Redemption In Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner

Everywhere we look, even in the grand U.S. there’s poverty. Homeless on the street, stray animals whose ribs are the most dominate feature, and while we think that this is the worst it gets, we’re very wrong. If we change our view to many other places in the world, specifically Afghanistan, we begin to see the true meaning of poverty, and the imbalance of power. In this book, The Kite Runner, a story unfolds, about of a very powerful and rich man, Baba, his son Amir, and their Hazara slave, Hassan. Throughout this story there’s a theme, one that shows a man’s need, and desire for redemption, and the damage that contained guilt inflicts over time. In The Kite Runner, our protagonist, Amir, goes through many emotional stages, but there’s two that stand out, and develop as the theme of the book. Amir’s father is the most respected, and powerful man, in their area, so Amir wants to follow in his father’s footsteps, but as Amir grows up, he doesn’t become the man that his father had imagined his son to be. The theme of this book is redemption, and guilt, and Amir is always …show more content…
The guilt that Amir has is always present, but when he sees his slave, and best friend since birth, Hassan, get raped, and does nothing to stop it, and just runs away, the guilt is much more prominent and heavy on his shoulders. In chapter 3 of the The Kite Runner Amir’s father, Baba, says “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who won’t stand up for anything” (22). This is a big part in the book, as a reader, and as an author developing a theme, because it shows us that Baba feels as though his son has no will to stand up for himself, and Baba, wanting a son to grow up and take his place, doesn’t think his son can do the job. Amir sees this as time goes on, and he feels guiltier about disappointing his father, and not growing up to be the man Baba had