Redemption In The Kite Runner

Amir’s journey starts when Rahim Khan calls him up, telling him, “There is a way to be good again,” (Hosseini 202), provoking Amir to revisit his buried past. The words spoken by Rahim Khan resonates with Amir, because for his whole life, that was exactly what he was looking to do. During Amir’s childhood, Rahim Khan has always been like a father figure to him, filling the holes in his heart that Baba never paid attention to. Rahim Khan has always been the most empathetic towards Amir, understanding his need for affection and motivating him to put his words to action. Years later, Rahim Khan is still seen to have a significant impact on Amir’s life. Despite knowing that Amir was a bystander

Amir goes back to Kabul because Rahim Khan told him to find Sohrab, Hassan's son, telling him "there is a way to be good again;" a way for him to atone for his past. Even though Amir made many mistakes in his past, going back to his homeland was a way for him to reconcile and redeem himself of his past sins. Amir, haunted by his past, is compelled to do good in Kabul and finally make peace with his past sins: leaving the money, finding Sohrab, fighting Assef, and practicing Islam again. Hosseini states, "Once, over those mountains, I had made a choice. And now, a quarter of a century

After the betrayal of Hassan, Amir feels ashamed of himself. He feels all of the guilt and does not know how to become good again. He feels this guilt for the majority of his life, even in America. Subsequently Amir and Baba moved to America, Amir meets a girl. He always finds excuses to go see her and finally decides that he wants to marry her. So Baba went to go ask her father for permission and he said yes. Shortly after receiving this news, Amir talks with Soraya, his wife, and she does something that Amir has wanted to do for quite a while, she tells him her secret. Amir “envied her. Her secret was out, spoken, dealt with. [he] opened [his] mouth and almost told her how [he’d] betrayed Hassan, lied, driven him out, and destroyed a 40 year

He lives his entire life with the heavy burden of guilt, knowing he should have helped Hassan in the alley. He feels as though he needs to be punished to atone for his sins, causing him to lash out at Hassan. Amir keeps his guilt a secret for decades, even from his own wife. When Amir and Soraya cannot have a child, Amir thinks he might be being punished for his past, thinking to himself "perhaps something, someone, somewhere, had decided to deny me fatherhood for the things I had done. Maybe this was my punishment, and perhaps justly so" (188). Amir lives and thinks this way until he gets a letter from Rahim Khan, telling him there may be a way to right his wrongdoings. Amir goes to Afghanistan to rescue his illegitimate nephew, knowing he must do so alone for the sake of his personal redemption. After being beaten by Assef, saving Sohrab, and admitting his past to Soraya, Amir finally feels as though he has been redeemed. He finally is able to forgive

Redemption is something that is sought out in almost everybody’s lives at one point in time or another. It is what you seek for when you look to fix your image in not only the eyes of someone else, but in the eyes of yourself also. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner it is about the redemption of a boy in the eyes of his friend as well as his father, and reveals that redemption is something that is attainable throughout your life and your actions.

Yet Amir is far from the only character in the novel that suffers at the hands of their own tainted past. There are many parallels in the novel between Amir and his father Baba, one of the more prominent ones being Baba’s own cowardly nature - in regards to his infidelity and lack of responsibility of it- and his persistence in finding salvation from his sins. In the

“A way to end the cycle. An orphan. Hassan’s son. Somewhere in Kabul.”(Hosseini, 227) The “Kite Runner” is a book depicting the betrayal and redemption Amir, Hassan, and Baba go through. There is redemption to all betrayal but finding it is the difficult part. The book was written by Khalled Hosseini and is considered a very impactful book to literature around the world. Even though some things are unforgivable, the central message of redemption to all betrayal is shown by the author through characters, plot, and symbolism.

