Courage In John Steinbeck's The Kite Runner

Courage is known as the ability to do something that frightens one; or strength in the face of pain or grief. In the Kite runner I find that Hassan has the most qualities of courage compared to Amir. Even though Amir does some courageous things later it is Hassan who shows courage throughout the whole book and ultimately in the end is how he dies. This paper will discuss the extent of Hassan’s courage that he has shown throughout his whole life and how loyal he is to Amir, and also Amir's courage and bravery which implements him to forget his past and continue living the future.

In the Kite Runner courage seems to be a trait in every character but Amir is the only one who is not able to grasp it fully. One of the very first instances where

He is so loyal to Amir that there is one quote in the novel that proves it, “For you, a thousand times over.” This quote stuck with me because it is showing how he will absolutely do anything for his friend, even if it means that he could pay the consequences. For instance there was a part of the novel where Amir asks Hassan to throw the fruit at him and hurt him as hard and as much as he wants but instead all Hassan did was hit himself with the fruit proving that he will never do anything to hurt his friend, he splits hits himself with the pomegranate which opens it and asks Amir if he is happy yet and walks home. “Then Hassan did pick up a pomegranate. He walked toward me. He opened it and crushed it against his own forehead. “There,” he croaked, red dripping down his face like blood. “Are you satisfied? Do you feel better?” He turned around and started down the hill.” (Hosseini 93) I find this to be loyal but also have some courage in it because he could easily stand up to Amir and hit him, but he holds back everything that has happened. And being able to hold in your secrets and not lash them out on anybody and be so loyal to someone who has done you so wrong is a courageous act to