When reflecting on past experiences, one realizes his faults, learns to live with his guilt, and becomes the person he is because of the mistakes he has made. Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner follows this same pattern, as Amir must learn to live with the mistakes he made as a twelve year old boy. Amir witnesses Hassan’s rape in a dark alley, but chooses not to intervene, putting a lifelong strain on their friendship. Amir spends the entire story trying to repent and mend all of his relationships ruined by the mistake. At first, Amir tries to rid his guilt by expelling Hassan from his life, but as he grows to cope with his betrayal, he finds peace through restoring his loyalty. He fixes relationships with his father, himself, and Hassan’s …show more content…
In the weeks following Hassan’s rape, Amir tries to ignore his mistakes, but eventually realizes that he treated the situation incorrectly. At first, Amir talks to his dad, asking him to fire Hassan and his father, Ali. Rather than trying to face his problems, Amir makes them worse, as now he has devastated a relationship with his father, too. At this time in the story, the way Amir handles his problems makes him seem selfish. It appears he only cares about himself, as he tries to save his own reputation and wellbeing rather than repairing his relationship with Hassan. Later, Amir spends the entire time he and his father are in America trying to reestablish their once fruitful relationship. Amir’s mistake made him cautious, as he feels he must be careful to never make a mistake of that caliber ever again. This also shows that Amir has grown from the selfish child he once was, as he truly feels sorry for what he had failed to do. The relationship Amir repairs with his father is the just one of the ways he is affected by his past. Amir must not only …show more content…
No matter what he does, he cannot forgive himself for neglecting Hassan. Failing to cope with the pain, Amir drives himself insane. Fortunately, as he matures, he begins to accept that he cannot change his past actions. Still, he suffers with not being able to forgive himself. Later, while in the process of adopting Hassan’s orphaned son in Afghanistan, Amir is confronted by the same bully that raped Hassan decades ago. Amir and the bully, Assef, physically beat each other. It is not until this point, when Amir experiences excruciating pain, that he can forgive himself for betraying Hassan as a young boy. It is shown now that Amir spent so much of his life trying to forgive himself, that he needed to get even to feel repented. Amir’s character shines, as he repairs his interpersonal relationship when he sacrifices himself to make up for his faults so long ago. Decades after Amir’s betrayal of Hassan, he is still apologizing when he adopts Hassan’s son Sohrab. Amir tries to indirectly repair his relationship with the deceased Hassan by adopting his orphaned child. Amir makes the ultimate sacrifice when he travels to wartime Afghanistan, showing that he is truly sorry for the mistakes he made as a