Amir, before going into a flashback, receives a call from Rahim Khan and that one call transforms his life. Rahim Khan tells him that “There is a way to be good again” and Amir’s new life takes a turn once again (Hosseini 2). Later, Amir goes to Kabul to meet Rahim Khan; Rahim Khan reveals a secret that gives Amir the final opportunity to redeem himself and repent for his betrayal of Hassan. He learns that Hassan and his wife were “shot” by the Taliban and their son, Sohrab, was moved to an “orphanage” (Hosseini 220). He also learns that Baba “was married once before, to a Hazara woman” and Hassan is an illegitimate step-brother (Hosseini 222). The truth is out in the open, and Amir is shattered because he sees that actual kinship exists between him and Hassan. He is unable to understand the reality of his own life, and he questions everything in his past. The opportunity to save his nephew from the dangerous Taliban ruled Afghanistan, appears to be the only chance for Amir to repay his best friend, his stepbrother, and his protector: Hassan. Amir went on the journey to save his nephew from the horrific Taliban, and the circle of life was almost complete for Amir. He had left his friend to be raped by Assef and here he was again where either he could let the little child live a life of misery or face

The development of characters and theme Redemption is the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment or clearing a debt. Redemption was a major theme in the novel, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Redemption was a main theme in the book; this theme is exemplified by Amir, Baba, and Soraya and who they turn out to be by the end of the novel. The development of Baba’s character was greatly affected by his own redemption, which helps develop the theme in the novel.

In many novels, it is known for a character to sacrifice, surrender, or forfeit something to illuminate their values. This holds true in The Kite Runner by Khaled Houssini when Amir goes back to Afghanistan to save Sohrab and seek forgiveness. From Amir’s actions, an overall theme of redemption exists even after bad times.

Even though as a child Amir was told by his father that a boy who doesn’t stand up for himself becomes a man who cannot stand up to anything. Consequently, Amir believes that to redeem himself he must take a stand and face his past against all odds. Nevertheless, some may argue that Amir’s actions as a child immediately rules out any chance of redemption, as to some the discount of intervening in a plight that he is witnessing and knows is wrong is a mortal transgression. Despite arguments that Amir is disqualified from redemption due to his omission in stopping Hassan’s rapist, Amir challenges what his father had told him in his youth. When Amir has the opportunity to return to the land of his past and do something extremely dangerous to deliver Hassan’s son to a new life, Amir selflessly risks his life symbolically for Hassan just as Hassan had done for him.

The main theme highlighted by the novel is that of disloyalty and redemption, which revolves around Amir’s ongoing determination to redeem himself over many years. At the outset, Amir strives to redeem himself in his father’s (Baba’s) eyes, since he feels guilty that his mother died giving birth to him. Even though Amir is clearly not responsible for this, arguably his father’s authoritarian approach to fatherhood gives Amir the impression that his father holds him responsible on some level. Amir feels that he can never live up to his father’s high moral standards: “a boy who doesn’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything”.

“The Kite Runner” above all else a story of redemption of both Amir and Baba , in their own way, have to struggle to shuffle amends for their past misdemeanours. They both believe that when their redemption is reached then they may find happiness which as we know is not the case.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, has many themes throughout its intricate storyline. One of the most perceptive themes of the novel can be perceived as Amir’s, the main character, journey for redemption after his long ago betrayal of his best friend, Hassan. In the same way an undercurrent of the redemption theme can also be seen in the movie Slumdog Millionaire, as Salim, the main character’s brother, searches to right his wrong doings towards Jamal. Both characters dangerously risk their life and go to extraordinary lengths for the sake of their own personal salvation. However, the true question is this: Does redemptive acts truly rectify a despicable deed, or is there more to the equation? Readers of The Kite Runner might be in dispute

An irredeemable act about exerting power and privilege on a human while another watches causes a future full of regret, self-doubt, fear, hate, and despair. Not doing anything at the moment to help, not doing anything afterward to get closure of what he had seen and what he had not done. “The Kite Runner”, a novel written by Khaled Hosseini mainly centers around a boy named Amir and his life Afghanistan to living in the U.S. as a writer, also the book centers around his friend Hassan and his father Baba. Amir needs redemption for what he had done it would be the better for him, at this point it is almost impossible for him because he still lives with the guilt of witnessing his close friend Hassan being raped and him not doing anything