Trees, Eyes and Illness The saddest thing about betrayal is it never comes from your enemy but the people you are closest to. The Kite Runner is a remarkable novel that teaches people how a simple thing could haunt you for the rest of your life. It shows how a friendship could be destroyed by a lie or just simply not speaking up. It displays how discrimination and bullying is still alive in the world and how it is a major problem. How running from your problems doesn’t always have a great outcome. And how the truth always finds a way to come out. This novel has a great deal of motifs and foreshadowing that all have important meanings and ties to explaining parts of the novel. By employing trees, eyes, and illness as motifs, Khaled Hosseini, …show more content…
A huge event that supports this theme is when Hassan is being raped. Amir recalls this, “I could see the fear creeping into Hassan’s eyes,” (Hosseini 72). Before the author reveals what is happening to Hassan, Amir has a flashback to a time when it was the last month of the muslim calendar and they would kill a sheep. He remembers the poor sheep's eyes that he says, “I watch because of that look of acceptance in the animal’s eyes.” (Hosseini 76). He sees this same look in Hassan's eyes. This soon caused Amir to stop watching and he tries to decide what to do and because he was a coward, he betrayed Hassan and ran without telling anyone what was happening to Hassan. Another time betrayal was portrayed was when he broke his promise with Sohrab. Amir describes Sohrab’s reaction as, “His voice was breaking, tears pooling in his eyes.” (Hosseini 341). Amir was finally getting close with Sohrab and then, Amir breaks his promise causing Sohrab to feel as if Amir betrayed him. When Amir finds another way to bring him to America Sohrab is no longer excited and when he arrives in America he doesn’t speak at
He also learns that Hassan has a son named Sohrab, who is in a lot of danger in an orphanage in Kabul. Amir feels that he should take on the responsibility to get Sohrab because of what he did to Hassan in their past. Baba once said “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.” (Hosseini 78 ) Amir really took that to heart and not only wanted to prove his redemption to himself but also to
Once Amir found Sohrab, he is not able to take him without a price, Assef wants to fight Amir for the boy. Assef became a leader of the Taliban and once he found that Hassan had a child, he wanted to take him. Amir fought Assef only because it was Assef’s way of keeping his promise and it was Amir’s way to gain redemption. Amir felt like it was time to redeem himself for his actions that night in the alley. In the alley Amir watched Hassan get raped by Assef, he did this because he wanted to show his power.
After Amir meets with Rahim Khan and knows the fact that Hassan’s son, Sohrab, was in the orphanage, it is time for him to seek redemption. Amir decision of bring Sohrab to Pakistan is because of not only Rahim Khan’s request but also a way to be good again. It is his first active step he takes towards atoning for his past and it demonstrates Amir’s first conscious decision to think of another before himself, even it means risking everything he has, including his life and the welfare of his family. Amir now understands that he can endeavour to gain redemption by sacrificing himself to rescue Sohrab. As Amir continues to find Sohrab and tries to save him from Assef, he is willing to sacrifice himself for a chance to get Sohrab back.
Hosseini uses the allusion to a sacrificial lamb when Assef assaults Hassan in the alleyway. Amir sees this attack but decides to do nothing but run away Amir thinks to himself “ He had the eyes of a lamb” referring to the bible when the prophet Abraham was going to sacrifice his son and his son accepted his fate, but god tells him right before he sacrifices the child to sacrifice a lamb. Hassan is seen as a sacrificial lamb because it is almost like he is being sacrificed for Amir. This allusion is used again when Hassan is framed for theft. Amir tells his father a lie about Hassan stealing but when Hassan is confronted about it, he looks at Amir and plays along with the lie, because Hassan would do anything for Amir just like how Abraham would do anything for God.
The reader has a new found respect for Amir as he comes to terms with himself. Sohrab saves Amir from being killed and they escape so Amir has completed his
In the novel the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini he illustrates the sacrifice one gives for love. Over the course of the novel Amir, Hassan, and Baba all face dramatic events that shape them to the person they are. Each one of them sacrifice a piece of their own happiness for the one they love. Hassan is loyal to Amir even though in their childhood Amir was not a good friend. Baba sacrifices his life in Afghanistan for Amir to have an education in America.
On the hospital bed, Sohrab tells Amir that he is tired of everything, wants his previous life back, and that Amir should have just abandoned him to perish. Amir responds: “I can’t give you your old life back, I wish to God I could. But I can take you with me… You
In his mind, he believes that Baba will send Ali and Hassan away, and, as a result, he will finally gain some peace. To Amir’s surprise, Hassan confesses to stealing his gifts without hesitation symbolizing “Hassan’s final sacrifice for [him]” (105). At that moment, Amir realizes that Hassan knew of his betrayal, which added to his already guilty conscience. Hassan could have easily told Baba the truth and he would have believed him because”[everyone] knew that Hassan never lied”, which, in turn, would ruin Amir’s relationship with his father (105). He probably knew that Amir was unworthy of his sacrifice, that he was the “snake in the grass, the monster in the lake”, but he lied for Amir’s own benefit
The connection between the relationships of Hassan and Amir and then Amir and Sohrab thrive off of the conflicts and the recurring motifs throughout the novel. Amir lived his redemiton and his loyalty through Sohrab, trying to make what he did to Hassan feel like less of a burden on his shoulders. There are many different ways for one to redeem themselves, but there is no better way to show loyalty than to be present in a time of
At the end of the book Amir finally redeems himself by saving his nephew( Sorhab) and bringing him to America. Amir risks his life, something he would've never done in the past to save his
The saddest part was that Amir was there watching from a distance and was unwilling to help his best friend due to his lack of courage and inability to stand up for himself. Up until adulthood, Amir had to carry the baggage of betraying Hassan by not being there when he most needed him, this guilt tormented him to the point where he moved to America with his dad, Baba, as a way to escape his
After rescuing Sohrab from Assef, Amir feels like he is making up for not being there for Hassan. Amir did something that was truly brave and noble. By saving Sohrab and giving him a better life in America, Amir was able to find a way to be good again. Just like Rahim Khan said he would over the phone. Amir will never be able to fully forgive himself for what happened in the winter of 1975, however, by working to become a better person, he can slowly redeem himself and move forward with his life.
The theme of loyalty has a major impact on how the Kite Runner develops. As the novel unfolds, the characters begin to learn that loyalty comes with both positive and negative connotations. Loyalty is putting your trust and faith into someone else's hands, although this can be broken, resulting in destroyed lives and relationships. These destroyed lives and relationships are how loyalty affects the novel. Loyalty will drive you to do stuff you would never have seen yourself doing, even loyalty that has been broken will make one seek redemption and attempt to gain it back.
Hassan was no longer around. He had died and still Amir had never made up for his wrong doings. This meant that Sohrad was orphaned and Amir couldn’t just let this child live in such horrible conditions. “Sohrab, I can’t give you
Amir, Hassan's half-brother and best friend betrayed Hassan a countless amount of times. It was shown when Amir came to find Hassan being raped