Amir's Redemption In 'The Kite Runner'

He never stood up for Hassan, always treating Hassan like he is no one important. Here is a quote about how Amir just watched Hassan get raped and did nothing to help him. Never stopped them from doing that to him. “I felt paralyzed. I watched them close in on the boy I’d grown up with, the boy whose harelipped face had been my first memory.” [Amir Pg. 76]. In this scene of the book this is where Hassan is getting raped by Assef. Amir is doing nothing to stop Assef and his friends from raping Hassan in the alley way. This show that Amir was scared to stop Assef from hurting Hassan. It shows that Amir was only thinking of himself and how Hassan desevers it, that he had it coming for him. When Amir and Hassan got home Hassan when straight to his room. A few weeks when by and Ali started to worry about Hassan because after he had made Amir breakfast and iron his clothes for school, Hassan would go back to bed. Ali ask Amir what happened the night of the kite fight tournament. Amir had the chance to tell Ali what happened that night but he kepted it to himself and never told

At first, Amir does not seek to earn redemption. We know that he is ashamed at what he has done but he prefers to hide his guilt rather than confess and redeem himself right away. After the incident, Amir attempted to avoid Hassan at all costs. Even when Hassan approached him to see if he wanted to go for a walk, like they used to do frequently, Amir refused to go with him and told him to go away (88). He knew that he didn't deserve his friends unwavering love and loyalty.

Both Hassan and Sohrab have gone through abuse at the hands of Assef, but Amir ends this cycle of abuse by rescuing Sohrab when he returns to Kabul. This shows how Amir has become nobler and made the decision to do what he feels as morally correct. When he was 12, he witnessed Hassan get raped by Assef in the alleyway and he did nothing to help Hassan. He tried

Amir takes action through the quote, “Sohrab, I can’t give you your old life back, I wish God I could. But I can take you with me. That was what I was going to tell you, you have a visa to go visit America and live with me and my wife” 229. This quote shows how Amir can't do much, but he’s still able to provide for Sohrab even though it’s not fully what he wants. Amir and Hassan's son redeem himself in that

On page 289, Amir notes that his “body was broken – just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later” but I felt I had healed. Healed at last.” Because Amir stands up for Sohrab, he finally repays Hassan for his loyalty. He makes a better choice the second time he must decide whether or not to protect a friend. Furthermore, because his punishment was delivered by Assef (the Talib mentioned and his former bully), Amir receives the consequences originally intended for him, providing a source of closure in regards to his

His biggest act of redemption is his trip to Kabul to retrieve Hassan’s son, Sohrab. Amir feels that saving Sohrab from the horrifying conditions of Afghanistan will, in turn, be saving Hassan. This is the most outstanding act of redemption as it most similarly parallels Amir’s decision to leave Hassan in the alley all those years ago. Taking this act further, he strays away from the original plan to take him to a safer orphanage and decides, instead, to adopt Sohrab and take him home to America. This choice is brought on by the brutality of the taliban. Amir states how desperately afraid he is when he first sees them by saying that the taste in his mouth is “unadulterated, naked fear” and that his skin had “shrunk against his bones.” He wants nothing more than to protect Sohrab (a notably important part for complete redemption) and his way of doing this is to take him home to America. There were a few other miniscule things Amir did in order to redeem himself. For example, he puts money underneath the mattress of the poverty-ridden family that helped him when they had next to nothing. He ties this to when he planted expensive items underneath Hassan’s mattress, framing him for theft, by saying “I did something I had done 26 years earlier.” Amir feels these smaller acts of wrongdoing are important to reverse so that he can feel fully redeemed. He wants a

Amir also shows how he has grown into a kind person. After staying at Wahid’s home and seeing their struggle with poverty, he leaves money under a mattress. He does this out of the kindness of his heart, whereas twenty-six years earlier, he did this to frame Hassan and kick him out of the house. Amir’s honesty is a step towards redemption, as he used to lie when he kept the secret of his betrayal of Hassan. Now, he prioritizes being honest so that he does not repeat the mistakes of his past.

In the Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini wrote that “true redemption is […] when guilt leads to good” (Hosseini 302). this connection between suffering and redemption develops throughout the whole story. Hosseini hints that sacrifice leads to redemption in the book the Kite Runner through the actions of Baba, Sanaubar’s return, and Amir’s journey to atone for his sins.

