Rahim Khan's Influence In The Kite Runner

Baba expects Amir to be exactly like him. When Amir finally builds the courage up to tell Baba of his passion for writing, Baba does not even glance at Amir’s work. “As always, it was Rahim Khan who rescued me. He held out his hand…‘May I have it, Amir Jan? I would very much like to read it.’

Sacrifice, one the most prominent themes in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, clearly determines a person’s unconditional love and complete fidelity for another individual. Hosseini’s best-selling novel recounts the events of Amir’s life from childhood to adulthood. Deprived of his father’s approval and unsure of his relationship with Hassan, Amir commits treacherous acts which he later regrets and attempts to search for redemption. These distressing occurrences throughout his youth serve as an aid during his transition from a selfish child to an altruistic adult.

Hassan was Amir’s servant , but also his loyal friend who would do just about anything for him, including losing his innocence. Growing up , Amir’s father was a businessman and never had much time for him although, Rahim Khan , Baba’s good friend , helped fill that void of a father figure that Amir needed. Rahim knew everything there was to know about Amir , including his big secret. After the invasion of Russia, Amir and his father eventually came to America and started a new life . Many years later , Rahim calls Amir and says , “ There’s a way to be good again “ ( Hosseini 198 ).

Another quote shows that Rahim Khan shows that he is trying to explain to Amir how Baba was torn between loving two children. Baba has a difficult time trying to show affections toward Amir mainly due to the fact that he is trying to show love to two children, Amir and Hassan. Although Amir’s character traits do play a role in Baba’s liking, Baba is stuck between two worlds trying to love and care for two children, and Amir does not realize this. Amir takes it upon himself, to blame himself, that he is solely the reason why Baba does not like

Amir strived to satisfy his father and earn his approval, yet Baba was often unimpressed with his accomplishments; this resulted in Amir longing

In Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, Amir’s jealousy of Hassan pushes him to commit vengeful and manipulative deeds to someone who has undying admiration and loyalty towards him. Amir’s need to impress his father, in this case, the kite tournament, singles the start of his redemption journey. Hassan, in Amir’s eyes, is someone who he has no emotional connection, strictly a employer-servant relationship. However, the substantial event that sparks a considerable amount of guilt and shame in Amir is the event he witnessed involving Hassan and his lack of initiative afterwards.

(Hosseini, page no.18) .Amir takes his Baba’s affection toward Hassan-Baba’s servants’ son-in the wrong way for Hassan always showed a lot more similar qualities to Baba than Amir ever did. In an attempt to win his Baba’s

In the novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini tells the story of Amir, a young, Afghan boy who learns about what it means to be redeemed through the experiences he encounters in his life. The idea of redemption becomes a lesson for Amir when he is a witness to the tragic sexual assault of his childhood friend, Hassan. As a bystander in the moment, Amir determines what is more important: saving the life of his friend or running away for the safety of himself. In the end, Amir decides to flee, resulting in Amir having to live with the guilt of leaving Hassan behind to be assaulted. Hosseini shows us how Amir constantly deals with the remorse of the incident, but does not attempt to redeem himself until later in his life when Hassan has died.

Therefore I think Hassan knew he had let Amir know that he would always find a friend in Kabul. In doing that Hassan showed Amir that forgiving is important and never too late. The last character to influence Amir was Baba because he shaped Amir into the man he is. In the letter that Rahim Khan left for Amir when he arrived back in Pakistan in the hospital, he reads, “When he saw you , he saw himself.”

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.

By Rahim Khan saying this, Amir now understands why Baba always tried to do good, because deep down inside he couldn’t bear to know what he’s done. He couldn’t love Hassan the way he wanted to. That’s why he built the orphanage and did so many other great things so he had something to distract him from his mistake and hopefully feel some redemption. Rahim Khan, Amir and Baba all redeem themselves through Sohrab. “I looked at the round face in the Polaroid again, the way the sun fell on it.

(192) I know that Amir is going to try to get redeemed by this because all he wants is to be good again and that is what Rahim Khan is promising. Rahim Khan tells Amir about Sohrab, Hassan’s baby, and it is Amir’s job to get him because Hassan is actually Amir’s long lost brother. By getting the baby Amir is giving Sohrab a life Hassan never had. He ends up raising him and giving Sohrab a good life rather than living in an orphanage. 2

Baba holds the secret that Hassan is his son to protect his social status in society, Amir hides Hassans rape and keeps it to himself and pretends it did not happen. Moreover, their best friends are their servants. In addition, both Amir and Baba show an act of kindness and generosity in the novel. Baba builds an orphanage, while Amir

The letter to Amir from Rahim Khan made Amir’s life better. Although it may outwardly seem that Amir was put into another series of difficult decisions and misery, the end result that Amir was desperately struggling to look for is worth it all in the end and Rahim Khan was just there to give him a little push. Rahim knows Amir very well and what he wrote was made with good intentions. Amir is a cowardly person; it’s just who he is, and that he just needed reassuring.

(Hosseini, 2003, p. 32). Thus, the turmoil Amir has with himself and his father during his childhood and up until his adulthood is due to this love-hate relation with his father. Identifying this relationship of Amir and Baba can be approached by a few psychological aspects. For instance, the acronym