesn’t mean in a derogatory way until later in the novel. However, Amir does not really use that against him, as he seems his as more of a brother or friend...
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...sin, but the one who causes the darkness.” – Victor Hugo. In the novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Khaled effectively portrays guilt as being destructive to oneself and affecting others around it. The violence that the main character, Amir, experiences leads to him feeling guilty for rest of his life, which breaks up the relationships that he once had in his previous years. Amir’s guilt turns brother against brother and friend against friend. In the novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled uses the character, Amir, to demonstrate how violence leads to betrayal, which creates guilt within oneself, and ultimate destroying relationships. The impact of violence on Amir leads him to betray Hassan, his only friend, brother and servant by running away from helping Hassan. Amir’s first experience of violence is when Amir wins the Kite fighting Tournament, and Hassan, runs off in pursuit of Amir’s trophy. Hassan is gone long enough to alarm Amir, who begins to search for him and once he finds him, he sees Assef, a bully, raping him. Amir at first is scared of Assef but later convinces himself by says, “Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba (Amir’s Father) Was it a fair price?” (Hosseini 82). As Amir never helps Hassan, this shows that Amir will do anything to get Baba’s love and intention. Amir uses Hassan as a tool even though Hassan was his best friend from birth. Hassan’s friendship for Amir is not worth more than...
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...Summary Amir, a well-to-do Pashtun boy, and Hassan, a Hazara and the son of Amir's father's servant, Ali, spend their days in a peaceful Kabul, kite fighting, roaming the streets and being boys. Amir’s father (who is generally referred to as Baba, "daddy", throughout the book) loves both the boys, but seems critical of Amir for not being manly enough. Amir also fears his father blames him for his mother’s death during childbirth. However, he has a kind father figure in the form of Rahim Khan, Baba’s friend, who understands Amir better, and is supportive of his interest in writing stories. Assef, a notoriously mean and violent older boy with sadistic tendencies, blames Amir for socializing with a Hazara, according to Assef an inferior race that should only live in Hazarajat. He prepares to attack Amir with his steel knuckles, but Hassan bravely stands up to him, threatening to shoot Assef in the eye with his slingshot. Assef and his henchmen back off, but Assef says he will take revenge. Hassan is a successful "kite runner" for Amir, knowing where the kite will land without even watching it. One triumphant day, Amir wins the local tournament, and finally Baba's praise. Hassan goes to run the last cut kite, a great trophy, for Amir saying "For you, a thousand times over." Unfortunately, Hassan runs into Assef and his two henchmen. Hassan refuses to give up Amir's kite, so Assef exacts his revenge, assaulting and raping him. Wondering why Hassan is taking so long, Amir searches...
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...obligation. Guilt can cause someone to be betrayal the people around them. It can also make someone good again. Khaled Hussein’s The Kite runner the main character Amir guilt turns him into a better person. Amir transformed from someone who never stood up for anything one to some who does. In the beginning of the novel, Amir never treated his friend Hassan right. Amir watches his friend get rape. He never did anything about it. Amir was only thinking about himself. He tried to make his guilt go always by setting up Hassan and Ali. “I went downstairs, crossed the yard, and entered Ali and Hassan’s living quartes by the loquat tree. I lifted Hassan mattress and planted my new watch and handful of Afghani bills under it.”( Hosseini 102) Amir thought if he could get ready of Hassan his problem would have go away. Amir attempts to deal with his guilt by avoiding it. But doing this clearly does nothing toward redeeming himself, and thus his guilt endures. Even though t Amir knows he was wrong and was hurting everyone around him....
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...has the power to change your life. Whether it is hearing that a loved one has died, being proposed to, or being accepted to college, the life known previously is gone. In Kite Runner, Amir experiences quite a few moments where his life is changed. This changes his perspective, and angers him, reassures him, or makes him want to go back to his past. In particular, when Amir first overhears Rahim Khan and Baba talking about him, is told that he can redeem himself, and finds out that Hassan is his brother. One major moment is when Amir overhears Rahim Khan say to Baba “You need to let him find his way (Kite Runner 22).” Amir ends up going down the wrong path when he does not defend Hassan or himself. In fact, he pushes Hassan away...
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...relationships of Amir, a wealthy young Pashtun boy in Afghanistan in the 1970’s. The story narrates the hardship of living in a socially divided, culture based environment with various sides of humanity. As the novel progresses, the relationship between Amir and his father, Baba, goes through multiple pivotal phases. These phases are the direct cause of the switch between the two main settings of Kabul, Afghanistan and Fremont, California. The change in setting helps portray the rollercoaster of Amir and Baba’s relationship over many years. It illustrates the story of Amir’s longing to be noticed and loved by Baba, Baba’s dissatisfaction with Amir, and their inability to relate to one another....
