The Theme Of Courage In Khaled Hosseini's 'The Kite Runner'

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People every day act in a gritty way that impact society and then lead people into situations that are not always good for them. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini, includes many scenes where characters act in audacious ways. In the novel, the main character, Amir, makes a decision one night to not help his friend, Hassan, when he is in trouble. This then leads Hassan to do many bold things to mend their friendship, only for Amir to then also do courageous things that only ended up leading their friendship to not work. That then led Amir to do certain things that affected him in both a negative and positive ways to make-up for his past actions and relationships with the people in his life. Throughout the novel, the subject of courage was shown …show more content…
The text states, “Assef raised his fist and came for me (...) out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hassan bend down and stand up quickly. (...) Hassan held the slingshot pointed directly at Assef’s face.” (42). In this scene, Assef threatens Amir for always playing with Hassan, who is a Hazara. In this novel, there are Pashtuns and Hazaras. Pashtuns and Hazaras are not suppose to be friends or to have any type of relationship with each other because it is seen as not ethical in society. Therefore, Hassan standing up for Amir shows he is undaunted due to the fact that Assef is stronger, tougher, and wiser and still stood up against Assef. He stood up for someone who wouldn’t even admit he is friends with a Hazara and stood up against someone who is known to always hurt people badly whenever a fight broke out. As the novel continued, there is a scene where Hassan shows courage and loyalty in his friendship with Amir, “Then Hassan did pick up a pomegranate. He walked toward me. He opened it and crushed it against his own forehead. “ (93). This demonstrates Hassan’s courage decision to hurt himself and make himself look like a fool just to make the person he loved most in the entire world satisfied. Hassan hoped that by making himself look like a fool, his friendship with Amir would go back to how things use to be, where Amir …show more content…
The author states, “(...) the soldier aid he wanted a half hour with the lady in the back of the truck. (...) That was when Baba stood up. It was now my turn to clamp a hand on his thigh, but Baba pried it loose, and snatched his leg away.” (115). In this scene, Baba stood up for a lady he had no personal relationship with against a Russian soldier who was armed and could have hurt Baba. Baba could have stayed quiet and just let the Russian soldier have his thirty minutes with the lady, but instead, he decided to stand up for what he thought was right even though he knew he killed have been sent away or killed. As the scene continues, Baba says: “‘Tell him I’ll take a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place’, Baba said. (...) The Russian raised his gun. (...) He clicked the safety on the gun. Pointed the barrel to Baba’s chest. (...) The soldier who had meant to shoot Baba had already holstered his weapon. “(116-117). In this scene, Baba could have been killed; however, he was the only one bold enough to stand up for what he believed was right, despite the outcome. Baba could have just sat back down and stayed quiet, but he does not allow for the soldier to act upon his indecent plan of having sexual intercourse with the lady, who is in no way

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