Emma Johnson Robyn Simpson ENG3U-05 June 4, 2023 The Effects of Past Decisions Throughout The Kite Runner It is common knowledge that bad decisions impact the future. The novel, “The Kite Runner” written by Khaled Hosseini, follows the life of a young Afghani man, Amir, as he faces challenges while navigating young adulthood. The story takes place in Afghanistan during the 1970s until the Taliban take over in the 1990s. Amir grows up in a lavish house in Kabul, alongside their servant Ali, who lives in a dated shack with his son Hassan. The story has a main focus on the friendship between Amir and Hassan as well as the relationship between Amir and his father, which is filled with guilt, betrayal and violence. Although past actions are well-intentioned, …show more content…
First, Hassan experiences a harsh and violent situation at a young age. “I’ve changed my mind,” Assef said. “I’m letting you keep the kite, Hazara. I’ll let you keep it so it will always remind you of what I'm about to do.”. (Hosseini, 78) Hassan is put in very challenging and dangerous situations. At a young age, he was trapped and raped. He was tortured by Assef and his friend for being a Hazara. They wanted the kite, but Hassan refused because he knows it will upset Amir to lose. As a result, he was raped. Second, The soviet union takes over causing Amir and Baba to leave. “The soldier flicked his unfinished cigarette and unholstered his handgun. So this is where Baba dies, I thought. This is how it’s going to happen.” (Hosseini, 122) Afghanistan turns into a violent place. The Soviet Union takes over making it dangerous. Baba and Amir are looking to flee to Pakistan. They are stopped at a checkpoint and interrogated. Amir worries that Baba is going to die. They get through the checkpoint and later settle in Fremont, California. Thirdly, Sohrab has difficulties leaving his past traumatic events behind. “I pushed open the door open. I stepped into the bathroom. Suddenly I was on my knees, screaming. Screaming through my clenched teeth. Screaming until I thought my throat would rep and my chest explode.” (Hosseini, 361) Sohrab lives with lots of past traumas. His father, Hassan, was killed and he is being sexually abused by Assef. He finds trouble living with these experiences weighing down on him. He attempts to commit suicide. Amir finds him in the bathroom. Amir shows a deep fear when he finds Sohrab and he is very worried about why he would do such a thing. The points that are given show that violence within the novel is caused by poor
Amir saving Sohrab from the orphanage and ‘filling in’ as his father shows how the impact of having a neglectful father has created a moral view in his heart and a need to fulfill a positive father figure role in his life. In addition, there is a deeper connection between Sohrab and Amir because he is the son of Hassan who encountered the same situation that Hassan endured as a
Amir stands up to their childhood bully, Assef, who is known as a leader of the Taliban, to help him repent his sins and save Sohrab for the sake of Hassan. Amir was scared and didn’t want to fight, but he knew there was no other choice. OR Amir, a boy who was once very timid, saves the day as he attacks one of his childhood enemies for the sake of his passed friend. Amir always avoided any sort of conflict as a child, but now that he has matured he fought his way through and confronted the issues in front of him. At the beginning of the book, Amir was nothing like Baba and that’s what made him such a disappointment to him.
The novel then flashes back to Amir’s childhood in Kabul. During Amir’s childhood, he stood by and watched Hassan, his friend and servant, get raped. After Amir betrays Hassan by not stopping the incident, his behavior represents typical guilt, though some of his actions seem wrong. One of the first signs of Amir’s guilt is when thoughts of the rape kept him up at night. In chapter 8 Amir
One of their servants, Hassan, is Amir’s age and they spend every day together. Then, Amir doesn’t help Hassan in a time of need and feels so guilty about it that he gets Hassan to quit so he doesn’t have to deal with it anymore. Much later in life, Amir is asked to rescue Hassan’s son and bring him to a better home, his chance to finally redeem himself.
Amir's conscious choices to act better allow him to evolve as a person and redeem himself from his past mistakes. Since the beginning of the novel, Amir showed a shady attitude toward Hassan. Firstly, Amir’s deprivation from his father’s love affects him greatly and causes him a great deal of jealousy, betrayal, and cowardice. He exhibits these behaviors in various scenarios throughout the novel, mainly toward his friend Hassan. For instance, one specific thing that Amir did wrong was when he planted the brand-new watch Baba has offered him, and the money under a mattress, framing and blaming Hassan for stealing his things.
