Baba was a typical father that expected his son to be into athletic things such as soccer and such, and when Amir tried things of that nature, he felt bad because he was not as good as Baba had hoped. But one thing that interested both Amir and Baba was the Kite tournament. It was Amir’s dream to win the tournament so that Baba could be proud of something that he did. Later on throughout the story, Amir won that tournament and in order to show Baba the winning kite, the price he had to pay was to watch his friend Hassan get raped. In Chapter 7 Amir states, “I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world.
At this time, Assef the local bully approached Hassan to get the kite. As a Hazara, Hassan would have been expected to hand the kite over to the Pashtun Asssef. However in his loyalty to Amir he disobeys Assef’s command, the result is that Assef proceeds to violate him to punish him. The incident in the alleyway was watched by Amir without
Amir’s first experience of violence is when Amir wins the Kite fighting Tournament, and Hassan, runs off in pursuit of Amir’s trophy. Hassan is gone long enough to alarm Amir, who begins to search for him and once he finds him, he sees Assef, a bully, raping him. Amir at first is scared of Assef but later convinces himself by says, “Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay to win Baba (Amir’s Father) Was it a fair price?” (Hosseini 82). As Amir never helps Hassan, this shows that Amir will do anything to get Baba’s love and intention.
He tried to set Amir straight for socializing with Hassan, who is Amir's 'brother' and his best friend. Hassan rescues Amir and intimidates Assef to shoot with his slingshot. Later on in the novel, Assef seeks revenge for Hassan's brave and daring move. This starts a long chain of violent events. A side-way of violence is revenge, a theme that also has an effect on how the story progresses.
They battle and Amir wins, sending the blue kite flying loose. Amir and Hassan cheer and hug, but Amir sees Baba motioning for them to separate. Hassan vows to bring the kite back for Amir and sets off. Amir reels in his kite and accepts everyone’s congratulations, then goes looking for Hassan, asking neighbors if they saw him. One old merchant asks Amir what he is doing looking for a Hazara.
The most substantial part of Amir’s search for redemption stems from his guilt regarding Hassan. One of the most iconic and memorable events in the novel is the kite fighting tournament which leads to Hassan being raped by Assef, forcing Amir to make a decision that ultimately results in Ali and Hassan leaving the house as he couldn’t live with them anymore. Amir sacrifices Hassan after the tournament to get the blue kite so that he can please his father and finally get some recognition in his house. However, just to get some form of acceptance from his father, he ends up destroying the only true relationship he had with anybody. Hassan was loyal to Amir until the very end and even took the blame for the watch incident and quietly left the house.
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.
In one situation, a bully named Assef is about to violently attack Amir for socializing with a Shi'a, but Hassan stands up for Amir and threatens to shoot Assef in the eye with his slingshot. Betrayal is one of major themes in this story. One day, Amir and Hassan win a kite tournament and as Hassan goes to run the last cut kite, Assef confronts him and says that he must give him the kite. Knowing how important this kite is to Amir in order to make his father proud, Hassan refuses to give the kite up. Amir goes in search of Hassan and as he hears Assef voice, hides.
Hosseini uses repetition throughout the novel The Kite Runner for emphasis. One of the most important repeating themes was sacrifice. It is evident that Hassan made many sacrifices in Amirs favor. “But before you make a sacrifice for him, think about this, would he do the same for you?” This happened when Hassan would not hand over the blue kite to Assef if not he would be punished. Hassan was raped by
The silent animosity between father and son ends when Amir joins and wins a kite-flying contest and ties his own father’s record in the number of kites he cut down. Later, the relationship between the two strengthens as they flee from war-torn Afghanistan and in the process Baba shows Amir how he stood up even to the point of risking even his own life in order to save an unknown woman from a Russian soldier’s vile intentions. As immigrants in the United States Baba once again shows Amir how he can make personal sacrifices for his son’s sake. Forced to live in a foreign country, Baba dies broken hearted but fully resigned to what Amir had made of himself – a writer happily married to a wonderful