Kite Runner Betrayal

In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, Amir learns that betrayal, a form of sin, towards a friend will leave him guilty, but if a friendship is true there is hope in redemption. Amir recalls an incident that happens 26 years ago, leaving him with a quest to redeem himself. The memory starts in Kabul, where Amir lives with his father, Baba, and his two servants, Hassan and Ali. Hassan is very loyal towards Amir. His love for him as a friend is selfless, leaving the two inseparable. When winter arrives, Amir and Hassan participate in the kite flying tournaments; a tournament where boys compete against each other, using glass covered strings to cut eachothers lines. Once a line is cut, the winning team runs after the kite to redeem it as their

Amir and Baba struggle to escape to Pakistan where it is safer and eventually move themselves to America. As Amir finishes college,strives in his writing career, and even gets married, somewhere deep-down he still feels the guilt from the betrayal towards Hassan. One day, Amir gets a call from Rahim Kahn, Baba’s close friend, who still lives in Pakistan. He insists that Amir comes back and visit him because of his poor health and he accepts. After a week,. Amir makes it to Pakistan and hears some news from Rahim Kahn. Hassan is dead. Amir, who is devastated, asks how. Rahim Kahn says that the Taliban shot both Hassan and his wife and sent his son, Sohrab, to an orphanage in Kabul. Rahim Kahn insists that Amir receives Sohrab from the orphanage. Amir almost declines until Rahim tells him that -- Hassan is his brother. “ There is a way to be good again, he’d said. / With a little boy. An orphan. Hassan’s son” (Hosseini 226-7). Amir makes it to Kabul and finds the orphanage, but the owner says that Sohrab was taken by a Taliban official. Amir searches for the official and eventually is able to meet with him, finding out that he is Assef or the man who raped Hassan. Assef says he has some unfinished business with Amir and starts beating him to the point there he breaks Amir’s rib and rips his lip. Sohrab uses a slingshot (which was something Hassan was known for) to shoot Assef in the eye socket with , giving the two time to