Was honor and certainty shown in The Kite Runner? Source: “Discuss the ideas developed by the text creator about the ways in which individuals struggle to restore honor and certainty.” In the book “The Kite Runner “by Khaled Hosseini, the major theme in this book way the way in which individuals struggle to restore honor and certainty. It is evident in the story with Amir and his journey for redemptions for the sins of his past mistakes. Amir dishonored himself by not helping out his half-brother in his time of need. Amir is the character that is extremely similar to his father Buba, because they both have committed sins in their past.
This clearly shows an example of how destructive shame can be on someone’s life. Some people can overcome shame and redeem them selves but to other people it can destroy their whole life. Another character form the book that experiences the tragedy of shame is Baba. Thru out the book it is revealed to us that Hassan is also Baba’s son. Baba feels ashamed of being Hassan’s father because he kept it a secret to everyone for all this time.
Amir would rather his father love him and be proud of him for one day than help his best friend from getting raped. Amir was selfish and unappreciative. After Hassan got raped, the relationship between him and Amir changed for the worst. Amir did another terrible thing by framming Hassan. This was the last time Amir saw Hassan because after Hassan and his father left, Amir and Baba moved to America.
“The Kite Runner is constructed by Hosseini to present Amir as a weak character who needs to redeem himself.” It is true to say that the intent Hosseini; the author of the novel “The Kite Runner” presents to us is a story of a young boy who grew to be a man haunted by his weak character and need for forgiveness. Amir’s actions of not defending Hassan, when after the kite tournament he went looking for him and saw that he had been confronted and raped by Assef and his two friends in an alley, would torment him all his life. His guilt further intensifies knowing that Hassan would even die for him. Unable to face what he had done, in an attempt to rid of Hassan, Amir for the second time betrays and frames Hassan of theft. This guilt Amir took with him even when he and his father
The violence that the main character, Amir, experiences leads to him feeling guilty for rest of his life, which breaks up the relationships that he once had in his previous years. Amir’s guilt turns brother against brother and friend against friend. In the novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled uses the character, Amir, to demonstrate how violence leads to betrayal, which creates guilt within oneself, and ultimate destroying relationships. The impact of violence on Amir leads him to betray Hassan, his only friend, brother and servant by running away from helping Hassan. Amir’s first experience of violence is when Amir wins the Kite fighting Tournament, and Hassan, runs off in pursuit of Amir’s trophy.
Because Amir betrayed an innocent Hassan in his youth, he must save Sohrab to redeem himself. By ending the exploitation of Sohrab, the “lamb”, Amir attains redemption for his sin. As child, Amir betrayed his Hassan and Baba’s trust, out of fear, cowardice, and selfishness, which lead to those event haunting him into his adulthood. By retrieving the kite for Baba and rescuing Sohrab from his life in Afghanistan Amir redeems himself from his childhood decisions. Redemption is a key theme in the novel.
Formal Writing- Kite Runner “There is way to be good again.” This remark of Rahim Khan suggested to Amir that he could make up for his past mistakes. This realistic novel highlights the tension between two ethnic groups the Pashtun and the Hazara living together in 1970’s Afghanistan. This is shown in the story through the two main characters and their childhood friendship as Pashtun and Hazara boys. A significant event in Kite Runner is the Assef’s violation of Hassan after the kite flying tournament. When Amir decided to run away from Assef’s attack on Hassan, it meant that he chose to protect himself rather than help his friend.
Early on, Amir strives to redeem himself in Baba’s eyes, primarily because his mother died giving birth to him, and he feels responsible. To redeem himself to Baba, Amir thinks he must win the kite-tournament and bring Baba the losing kite, both of which are inciting incidents that set the rest of the novel in motion. The more substantial part of Amir’s search for redemption, however, stems from his guilt regarding Hassan. That guilt drives the climactic events of the story, including Amir’s journey to Kabul to find Sohrab and his confrontation with Assef. The moral standard Amir must meet to earn his redemption is set early in the book, when Baba says that a boy who doesn’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.
Amir was in the corner of the alley, not having enough courage to stand up for his friend that is soon brutally abused. From then on, he lived with his guilt for many years. His shame is complicated by his own realization that he partly doesn’t help his friend, precisely because he is jealous of him, as well as being a coward. Soon his own shame drives him nearly crazy and in desire to end his pain, he sets Hassan and his father up for a shame so great they have to leave the home, which will seemingly free Amir of his
In the beginning of the story, Brother recounts the day Doodle was born, saying that he was a disappointment as soon as he entered the world. The narrator was not satisfied with his brother, which resulted in the horrible things he thought about him. Brother said that “It was bad enough having an invalid brother, but having one who possibly was not all there was unbearable…” As a result, the narrator enjoyed torturing Doodle, threatening to abandon him multiple times. He even took Doodle to see the casket that was built for him, and forced him to touch it. The narrator basked in the control he had over his brother.