The Kite Runner- Atonement

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The Kite Runner Practice Essay, Topic- Atonement Rose Ridgway Khaled Hosseini’s novel “The Kite Runner” follows the main character, Amir on a journey to redemption. Throughout Hosseini’s novel the idea that “guilt leads to good” is developed through the main characters Baba and Amir. It is evident within the novel that each of these characters suffer from severe guilt due to evil things they have done in the past. However it through the transition of guilt into goodness that Hosseini’s characters show that it is possible to atone for the previous wrong doings. Throughout the novel, Amir suffers from the physically and mentally debilitating effects of guilt caused by his past actions. Hosseini starts the novel with Amir’s indirect confession that “I became who I am today at the age of twelve, on a fridgid overcast day in the winter of 1975”. This quote refers to Amir witnessing the rape of his half brother Hassan, and the fact that despite being in the position to stop the horrific event, he did nothing but hide and pray for his own safety. Amir comes to a realization about his actions “I watched Hassan get raped … I understood the nature of my new curse: I was going to get away with it.” And it is because of this “curse” that Amir is so strongly affected by guilt through out his lifetime. It is so severe, that even the mentioning of Hassan’s name brings Amir not only mental, but physical pain as well he feels like “there is an iron fist clamped around [his] throat”. However it is evident in the later stages of the novel, that “true redemption” is possible when Amir’s “guilt leads to good.” Amir atones for his sins through the action of confronting his past and returning to Afghanistan to save Sohrab. Rhaim Khan

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