Why Is Redemption Important In The Kite Runner

Improved Essays
The Treasure Within Your Heart Sacrifices are what defines your values, what you treasure often is what you find pain in giving up. The result of such, however, can end in various ways, leaving different scars. Amir, from The Kite Runner by Khaled Hossieni, defines his values as a kid and later seeks redemption. Redemption seems like a far too big word for our main characters situation however. Amir as a kid was not aware of the consequences of his actions or ready to deal with what happened because he knew not of the impact it would have. 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 later finds different …show more content…
Upon remembering his child hood Amir presents the questioning of Hassan's rape "I asked him what had happened and he said it was nothin, that he'd gotten into a little scuffle." (Hosseini 81) Here Baba ask Amir about the situation knowing that Amir is probably aware of what happened, yet young Amir does not try to redeem himself because he does not understand. At this age, Amir knew Hassan was getting hurt, but not raped. Amir thought it was merely just a beating, he wasn't willing to jump in and sacrifice his well being probably partially because he too was a small boy and unable to prevent the rape or beating. Amir chose in a split second what to do about the situation, which in many's opinions was wrong but as a child he did not read into the story enough or comprehend before he made his

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    In literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. In the book titled The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini there are many scenes that contain violence, and these violent scenes do not exist for their own sake. The Kite Runner showcases the friendship between Hassan and Amir, and how one disloyal action can lead to years of guilt. The violent scenes in this book include war, murder, fighting, and sexual abuse. All of these scenes all contribute to the overall meaning of the book and each scene impacts the book in a different way.…

    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Later on, when Amir has matured as a character, he goes back to Kabul from America and brings back Hassan’s son, who is an orphan now, and decides to raise him as his own. “There is a way to be good again. ’’(Hosseini, 2)- As we know, Rahim Khan knows about Hassan’s rape and is telling Amir that he can redeem himself for what he had done in his childhood. “That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it.…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rather than being able to discuss the way he’s feeling and address the issue Amir acts out in toxic ways because he has had the idea men cannot talk about their feelings so deeply engrained into his mind throughout the entirety of his life. Amir exploits Hassan’s good-nature in order to take credit for winning the kite running competition. His logic is that by winning he will be someone his father will be proud to call a son, however after he fleas Hassan’s encounter with Assef rather than standing up for him he realizes he is nowhere near what his father would expect of him. He’s a young boy who witnessed something horrible, the first thing he should have done was to talk to someone about it. The environment Amir was raised in didn’t…

    • 1326 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In life there are many people that can have a clouded vision in their moral decisions, Amir is a perfect example of moral ambiguity. In Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner young Amir makes some unethical decisions, he was selfish and afraid to stick for himself or others. He would later greatly regret these decisions. Amir spends the many years following his youth trying to fix is mistakes and truly redeem himself.…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Everybody has things that they are guilty of, some things bigger than others. Amir, the protagonist of The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, suffers from the guilt of all he has done too. The first argument is that Amir is a selfish person. The next argument is Amir feels he has to compete with Hassan for Baba’s love. The last argument is that Amir always wants to feel smarter than Hassan.…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In life, as humans, we all mess up and to be able to redeem ourselves is such a critical and powerful moment. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, we learn about Amir, the main character’s life story and journey to earning redemption from his mistakes he made in his childhood. We also see how Amir’s best friend and servant Hassan, and his father Baba affect Amir’s journey. The main theme that is represented in this story is that the road to redemption leads to many truths and lessons that are uncovered and sacrifices that are made.…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Most people, at some point in their life, will go through a specific journey in order to seek redemption for a wrong decision or mistake they made at some point in their lives. This journey can only be completed by an individual who is willing to do whatever it takes in order to find the redemption they seek. In Khaled Hosseini 's novel The Kite Runner, Amir, the main character, has to risk his life to find redemption for a decision he made during his childhood in Afganistan. Amir witnesses Hassan, his best friend, being raped by Assef. Instead of helping Hassan, Amir, thinking only about his own safety, runs away.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As the possibility of winning grew, Amir “had a mission now. And [he] wasn’t going to fail Baba. Not this time.” (57). His entire childhood, Amir dedicated to showing his father that he was worthy of his…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After characters in “The Kite Runner” betray and hold secrets against each other, it can be hard for them to find forgiveness from the one they acted against. In several cases, it takes characters in the story many years and acts of repentance to redeem themselves. Amir stretches the lengths of forgiveness by trying to make his life right again after the person he betrayed, Hassan, has already died. Baba and Rahim Khan also look for and teach about forgiveness because of the secret they kept from Amir and Hassan. Through Amir, Baba, and Rahim Khan, Khaled Hosseini demonstrates that redemption is completed when good deeds are the result of guilt.…

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Amir’s mother died giving birth to him. Baba, (Amir’s father) thought of her as a princess. As a child, Amir thought his father resented him for this very reason. To Amir, Baba seemed to prefer Hassan over Amir in most cases. Later on as an adult, Amir realizes that his view of his Baba was so incorrect, that he feels guilty about it.…

    • 388 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the eyes of Amir, a character in The Kite Runner, “[...]it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out” (Hosseini 1). Not only do some of the past events in Amir’s adolescent life unfold before him in adulthood, but Amir is in many ways a person of the past. By the end of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, Amir has become an unchanged man.…

    • 1136 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini chronicles the story of how Amir, a boy in Afghanistan, grows up to become a writer in America. Throughout his life, he endures hardships, attempts to gain his father’s respect, and struggles with a colossal degree of remorse over his past. In order to clear his guilty conscience, Amir must travel back to Afghanistan and rescue his nephew, Sohrab, from the Taliban. During the story, Hosseini is able to construct his plot effectively using the novel’s two major themes of suffering and guilt.…

    • 1183 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    "And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins" (Mark 11:25). In the novel, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the topic of forgiveness plays a huge role in the main character Amir 's life. This novel is about a young boy named Amir who lives with his wealthy father and his servants in Afghanistan. While growing up in Afghan a life changing event occurs and causes Amir 's family to move to America. The servant 's son, Hassan, is also a major character who goes through some of the more difficult challenges in life.…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, tells the story of a character named Amir. The story follows Amir from the age of twelve where he commits his ‘sin’ which is standing by while his friend/servant Hassan is sexually assaulted by the book’s antagonist, Assef. Amir’s sin of not saving Hassan gravely affects him from that point on where he searches for a way to be good again.…

    • 918 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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).…

    • 1523 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays