The Fault In Their Friendship “For you a thousand times over!” (Ch. 7). Khaled Hosseini uses literary elements to illustrate a number of themes. In the novel The Kite Runner, setting illustrates the theme friendship means being loyal, character illustrates the way people treat their friends shows if they are good people, and mood illustrates the way people treat the their friends shows if they are good people.…
Baba tries to redeem himself from his guilt by treating Ali and Hassan like family. He is good to them such as giving Hassan presents and caring about him on special occasions to make himself feel better. Also, when he is of age to have the operation, he will pay to have his harelip fixed. This care for Hassan and Ali are shown when Amir says, “I remember the day we were planting tulips, when I had asked Baba if he'd ever consider getting new servants. “Hassan’s not going anywhere,' he'd barked. '…
As he reached adulthood, he carried the guilt and shame and needed to clear his conscious. Redemption was what he seeked but what he really needed was to forgive himself. With this comes honor, not only to his name but to his family. All along though, what he really seemed was Babas approval. Amir sacrificed his relationship with true friend, Hassan and Hassan's well-being in order to gain social status but the ends never justified the means.…
Amir made that choice independently from what he believed. This tells the readers that Amir was selfish. He was using Hassan as an object that will bring him the one thing that would lead to Baba’s affection. The author shows how regardless of how far relationships between two ethnic groups that are located on opposite ends of a scale are they can never share a strong bond. If a child such as Amir at the age of twelve embraces thoughts of racism than hope for that country is lost.…
Amir questions how Ali could live with a constant reminder of that betrayal when he thinks, “How had Ali lived in that house, day in and day out, knowing he had been dishonored by his master in the single worst way an Afghan man can be dishonored?” (Page 225). Baba took Ali’s honor, or as it is called in the novel, his nang and namoos. Although Baba betrayed Ali “in the single worst way an Afghan man can be dishonored,” he did redeem himself by providing a comfortable life for Ali and Hassan.…
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.…
When Amir and Baba are having fun and celebrating his graduation from high school, Baba says “ I wish Hassan had been with us today” (133), reminding him of his guilt. Amir then feels as though “a pair of steel hands closed around [his] windpipe and the sound of Hassan’s name” (134). Amir feels remorse because it is his fault that Hassan is not there. When Amir becomes engaged to Soraya, she confesses to him about her shameful past. He then “opened [his] mouth and almost told her about how [he had] betrayed Hassan” (165).…
Introduction and Quote Isaac Singer once said “When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself.” Isaac’s theory on betrayal, shows that betrayal is linked to guilt. By “betray[ing] yourself,” you are submerging yourself into the monster of guilt. When you betray someone, it might seem like a good idea in the moment, but overtime you betray yourself. The built up feelings become overwhelming and you end up punishing yourself even more than you punished the victim.…
This makes him miss his wife and resent his son for causing the love of his life to perish. Amir sees himself as superior to his servant friend, Hassan. But, Hassan is the model of a good friend. No matter how much Amir hurts him, Hassan just shows him love. During one point in their childhood, Amir has a chance to prove that he sees Hassan as friend but is too afraid of what will happen to himself if he was to stand up.…
Amir feels as though, “ Baba hates [him] a little” because he hadn 't, “ turned out a little more like him” and even though Amir tries very hard to find common interest, for example, trying to play soccer, the similarities are not there (Hosseini 19). The lack of a common interest is one reason Amir and his father never bonded emotionally. Amir has also faced life long guilt after his mother dies while giving birth to him. This tragedy is haunting to Amir and causes him to believe that Baba resents him for the death of, “ his [father’s] beloved wife, his beautiful princess,” which makes Amir feel even more detached from his father Baba (Hosseini 19). Amir’s feelings of alienation are amplified because of Baba’s close relationship with Hassan.…
“It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime, Amir.” This quote, from the book, The Kite Runner, speaks of the theme of cautiousness and consequences. Although it is purely fictional, the story is strikingly realistic in that the critical decisions that the characters make are instances that could happen to anyone. The story itself is propelled by the aftermath of the winter of 1975. But Amir is not the only character who lives with regret.…
Amir has been willing to do anything to gain Baba’s affection. He is best friends with Hassan throughout most of his childhood, but in reality he does not accept that they truly are best friends. He looks at Hassan as just his servant and someone to hang out with when he is bored. Immediately after watching Hassan be raped by Assef, Amir starts to consider what he just did and how he could benefit from it. He realizes that “[He] actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason [he] was running, was that Assef was right: nothing was free in this world, maybe Hassan was the price [he] had to pay, the lamb [he] had to slay, to win Baba” (Hosseini 77).…
The problems between Baba and Amir go deeper than Amir’s former failure as an athlete. They have never genuinely connected on an emotional level, so in a way, they don’t really know each other. Baba can’t see any of himself in Amir, and therefore doesn’t know how to connect with him. He expresses his frustration to his friend Rahim Khan in the quotation “He needs someone who… understands him, because God knows I don’t. But something about Amir troubles me in a way that I can’t express.…
The bond between a father and his son is a relationship that is blind to any race or culture. The importance and power of said relationship is tremendous, but a bond so strong must be maintained with participation from both parties. In the case of Amir and Baba, two men that should be confidants struggle to find their connection. Since Amir’s childhood, Baba has always struggled to understand why his son’s interests never agreed with his own. To make matters worse, Amir feels an innate sense of jealousy when he witnesses Baba interact with their servant, Hassan.…
The greatest cause of the problems in Amir and Baba’s relationship is the amount of differences they have compared to each other. This is seen by the different ways they behave compared to each other, the different interests they have and the way Amir seeks…