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...Afghanistan. When the protagonist's friend, Rahim Khan, calls him out of the blue, he knows that his past sins are coming back to haunt him even in the new life he has built in San Francisco. He remembers Hassan, whom he calls "the harelipped kite runner," saying "For you, a thousand times over." Rahim's words also echo in his head, "There is a way to be good again." These two phrases will become focal points for the rest of the novel and our protagonist's story. Chapter Two The protagonist remembers sitting in trees with Hassan when they were boys and annoying the neighbors. Any mischief they perpetrated was the protagonist's idea, but even when Hassan's father, Ali, scolded Hassan, he never told on the protagonist. Hassan's father was a servant to the protagonist's father, Baba and lived in a small servant's house on his property. Baba's house was widely considered the most beautiful one in Kabul. There Baba held large dinner parties and entertained friends, including Rahim Khan, in his smoking room. Though the protagonist was often surrounded by adults, he never knew his mother because she died in childbirth. Hassan never knew his mother, either, because she eloped with a performance troupe a few days after his birth. The protagonist always felt a special affinity with Hassan because he too was motherless. It was not a surprise that Hassan's mother, Sanaubar, left Ali. The only things these first cousins had in common were being of the Hazara ethnicity and the Shi'a religion...
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... in other words, we do something that makes up for the cause of guilt. Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner revolves around betrayal and redemption. Redemption is the act of saying or being saved from sin, error or evil, which the main character Amir seems to need the most. Amir lives with the guilt he has built up over the years because of one incident from his childhood. Amir's fathers words still echo through his head "A boy who won't stand up for himself becomes a man who can't stand up to anything." –pg. 24 Although Amir destroyed the lives of many people, and he has had more than one opportunity to redeem himself of his guilt, he is not the selfish little boy he once was. How often does one stop and think, "How will this affect everyone else in my life?" Amir had a chance in the alley, to put Hassan first and change the path of both their lives, but he made the decision to turn around and run because it was what he thought was best for him: "I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran. I ran because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt. That's what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan. That's what I made myself believe. I actually aspired to cowardice,...
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...Baba, Rahim Khan and Amir find the closure they are looking for. Baba spends his entire life seeking forgiveness for his past transgressions. He uses his connections with his community as a way to clear his guilty conscience: “I think that everything he did, feeding the poor, giving money to friends in need, it was all a way of redeeming himself” (Hosseini 316). Everything that Baba does for Kabul and its citizens, in a way, is contradictory. He does good, helping those who need to be helped, but for reasons that are entirely selfish. He hates himself for the mistakes he once made and he thinks that by being successful and by supporting those in need, he can make himself feel better, maybe even forget what he has done. Baba makes people believe he is a good man, because if everyone else believes it, then he can too. Rahim Khan says that true redemption is “when guilt leads to good” (316), so Baba is successful in redeeming himself but continues to struggle on his search for true forgiveness. Baba, who believes that theft is the only sin, steals the identity of his second son, Hassan. Baba never forgives himself for this, but he seeks forgiveness from Hassan by showing him the affection he rarely shows Amir: “He patted Hassan on the back. Even put his arm around his shoulder” (15). The way Baba treats Hassan, taking care of him, including him; it is his attempt at gaining forgiveness for something he has not even admitted to doing. He cannot love Hassan openly as a father the...
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...At the outset of Chapter 1, just as the book begins, Amir writes these words. With them, he hints at the central drama of the story and the reason he is telling it. To the reader, the quotation functions as a teaser. It piques the reader’s interest without revealing exactly what Amir is talking about, and from the time period Amir mentions, twenty-six years, the reader gets an idea of just how important this moment was. As the story unfolds, we realize that the deserted alley Amir refers to is where Hassan was raped, and that this event has largely defined the course of Amir’s life since. This is what Amir means when he says that the past continues to claw its way out. Try as he might to bury it, he was unable to because his feelings of guilt kept arising. As a result, he figuratively continues peeking into the alley where Assef raped Hassan, literally meaning that he keeps going over the event in his mind. 2. “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.” Baba says these words to Rahim Khan while he is talking about Amir at the end of Chapter 3, and the quotation reveals important traits in both Amir and Baba. With these words, Baba sums up one of Amir’s major character flaws—his cowardice—and Baba shows how much value he places in standing up for what is right. Baba is reluctant to praise Amir, largely because he feels Amir lacks the courage to even stand up for himself, leaving Amir constantly craving Baba’s approval. Amir’s desire for...
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