Amir's Personality In 'The Kite Runner'

The Kite Runner is a novel told from the perspective of Amir, whose personality changes throughout the novel. Behaviour, thoughts and feelings often define one’s personality. Amir’s personality is negatively affected by the actions of his father, Baba. Due to Baba’s societal status and his unfair expectations of Amir, Amir develops two negative personality traits. One being a low self-esteem; the other being jealousy.
Amir has a privileged, wealthy upbringing and belongs to a high societal class. However, Amir feels deprived of a deep emotional connection with Baba. Yet Amir blames himself for this fate. Baba’s judgmental, insensitive and unsupportive characteristics towards his son were far from a typical father/son relationship. Baba is always disappointed in his son as Amir does not fulfil his expectations of being ‘a man’. Thus, Baba is disinterested in Amir, and prefers to spend time with …show more content…
For instance, when Hassan performs better than Amir in physical activities, Baba praises him and not Amir. Hassan also humbly shows he is more confident than Amir. Amir irrationally releases his anger on Hassan to ease the feeling of rejection by his father. Amir teases him and unfairly tests his loyalty. During the Kite Tournament, when Hassan is raped by Assef and his gang, Amir has a decision to make to either let it happen or stand up for Hassan. Amir’s jealousy and cowardice overwhelms him and he chooses to run away instead of help his loyal friend. “I actually aspired to cowardice…..Lamb I had to slay to win Baba.” The metaphor that compares Hassan to a lamb clearly shows how Amir idolises Baba and how Amir willingly sacrifices both loyalty and friendship to gain Baba’s love and acceptance. Amir’s decision not only makes him a coward, but he also continues to suffer from guilt for his action until he redeems