The Father 's Influence : ' The Kite Runner '

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.

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Amir was the son of a wealthy social worker. He was brought up with the son of his servant, and perhaps his only best friend, Hassan. Amir had a rocky relation with his father. At times, it seemed as his father loved him but those moments didn’t lasted forever. He thinks Baba (his father) wishes Amir were more like him, and that Baba holds him responsible for killing his mother, who died during his birth. Despite being best friends, Amir thinks that Hassan is beneath him because he belonged to an inferior cast. He used to mock him jokingly or tried to outsmart him. In all fairness, it was Amir’s cowardly nature that

Amir shows us now that even though these specific sins weren’t his, he believes they can and need to be redeemed, even if it has to be him. This builds the idea of character growth for Amir, as he can’t stand the cruelty that has happened despite it not being his. It shows the heart of Amir is still good, and he seeks to do what is right. Amir then responds to this by going to Afghanistan to save Hassan’s son, Sohrab, as this is what Amir feels is correct to do as a result of his and Baba’s sins against

The intense feeling of inferiority was emerged in a variety occasions, which became so overwhelming it lead to betrayal. The novel basically revolved around Amir and his struggle of jealously from Hassan. Amir is constantly jealous and telling lies to obtain his desire of his father’s attention and affection. An example of Amir lying to his father to be alone with him is, “He asked me to fetch Hassan too, but I lied and told him Hassan had the runs. I wanted Baba all to myself.”

The start of Amir's new life is evident as he goes to high school and college, even publishing his first book; he begins to bury his past under the river's currents. Amir's new life in America is interrupted when Rahim Khan visits; he reveals that Hassan has a son, Sohrab, and implores Amir to take him in as his own. Rahim Khan tells Amir that “there is a way to be good again” (226). Rahim Khan resonates with Amir’s guilt, offering him a chance to break free of his guilt cycle and find redemption for betraying Hassan. Sohrab becomes a cardinal connection to Amir’s past and an opportunity for him to make amends.

Throughout the whole book, Amir has been vying for love from his father, often against Hassan, and feels powerless when he does not get it; this causes him to attempt to assert power in other aspects of his life, usually over Hassan. Amir feels as if Baba does not love him, and feels powerless to fix it; he says, “I always felt like Baba hated me a little, And why not? After all, I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn’t I? The least I could have done was to have the decency to have turned out a little more like him. But I hadn’t turned out like him. Not at all” (Hosseini 19). He believes there is nothing he can do to make his father love him; after all, he cannot change the past, and he cannot change himself substantially. This feeling of powerlessness affects him in such a way that he feels the need to compensate for this loss of power elsewhere in his life. He would exploit the kindness and forgiveness Hassan always showed him, and would try and prove his superiority and worth in that relationship. Amir once asked if Hassan would eat dirt if he asked him to, and afterwards said, “I knew I was being cruel, like when I’d taunt him if he didn’t know some big word. But there was something fascinating--albeit in a sick way--about teasing Hassan. Kind of like when we used to play insect torture. Except now he was the ant and I was holding the magnifying glass,” (Hosseini 54). Amir is filling the power gap he feels in his life with power over Hassan, and is trying to show Hassan how much control he has over him. Hassan, Amir’s servant and a genuinely kind person, is in a vulnerable position against Amir,

Amir cannot stand to look at Hassan and seeing the lamb-like eyes, so to make himself feel better about the situation, he frames Hassan. Amir is upset that Baba forgives Hassan but it is ironic because he is the one doing the sinful act and yet again it is Hassan who is saving and protecting Amir. These unfaithful acts are not in fact an act of selflessness but and an act of selfishness. Everything Amir is doing is for himself. He only cares about his own feelings but never is he putting himself in others people’s

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.

Not only does Amir’s initial guilt contribute to his redemption, but the avoidance he partakes in as a response to his guilt. As Amir has always avoided disputes with Assef as a child, it is no surprise that after he witnesses Hassan’s assault, he avoids Hassan and pushes him away in an attempt to forget and move on without any acknowledgement. Amir’s avoidance is first displayed when he tries to frame Hassan for stealing his belongings in order for Baba to kick him out of the house. Amir explains how he “wanted to, to move on, to forget, to start with a clean slate.”(89). This highlights Amir

As the novel progresses, we see Amir’s jealousy of Hassan grow. Hassan is the best “Kite Runner” which receives great recognition from Baba, Amir’s father. Amir internally struggles to prove to his father that he is superior to his servant, he has difficulty

Here in this essay I will discuss the complex relationship between father and son to demonstrate the need for a father figure in the novel "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. The relationship between a parent and a child is a precious and haunted bond, but is not always a love relationship, but a relationship is full of pain and longing. The relationships clearly demonstrate this need for a father figure are those between Baba and Amir, and Amir and Sohrab.

Khan tells Amir that Hassan’s son, Sohrab, has been kidnapped and needs to be rescued. Immediately after hearing this, Amir understands that he needs to save Sohrab “as if he wanted to clear himself from the sin he committed as a child” (Khadawardi 96). This moment in the novel is significant as it is the first time Amir is willing to to overcome his guilt in an attempt to redeem himself. Because of this, “Rahim Khan carries the novel’s ultimate message about forgiveness”, as he convinces Amir to rid his guilt and seek redemption (Saraswat 170). Khaled Hosseini describing how guilt has affected Amir throughout the entirety of the novel is crucial in this moment because the reader is able to comprehend how significant this journey will be for Amir.

Throughout the novel, Amir endeavors to be approved by his father, Baba, who is admired by people in Kabul. Unfortunately, Baba believes that Amir, unlike him, is very unmanly “and [that he] never fights back. He just... drops his head ” (Hosseini 24). Since Baba wishes for a son who would stand up for himself, he can’t help but observe that Amir’s friend Hassan, as the guy who “steps in and fends the [bullies] off” (Hosseini 24) is his idea of the ideal son. Though aware of his father’s expectations, Amir is unable to change himself and instead envies Hassan and the fact that Baba treats him like his own son by“[patting]Hassan on the back. [and even putting] his arm around his shoulder [like a fatherly figure]”(Hosseini 15). Despite the manifestation of this hatred in Amir, he continues to recognize the bond that he shares with Hassan, “ brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast” (Hosseini 11) which is because both their mothers died during birth. The confusing emotions he feels for Hassan has Amir face a situation in which he acts inappropriately and allows the guilt to manifest upon him. After winning a very important kite tournament for the first time and “seeing Baba on that roof, proud of [him] at last” (Hosseini 71) Amir begins to search for Hassan who had gone to run his kite earlier. Finally, Amir finds him in a dark alley and as he “peeks around the corner” (Hosseini 75) he witnesses a sight that eradicated not only his relationship with Hassan but also Baba’s brotherly relationship with Ali, Hassan’s father. Peeking through the corner of the alley, like a bystander, he watches his one and only friend getting raped. The guilt that came upon him was for two reason; one, his lack of courage to stand up to

Amir does move on with his life but doesn't begin to forgive himself or let go of the load of guilt he carried until the story

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