Guilt Leads to Good
Everyone has their own reasons for being kind or doing good for another person. One might be generous out of consideration and compassion, while others might be generous as a way of redeeming themselves after they’ve done something wrong. In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the motivation for the character’s generosity is driven by guilt as opposed to goodwill. Specifically, Amir is generous to Hassan’s son, Sohrab, because he felt guilty about how he treated Hassan in the past.
To better understand Amir’s generosity in The Kite Runner, it is important to know what he did to create such guilt. When Amir and Hassan were younger, Hassan was always Amir’s protector. However, Amir was not as willing to return the favor. When Hassan ran the kite for Amir after the contest, Amir went looking for him. He found Hassan in an alley being cornered …show more content…
Amir wouldn’t have even left America if Rahim Khan didn’t ask him to go. Rahim was the one who asked him to find Sohrab in the first place. He made Amir feel guilty for everything he did. He tried to convince Amir by saying, “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 226). He also warned him by saying, “A man who has no conscience, no goodness, does not suffer” (Hosseini 301). At first, Amir was reluctant to find Sohrab. He told Rahim he could not go to Kabul because he had “a wife in America, a home, a career, and a family” (Hosseini 226). Although he wished Rahim never called him, he knew he would not feel better if he didn’t redeem himself for being a poor friend to Hassan. He had dreams about being the one who killed Hassan. He wondered if things would have turned out differently if he hadn’t driven Ali and Hassan out of the house. These shameful memories drove Amir to find Sohrab in Kabul and bring him back to America. Amir was looking for redemption from his wrongdoings as a child, rather than finding Sohrab out of
Everyone has their own reasons for being kind or doing good for another person. One might be generous out of consideration and compassion, while others might be generous as a way of redeeming themselves after they’ve done something wrong. In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the motivation for the character’s generosity is driven by guilt as opposed to goodwill. Specifically, Amir is generous to Hassan’s son, Sohrab, because he felt guilty about how he treated Hassan in the past.
To better understand Amir’s generosity in The Kite Runner, it is important to know what he did to create such guilt. When Amir and Hassan were younger, Hassan was always Amir’s protector. However, Amir was not as willing to return the favor. When Hassan ran the kite for Amir after the contest, Amir went looking for him. He found Hassan in an alley being cornered …show more content…
Amir wouldn’t have even left America if Rahim Khan didn’t ask him to go. Rahim was the one who asked him to find Sohrab in the first place. He made Amir feel guilty for everything he did. He tried to convince Amir by saying, “There is a way to be good again” (Hosseini 226). He also warned him by saying, “A man who has no conscience, no goodness, does not suffer” (Hosseini 301). At first, Amir was reluctant to find Sohrab. He told Rahim he could not go to Kabul because he had “a wife in America, a home, a career, and a family” (Hosseini 226). Although he wished Rahim never called him, he knew he would not feel better if he didn’t redeem himself for being a poor friend to Hassan. He had dreams about being the one who killed Hassan. He wondered if things would have turned out differently if he hadn’t driven Ali and Hassan out of the house. These shameful memories drove Amir to find Sohrab in Kabul and bring him back to America. Amir was looking for redemption from his wrongdoings as a child, rather than finding Sohrab out of