Baba Vs Amir

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The actions of both Baba and Amir are destructive but ultimately, the reader sees the good in Amir whereas Baba fails to atone. Thus Baba’s deeds are shown by Hosseini to be more detrimental to those around him than that of his illegitimate son. Kite runner highlights how Baba’s choices are not only damaging towards the people around him, but to Afghanistan as a whole. Baba presents himself as a “black and white” man as he lives the moral code that “there is only one sin….theft”. At the start, Baba is viewed by the community as a patriarch, however as the novel unfolds, the reader sees the many flaws in his character and the hypocrisy of his philosophy through his interactions with others. Baba’s first shameful act is that of sleeping with…show more content…
Amir believes that there is no way to atone for his sins and as such America to him is like a “river”, a place for Amir to let his sins “drown to the bottom”. However, he soon realises, the only way for him to be rid of his guilt and “be good again” is to return to Afghanistan and then later to adopt Sohrab. By seeing Hassan forgive his mother, the reader is inclined to believe that Hassan has also forgived Amir. Amir however must still go to war torn Afghanistan and rescue Sohrab before being able to forgive himself and be rid of his guilt. Additionally, he needs to take the beating he should have taken in 1975 before he is able to feel “better”. As part of his redemption to Hassan, he adopts Sohrab as his child atoning both for his and his father’s mistakes and putting Hassan’s blood back to his rightful place in the family. Alternatively, Baba never truly atones, preferring to run away from his sins then to face them. Although it is suggested, that Baba building the orphanage is a symbolic representation of his attempt to repent for his sins, he never finishes this as he leaves, allowing his orphanage to be destroyed, and Afghanistan itself destroyed. Kite runner shows the equally damaging actions of both Amir and Baba, towards their loved ones and society. However, Hosseini puts it forward that there is always a “way to be good again”, Additionally, it highlights Amir as the lesser of the two evils because of Baba’s lack of

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