Amir's Guilt In 'The Kite Runner'

Hosseini shows that it is Amirs immense guilt that drives him to want to make things right and to earn redemption. We learn the basis Amir's guilt through his memories. It is caused by a lack of response at a time when his loyal servant and close friend Hassan is in trouble. Amir makes a conscious decision to hide in the distance and just watch, not because he was afraid. He sacrifices Hassan in order to earn his fathers attention and affection. This decision results in Hassan suffering though a traumatic experience and is the root of Amir's lasting regret.

However, the main character, Amir, learned a hard and righteous lesson of good and evil. The relationship of betrayal between perceived masters and servants shows how Amir should step out of his cowardly state, and get redemption for his sins. His adventure of retrieval for his wrongdoings. Amir craves remorse for his heinous crimes. He feels atrocious of Hassan's rape, and thinks as if it’s his fault.

When Amir faces Assef, the embodiment of cruelty and oppression, in a confrontation to save Sohrab, Hassan's son, Amir faces a turning point as he confronts his fears and guilt to stand up against the oppressor and protect an innocent child. While describing how Assef’s assault made him feel, Amir states “my body was broken – just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later – but I felt healed. Healed at last,” which emphasizes the significant shift in power dynamics, Amir now takes a stand against injustice and tyranny (289). Before this turning point, Amir was plagued by sin and cowardice, but as he matured and reflected on his past wrongs, Amir gained the desire to seek redemption and came to terms with his unatoned sins. By deciding to save Sohrab from Assef, Amir has major character development, by not only revealing his newfound desire for forgiveness but also exhibiting moral courage as he saves the child from Assef’s wrath.

This process involves not only making things right with others, but also Amir understanding his own emotions and the deep bond he shared with Hassan. By addressing the outcomes of his jealousy, Amir experiences significant personal growth and starts to grasp the importance of forgiving both himself and others, marking a key development in his character and the story's message about the power of redemption and the human capacity to

After feeling guilty for not standing up and saying something about Hassan getting raped by Assef, Amir schemes up an idea to get rid of Hassan. Seeing Hassan everyday only makes Amir feel bad and Amir decides that the only way to make his guilt go away is to get rid of Hassan. Amir gets Baba to believe that Hassan stole his gifts. Even though Hassan could have argued that he did not steal from Amir, he admits to the crime. Hosseini states, “This was Hassan’s last 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. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time” (Hosseini 405). Hosseini’s point shows Amir letting his guilt get the best of him. All the pain on not standing up for Hassan causes Amir to make a bad decision, while at the time seems like the best decision. Hassan takes the blame and Ali believes it is best to leave Baba and Amir. With Hassan finally gone Amir realizes his guilt had

As a child, Amir dealt with problems by ridding them in his most logical way that he and his father would believe. After witnessing Hassan’s rape in the alley, Amir couldn't face himself for

Guilt can become a driving force in a person’s actions. From him running as a coward from Assef assaulting Hassan, to his terrible treatment of Hassan afterwards. In Amir’s life guilt has become a constant in association of his treatment towards Hassan. Amir had avoid the Hassan, who would have done anything for him. His experience of guilt accompanies Amir, throughout his transition to American life and into adulthood. This is the reason why Amir falters whenever he is reminded of Hassan. As Amir wife and him discover their inability to have biological children, Amir blames his actions towards Hassan as the reason why he is unworthy to be a father. Several times throughout his life Amir is haunted by Hassans words of “For you a thousand times over!”(67). Those words reminded with Amir into adulthood, as he knew his own poor character.

Amir, the protagonist of the novel, is a man who grew up in Afghanistan but made a life in America. He is a successful writer who is married but unable to have children. However, he struggles with guilt from his past. He mistreated his loyal companion, Hassan, and did not prevent the brutal rape Hassan endured to keep the kite he retrieved for Amir. Guilt over his selfishness never leaves the Afghan man, and he searches for a way to atone for his wrongdoing. Although he realizes depth of his selfish negligence, it is too late to repair the damage done. However, as Amir grows, he matures into a much more noble character. His life-threatening rescue of Hassan’s son Sohrab serves as a form of penance and redemption for Amir. He finds some deliverance from his crushing guilt by doing for Sohrab what he had failed to do for Hassan. Throughout the novel, Amir progresses from a selfish, jealous child into a self-sacrificing, mature adult.

Every one of Amir’s faults can be compared to one of Hassan’s strengths, and so Amir was a reminder of Baba's betrayal to Ali. Amir can identify with this because Hassan has been a reminder of his own guilt and his betrayal of his friend and brother. He understands that people are imperfect and that guilt and regret can cause more mistakes. Of all the ways Amir is changed by the events of December 1975, his decision to adopt Hassan’s son is the most profound.

The regret of not saving Hassan haunts Amir for the rest of his life and influence his actions. Amir’s guilt eats away at him and he wishes that Hassan will “ give me the punishment I carved, so maybe I’d finally sleep at night”(Hosseini 92). The guilt from Amir’s crime alters the rest of his life. Amir attempts to forget about Hassan “He succeeds in removing him physically, but the ghosts of the past are always present”(Hayes 1). No matter how far physically he gets away from Hassan, but his guilt still haunts him.

Amir commits a sin that will forever haunt him until he changes it. He stole his friend’s, Hassan, happiness and his own. The moment he committed the crime of stealing his own safety over Hassan caused the theft of many lives to come in the future. He, “In the end, (I) ran”(pg.77) from that alleyway. That sin he caused would be the monster he created that, “(Hassan) was wrong about… it grabbed Hassan by the ankles, dragged him to the murky bottom.

Amir attempting to forget everything he had done as a child made him believe he could never be good again but moving to America and meeting Soraya who also had done bad in her past but owned up to it and was forgiven showed him otherwise. “Looking back now, I realize i have been peeking into that

This enhances the theme of regret as Amir’s suffering shapes his identity when he believes that “I became what I am today at the age of twelve” (Hosseini, 1). When Amir did not help Hassan when he was being raped, his guilt and regrets made him unable to move on, until Rahim Khan tells him how he can resolve his sin. Amir wanted to make Hassan angry with him, so he “hurled the pomegranate at [Hassan] […] ’Hit me back!’ [Amir] spat. ‘Hit me back, goddamn you!’

In the novel, Amir witnesses Hassan’s rape by Assef. Not only does he run, but he hides it from the others and does not discuss the topic to Hassan or comfort him. Amir betrays Hassan to the point that Amir runs Ali and Hassan out of Kabul to get to a more comfortable place. Amir then is faced with internal conflicts that harm him.

Since he was twelve, Amir has been struggling with his sin against Hassan; the fact that he did not come to the rescue of his friend. Deep down Amir always feels like he should have done something and feels horrible because he had chosen not to. Due to his nagging guilt, Amir is notable to live a peaceful life. Amir has an overwhelming need to be punished, to be redeemed from his sin, so that he does not have to live with his remorse. Amir’s feeling of guilt and his vital need for redemption are always a part of his life as he is growing up.