Holding On and Letting Go
People make changes in their lives in order to move on or to get away from the past, however, it is not always easy to do so. No matter where people go, their painful memories will always follow. In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Baba and Amir try to create a new life for themselves when they move to America. Having to move from Afghanistan to America was difficult, but to Amir and Baba both locations were considered “home”. America, however, was a reality check for both compared to their lives in Kabul. In America Amir and Baba were faced with the truth of what was really going on in their lives. Moving to America made it easier to hide the truth, but the burden of keeping secrets complicated relationships. …show more content…
In Afghanistan Baba was a wealthy man. He had servants and enough money to build an orphanage and his own house: “Everyone agreed that my father, my Baba, had built the most beautiful house in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, a new and affluent neighborhood in the northern part of Kabul.” (4) Having a lot of money made life easier for Baba and Amir. They were able to afford luxurious things and enjoy lavish events such as Amir and Hassan’s birthday party. On the other hand, when they moved to America they were left with little to no money: “And that was how Baba ended those humiliating food stamp moments at the cash register and alleviated one of his greatest fears: that an Afghan would see him buying food with charity money.” (131) Baba and Amir struggled to buy food sometimes because they did not have enough money. Further to that, the only job that Baba could get was at a gas station. Compared to the job he had in Afghanistan his new one was less than desirable. Another thing that Amir and Baba had to come to terms with was that they had to rebuild their lives from the ground up when they moved to America. When they lived in Afghanistan they had lots of friends. Baba was a very well respected man with lots of connections in Kabul: “I kissed hundreds of cheeks, hugged total strangers, thanked them for their gifts.” (95) At Amir’s …show more content…
One of the biggest secrets that had been kept is the one Baba kept from Amir. Moving to America meant that Baba had to live with the secret that Hassan and Amir were actually half brothers. Even as he got older he never told his son the truth about who he really was: “We closed the door. Baba never woke up.” (173) Baba had died with his secret, leaving Amir in the dark about how he was related to Hassan. When Amir traveled back to Afghanistan Rahim Khan told him the truth that Baba had not: “ ‘I’m thirty-eight years old and I’ve just found out my whole life is one big fucking lie!’” (223) Amir was confounded by the information that he had just heard. His whole life had been a lie all because Baba never told him the truth. This left a negative memory in his mind, even the time that he and Baba had spent in America when they just had each other to talk to, it was all a lie. Like Baba, Amir had secrets of his own. For example, the secret he kept about what happened that day in the alley to his friend Hassan. In America he had no one to tell his secret to, his father would disown him if he knew and his girlfriend would not understand the weight of it. Even though his girlfriend, Soraya, told him her secret he still did not have the courage to tell her his secret: “I suspected there were many ways in which
People make changes in their lives in order to move on or to get away from the past, however, it is not always easy to do so. No matter where people go, their painful memories will always follow. In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Baba and Amir try to create a new life for themselves when they move to America. Having to move from Afghanistan to America was difficult, but to Amir and Baba both locations were considered “home”. America, however, was a reality check for both compared to their lives in Kabul. In America Amir and Baba were faced with the truth of what was really going on in their lives. Moving to America made it easier to hide the truth, but the burden of keeping secrets complicated relationships. …show more content…
In Afghanistan Baba was a wealthy man. He had servants and enough money to build an orphanage and his own house: “Everyone agreed that my father, my Baba, had built the most beautiful house in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, a new and affluent neighborhood in the northern part of Kabul.” (4) Having a lot of money made life easier for Baba and Amir. They were able to afford luxurious things and enjoy lavish events such as Amir and Hassan’s birthday party. On the other hand, when they moved to America they were left with little to no money: “And that was how Baba ended those humiliating food stamp moments at the cash register and alleviated one of his greatest fears: that an Afghan would see him buying food with charity money.” (131) Baba and Amir struggled to buy food sometimes because they did not have enough money. Further to that, the only job that Baba could get was at a gas station. Compared to the job he had in Afghanistan his new one was less than desirable. Another thing that Amir and Baba had to come to terms with was that they had to rebuild their lives from the ground up when they moved to America. When they lived in Afghanistan they had lots of friends. Baba was a very well respected man with lots of connections in Kabul: “I kissed hundreds of cheeks, hugged total strangers, thanked them for their gifts.” (95) At Amir’s …show more content…
One of the biggest secrets that had been kept is the one Baba kept from Amir. Moving to America meant that Baba had to live with the secret that Hassan and Amir were actually half brothers. Even as he got older he never told his son the truth about who he really was: “We closed the door. Baba never woke up.” (173) Baba had died with his secret, leaving Amir in the dark about how he was related to Hassan. When Amir traveled back to Afghanistan Rahim Khan told him the truth that Baba had not: “ ‘I’m thirty-eight years old and I’ve just found out my whole life is one big fucking lie!’” (223) Amir was confounded by the information that he had just heard. His whole life had been a lie all because Baba never told him the truth. This left a negative memory in his mind, even the time that he and Baba had spent in America when they just had each other to talk to, it was all a lie. Like Baba, Amir had secrets of his own. For example, the secret he kept about what happened that day in the alley to his friend Hassan. In America he had no one to tell his secret to, his father would disown him if he knew and his girlfriend would not understand the weight of it. Even though his girlfriend, Soraya, told him her secret he still did not have the courage to tell her his secret: “I suspected there were many ways in which