Amir apprehended the trouble and tribulation he had caused for Hassan, admitting to himself that, “I have a wife in America, a home,a career, and a family. But how could I pack up and go back home when my actions may have cost Hassan a chance at those very same things(Hosseini, 192)?”. Subsequently, in face of the dismay and despite all that he had to lose, Amir concluded that he would liberate Sohrab from custody. By stating that “{He}was older now,but maybe not yet too old to start doing {his} own fighting. (Hosseini, 193)?”Amir acknowledges that he needs to take responsibility for his own life and exemplifies progression in his character development.
Throughout the novel Amir struggles with his guilt, feeling confined between inclinations of selfishness and the need for atonement and redemption for his sins. Amir’s difficult journey to redemption is developed through a series of parallel scenes, correlating Amir’s evolved temperament with principles of integrity and honor held by Hassan. The novel begins with Hassan and Amir’s relationship; exemplifying Hassan’s integrity and unwavering loyalty as he “held the slingshot pointed directly as Assef’s face”, willing and ready to stand up for Amir when he could not do so for himself (42). Although Amir struggles to defend himself, initially believing in his father’s words declaring, “a boy who won't stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up for anything” he begins to encapsulate Hassan’s characteristics, and stand up for more than just himself (22). Hosseini employs the use of parallel scenes to encapsulate this; later in the novel when faced with Assef again threatening to complete their “unfinished business” Amir accepts that “it was [his] turn” and realizes Hassan's integrity and bravery (286).
The author provides the reader with mixed feeling about Amir. In his childhood in Kabul Amir comes off as heartless person. He is this because he has done evil stuff in his life. In the beginning of the story something bad happens to Hassan, Amir says,¨In the end, I ran.
More than Baba himself, it was what he didn’t receive from him. He might have gotten a big house—in fact, the prettiest place in Kabul—but it was so big and so empty, a place without love and affection, not what we call home. In Amir's eyes, "the face of Afghanistan" was always by his side. Yet that wasn’t enough; he craved acceptance from his father and would do anything for it. He only had to win a kite-running tournament; he had been so close in the past years, but this year he was determined to get it—the win and Baba’s love.
The main character had to manage his father’s neglect while growing up. All Amir really wants is to be “looked at, not seen, listened to, not heard” (Hosseini 65), and while this conflict shapes the way that Amir grew up, readers are exposed to the
After living through his parents’ murder, sexual and physical assault from Assef, and suicide attempts, Sohrab is broken and tired. He says to Amir that he wants his “…old life back” (354) – a life with his parents before everything went wrong. Amir knows he can’t provide this for Sohrab but also knows that ‘It’s just you and me now’ (355) and he must rebuild trust with Sohrab. Their relationship in America is filled with radio silence on Sohrab’s end and Amir starts to lose hope.
No longer able to withstand the ways of afghan society, Sohrab attempts suicide by slitting his wrist, but his attempt fails leaving him with a physical scar to remember from his
Amir sees this big change as a chance to move on and escape his past. He goes on to be happily married, develops a closer relationship with Baba, and even becomes a successful writer. One day, however, he gets a call from Rahim Khan, Baba’s best friend, asking to see Amir, and is told there is a way to be good again. Amir then visits Rahim Khan in Pakistan, and is told that Hassan had been killed. Amir realizes he can no longer apologize to Hassan directly for what he had done, but Rahim Khan goes on to tell Amir there is still a way for him to redeem himself, in Hassan’s son, Sohrab.
Though they are miles away from the war of Afghanistan, their family encounters a battle of their own. He portrayed this similar struggle in the character of Baba, as he adjusts his lifestyle in America. “For Baba, [America is] a place to mourn his [memory]” (p.140) This line depicts the struggle Amir’s father experience as he leaves his wealth behind Kabul and start a new beginning in San Francisco. Similar with Hosseini’s parents “…it was an even more difficult adjustment for my parents to be uprooted and to have lost everything they had worked their lives for, and to have to restart their lives essentially from scratch and to try to restart a life in an environment that was dramatically different from the one they were accustomed to.”
While growing up, they become as close as brothers and while Amir looks up to his father, Hassan looks up to Amir. During a local kite flying contest which Amir wins, Hassan runs to catch the kite for Amir, a prized possession for the winner. An incident takes place which is later to have immense bearing on the lives of everyone related. Amir and Hassan drift apart and a few years later Amir and his father move to America to start life anew. Years later, Amir, a successful writer now, is called back to Pakistan by his father’s friend who reveals to him a secret that would send him searching for a little boy through Taliban-infested