The Kite Runner Analytical Essay

The average person encounters challenges in everyday life that shapes their character. These challenges are what make up their character and proceed to show the outcome of their life. There are many ways to change your character such as shifting your perspective on others without judgement or learning from prior experiences. In the novel, The Kite Runner, Amir is the character that changes greatly based on the maturity he has gained from his childhood to adulthood. Amir’s character has been shaped by many factors, the two biggest influences involve his best friend, Hassan, and father, Baba. These two influences shaped Amir at an early age. The third character that shaped Amir happens later in his life involving the women that he later ends up marrying. Amir goes from being a selfish child to being a selfless adult.

In his critically acclaimed first novel, The Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini tells the story of a 12-year-old Afghan boy named Amir, who seeks his father’s love but is hindered by his own cowardice. Both Amir’s cowardice and his father’s lack of attention are compounded by the people and events surrounding Amir, until they feed into each other in a vicious, never-ending cycle.

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.

The Kite Runner is the first novel of Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. It tells the story of Amir, a boy from Kabul, Afghanistan, whose closest friend is Hassan, a young Hazara servant. Novel turns around these two characters and Baba, Amir’s father, by telling their tragic stories, guilt and redemption that are woven throughout the novel. Even in the difficult moments, characters build up to their guilt and later on to their redemption. Their sins and faults alter the lives of innocent people. First, Amir and Baba fail to take action on the path to justice for Ali and Hassan. Moreover, Amir and Baba continue to build up their guilt due to their decisions and actions. Although Amir builds up more guilt than Baba throughout the novel, he eventually succeeds in the road to redemption unlike his father. After all, Amir and Baba have many chances to fix their atonements but Baba chooses not to and Amir does. Baba uses his wealth to cover up his sins but never atone himself while Amir decides to stand up and save Sohrab and finally finds peace. Amir and Baba’s reaction to sins essentially indicate their peace of mind and how they react to guilt and injustice.

The book Kite Runner follows the story of a kid named Amir that experienced both loyalty and betrayal. First off, the story starts following the rough and unwilling childhood of Amir when he lived in Afghanistan. He lived with Hassan, who was actually his half brother, and his father, Baba. Throughout the story, it explains different chapters and events throughout Amir’s childhood and adulthood, which rounded him as a person, and made him more dynamic. Three main characters throughout the story, including Amir, exemplified the contrast between betrayal and loyalty.

In Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, the main character, Amir, is able to right the past after carrying much guilt from his childhood. Although Amir revisits past trauma and is physically hurt, he is able to save the life of his nephew which shapes Amir to be a better person. The idea of having a second chance and the thought of redemption can influence individuals to change for the better. This leads to a change in character in Amir, which is displayed through repetition of the past, contrast of past and modern Kabul, foreshadowing, and the symbolism of kites.

After many years of living in San Francisco, Rahim Khan called and advised Amir, “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 2). Rahim’s statement was important because Khaled Hosseini suggested through Rahim that redemption is not achieved simply by altering character flaws and doing good deeds, rather change in character is necessary to achieve redemption by directly confronting and making amends with the past. Rahim Khan told Amir, “I want you to go to Kabul. I want you to bring Sohrab here” (Hosseini 220). Amir had a wife, a house, a job, a new life in America; going back to Afghanistan while the Taliban occupied Kabul took fearlessness and bravery. Furthermore, in the final scene of the story, while Amir and Sohrab were flying a kite, Amir asked Sohrab, “Do you want me to run that kite for you” (Hosseini 371). Sohrab nodded and Amir remarked, “For you a thousand times over” (Hosseini 371). This final scene was significant because Amir selflessly assumed the role of Hassan. Amir was now the loyal servant, selflessly serving Sohrab and by doing so he was making amends with the past. Amir’s life had become full circle and now he choose to be righteous and atone his past

