Corruption In The Kite Runner

No one is perfect and everyone makes mistake, but how does one come back from horrible things they have done and redeem themselves? The main character, Amir in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini goes through a traumatic childhood that continues to haunt him throughout the rest of his life. He lives in a well off home with his father in Kabul, Afghanistan, along with their two servants Ali and Hassan. Having grown up together Amir and Hassan do everything together. A popular activity in Afghanistan is kite running, were the two make the perfect team, until one day a disturbing incident occurs. Soon after Amir moves away to American with Baba but the distance and time does not change the level of guilt within himself. Hosseini’s first line of

He feels he must make things up to Baba for taking away his love. “Amir idolizes his father but often wonders how much Baba loves him. Baba can be unaffectionate and harsh with Amir. For these reasons, Amir is constantly seeking his father’s approval” (The Kite Runner). Which is why it is so important for him the win the kite running contest. Amir 's desire to please his father leads him to awful event that stays with him the rest of his life, Hassan getting raped. When Amir is contemplating helping Hassan he states, “I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (Hosseini, 77). At the moment all Amir can think about is getting the kite to show Baba and seeing him proud, he wants to help but is young and conflicted. Even though he won and Hassan returns with the kite, all Amir can feel is guilt as the days go by after. He uses his fathers one rule about sin against Hassan, "Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that?" … "When you kill a man, you steal a life," (Hosseini, 18). To try and free his guilt he blames Hassan for stealing by planting a watch and money under his bed.

Sohrab is Amir’s nephew, he is family and he must take care of him, after all he did save his life. Amir wants to adopt Sohrab and bring him back to America with him. Without proof of his parents death, Sohrab cannot be determined as an orphan. “Sohrab is deeply scarred by the loss of his parents, and it becomes difficult for the young boy to trust people. When Amir nearly fails in his effort to adopt Sohrab after rescuing him, the boy tries to kill himself rather than face losing his surrogate parent” (The Kite Runner). He must go to a calm and save environment, after all the abuse he has endured. When Sohrab finds out that may not happen for him he tries to commit suicide, [Sohrab:] "You promised you 'd never put me in one of those places, Amir agha," he said. His voice was breaking, tears pooling in his eyes” (Hosseini, 350). Amir is compelled to get Sohrab to America for not only his wellbeing, but for Hassan and himself. He is able to figure things out but Sohrab stop talking, he won’t open up to anyone, until one day on the beach he sees the kites. Amir buys a kite for them and teaches him some tricks, a smile finally emerges from Sohrab. Amir is finally at