Amir takes actions into his own hands by framing Hassan with valuable items that later hurt his friend. Hassan took responsibility, pretty much sacrificing himself so that Amir wouldn’t get in trouble. Hassan and his sister later moved away into the fringe of war. Amir’s case was different as they sought out refuge in Pakistan and later moved to the U.S. where there was no more stress. Hassan unaware of the consequences of his sacrifice in the long run helped an entire family in seeking peace, but little does he know this very action also helps bring down his physical abuser known as

He is told that Hassan had a son, Sohrab, and he needed a home. Amir was asked to adopt Sohrab, so he went back to Afghanistan to pick him up. Amir had a long, painful journey to get Sohrab because people were trying to kill Hazaras. Sohrab and Hassan were Hazaras, so sneaking Sohrab out of the country was not an easy feat. By the end of the book, Amir was proud of his sacrifice because he had his nephew with him and he knew he was

He first has difficulty finding Sohrab, but when he finally meets him, he notices a disconnect in his behavior and he can see how being institutionalized affected him. One day, Sohrab goes into a bathroom and tries to take his own life. Amir recalls his emotions felt when he states, “Later, they said I was still screaming when the ambulance arrived”(Amir 343). The moment Amir decided to take this journey, he mentally accepted the fact that he is now responsible for Sohrab's life. He wanted to bring him to America in order to give him a life that Hassan couldn't, and to make up for his past sins. He felt a great deal of responsibility to protect Sohrab, so it’s not surprising when he instantly feels guilty and betrayed. If Sohrab had been successful in his attempt, Amir feels like he would never be able to forgive himself and that he would have betrayed Hassan once again. This tragic event was yet another emotional and mental scar for Amir to put into his mind as Sohrab thought that it would be better to not live, than to go on with Amir. During the journey, Amir encounters his childhood bully and they get into a fight. He ends up badly injured and says “My body was broken-just how bad i wouldn’t find out until

When Amir and his wife, Soraya, can’t seem to have a child, Amir believes that it is because of his wrongdoings in the past. Right up until Amir is in his 30’s does he confront his mistakes. It takes a call from Rahim Khan to persuade him that there is ‘a way to be good again’ (Pg. 2). Amir knows that he needs to make up to Hassan for the wrong that he did all those years ago, and so by confronting his mistake and trying to redeem himself by rescuing Sohrab, Hassan’s son. Amir’s confrontation with Assef when he is getting back Sohrab made him feel like he was confronting his mistakes and gaining redemption ‘For the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace… In some nook in a corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this.’ (Pg. 265). This is the punishment and redemption that he has been waiting all these years for, because Hassan wouldn’t punish him all those years ago when they were under the pomegranate tree.

The Kite Runner, a novel written by Khaled Hosseini, focuses on Amir’s journey in life, both physically and emotionally. During Amir’s childhood Afghanistan became very unsafe. He and his father, Baba, fled from the city of Kabul to Pakistan and then made their way to America in hope of a better life for Amir. "For me, America was a place to bury my memories. For Baba, it was a place to mourn his." The need for Amir to "become good again" is embedded in the idea of a physical for redemption of his dignity.

Not only did Amir risk his life by going back to Kabul, but he also saved Sohrab from Taliban officials and brought him back to Pakistan. After Amir went back to Kabul, he found out that Sohrab was being held at one Taliban official’s house. When he went there to get Sohrab, he found out that the Taliban official was Assef; the guy who raped Hassan. Assef agreed to let Sohrab go in exchange for a fight with Amir. While Amir gets beaten, he thinks about the day when he asked Hassan to punish him by throwing pomegranate at him. But Hassan did not and Amir felt like he wasn’t punished. After Assef beat him up, he felt that he was redeemed because he needed to be punished for his sins. On page 289, Amir narrates his fight with Assef, “What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden nook in a corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this. – My body was broken – just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later – but I felt healed. Healed at last.” Amir felt that he was healed because he finally was punished physically for what he did to Hassan. He was physically damaged but at the end he was able to recover and take Sohrab back to Pakistan.

This one decision left a stain on Amir for the next thirty years. A quote on pg. 88 states “I wish someone would wake me up, so I wouldn’t have to live with this lie anymore” This quote explains how guilty Amir felt after seeing Hassan get raped as he desperately sought for anyone to find out but didn’t chose to tell anyone the actual truth. Another example from the text is when Amir tries throwing pomegranates at Hassan, as an attempt to get Hassan to fight back and punish Amir for choosing to leave Hassan. However, Hassan refused to throw any pomegranates at Amir, but instead smashed one into his face. A quote on pg.94 states “I wanted Hassan to fight me back for the way I failed him” This quote indicates that Amir wanted Hassan to fight him back, so he could have the “punishment [he] craved” (93) This demonstrates that Amir wanted to feel the act of being punished for his wrongdoing, similar to how Hassan was brutally raped due to Amir’s apparent mistake. Amir’s guilt forces him to travel across two countries to seek redemption for the mistake he made. 15 years later, Amir’s guilt led him to make the hefty decision of returning to Afghanistan “to be good again” (189) by rescuing Hassan’s orphaned son, Sohrab, from the terrible conditions he was left to face in Kabul. Amir sees this as an opportunity to redeem and free himself from