In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Amir is a man who looks back on his life. At first, he feels only selfishness and terror caused by past tragedies. He grows up with his friend and servant Hassan whom he treats poorly and bosses around. Hassan is raped trying to protect Amir and Amir watches and says nothing. As they get older they fall out of contact and Amir moves to California while Hassan stays back in Afghanistan. Amir learns that Hassan is killed by the Taliban, and is asked by his trusted mentor Rahim Khan to go and take care of Hassan’s orphaned son. Amir gets scared and wants to run from this task. Rahim reflects with Amir, and tells him, “‘You know,’ Rahim Khan said, ‘one time, when you weren’t around, your father and I were talking. And you know how he always worried about you in those days. I remember he said to me, Rahim, a boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything. I wonder, is that what you’ve become?’” (Hosseini ch.17). Khan tells Amir that he must be strong and do what is right because he has never been courageous enough to commit himself. In order to forgive himself for his past, Amir must take charge of his future and finally find his voice. He must find the courage to do what he knows is right: go back in time and help the boy who could not be helped; rescue Hassan’s legacy. Amir had the support of

The act of betrayal that haunted Amir though is life is his betrayal towards Hassan. There were small acts of meanness towards Hassan such as only playing with him when no one else was around and hiding money and a watch underneath Hassan's pillow. The biggest act of betrayal towards Hassan was the cowardice act of leaving him there in the alley to fend for himself against Assef. Amir admits that he had a chance to help but instead ran saying, "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 … and accept whatever happened to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran." (77) Hassan would eat dirt for Amir and stood up for Amir when Amir would not do it himself whereas Amir did not care for him the same way. Amir decided he would try and make his previous mistakes right by saving Hassan's son, Sohrab, from a life of his body being bought and sold. Though his intentions were good, Amir ended up hurting yet another person. Amir promised Sohrab that he would never have to be in a children's home again and momentarily went back on his promise telling Sohrab that, " Mr. Faisal thinks that it would really help if we could … if we could ask you to stay in a home for kids for a while." (341) Children take promises to heart, especially children

When put into perspective, life proves to be truly unfair. It is often difficult to serve justice and distinguish between good and evil. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, there is no optimum justice, but instead a constant theme of mercy. Mercy is found to be an important virtue that allows characters to come to terms with their flaws and grow with benevolence. Amir is a character who began as a deceitful coward, burdened with the guilt of his mistakes. The mercy Amir receives from Rahim Khan, Hassan, and what comes to be himself, gives him the opportunity to do what is right and find goodness in his life again. On Amir’s journey back to Afghanistan, the forgiveness and compassion he discovers is what is most important in determining his future.

“True redemption is when guilt leads to good,” Rahim Khan asserts. Khaled Hosseini compels the readers to think in the novel, The Kite Runner, by analyzing Amir’s quests. Additionally, readers must understand Amir’s journey to maturity throughout The Kite Runner, as a Bildungsroman novel. Amir’s journey to redemption ultimately accentuates his quest for adulthood.

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

Amir’s betrayal of Hassan causes him to feel guilt throughout the rest of his childhood, and into his adulthood, and he can’t get rid of that feeling no matter what he does. A little while after Hassan and Ali move out, Amir and Baba move to America to try and start a new life. Amir did this hoping it would help him move on from Hassan, but it didn’t. Once they got America, Amir did his best to forget about Hassan, and he was somewhat able to, until someone would mention his name. After living in America for a few years, Amir met his future wife Soraya, and Baba came down with a deadly disease. Before Baba died however, he granted Amir’s wish of getting the general’s (soraya’s dad) blessing for Amir to marry Soraya. Before they got married

Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is a remarkable coming-of-age novel describing and revealing the thoughts and actions of Amir, a compunctious adult in the United States and his memories of his affluent childhood in the unstable political environment of Afghanistan. The novel showcases the simplistic yet powerful ability of guilt to influence decisions and cause conflict which arises between Amir’s childhood friend and half-brother, Hassan; Amir’s father, Baba; and importantly, himself. Difference in class The quest to become “good again” causes a reflection in Amir to atone for his sins and transform into the person of which he chooses to be.

The desire to feel loved and wanted by your parents can drive a person to go to extreme limits to get that love. One boy that goes to these extreme limits is Amir. All Amir wants is to have a good, strong relationship with his father. He feels the death of his mother was his fault, and he needed to make it up to his father. In doing so, Amir let’s horrible things happen to his friend Hassan. Many many years later, after fleeing to America, Amir returns to Afghanistan in search of redemption of his actions all those years ago. The theme of The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini is redemption. Through Amir’s life, that’s what he’s been doing to himself, trying to redeem himself from his acts that have brought pain