Guilt and perseverance as the motivation in The Kite Runner

The present paper explores guilt and perseverance in The Kite Runner as the motivation for an person to seek redemption and attain the satisfaction of self-fulfillment. Unfolded via the 1st individual narrative mode , the novel is structured like the memory lane of the protagonist Amir whose sense of remorse and guilt over the sin of leaving behind his ever loyal friend Hassan, for factors far as well vague , force him to commit acts of expiation through return . Amir’s return to homeland, tarnished and tattered by war, fundamentalism and the turbulence of a Taliban led regime unfolds his journey towards self-identity and redemption. Unlike Changez in The Reluctant Fundamentalist, in The Kite Runner, Amir faces no sense of identity crisis in the adopted homeland. Rather he feels himself a stranger when he returns to the changed realities of his house town, Kabul. Amir’s journey property in search of Hassan’s surviving son, Sohrab is replete with conflict, violence and violations.

In the novel, the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is a volatile plane of clash and confrontation of identities and loyalties. As Seyham describes, border carries intrinsically within itself an idea of perpetual motion and confrontation (201). The border therefore turns nearly into a real space in which the confrontations in between cultures , nationalities and languages take place , and in which , ideally the culture of hybridization replaces the conventional concept of a national identity. Amir is a cultural hybrid which tends to make him distinct and distinctive. Therefore the novel revolves around the central axiom of individual selves permeated by political prejudices and permutations.

In a lifetime, everybody will face personal battles and guilt, some large and some modest.

Such as guilt more than sneaking out, not carrying out homework, or telling your parents a little white lie. Individuals uncover peace of mind through redeeming themselves, in other words, we do one thing that tends to make up for the cause of guilt. Khaled Hosseini’s novel “The Kite Runner” revolves about betrayal and redemption. Redemption is the act of saying or getting saved from sin, error or evil, which the primary character Amir seems to require the most. Amir lives with the guilt he has constructed up more than the years since of 1 incident from his childhood. Amir’s fathers words still echo via his head “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who cannot stand up to anything”. pg. 24. Although Amir destroyed the lives of several individuals, and he has had much more than 1 opportunity to redeem himself of his guilt, he is not the selfish small boy he after was. How frequently does one particular stop and consider, “How will this impact everyone else in my life?” Amir had a possibility in the alley, to put Hassan first and alter the path of both their lives, but he produced the selection to turn about and run simply because it was what he thought was very best for him: “I had one particular last likelihood to make a selection. One particular final opportunity to choose who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan the way he’d stood up for me all those instances in the past and accept what ever would occur to me. Or I could run. In the finish, I ran. I ran since I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of obtaining hurt. That’s what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan. That’s what I produced myself believe. I really aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the genuine explanation I was running, was that Assef was correct: Nothing at all was cost-free in this globe. Possibly Hassan was the cost I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba.”

Amir’s selfish ways were a result of the lack of his father’s affection in his life. As a young boy, he was forced to deal with his father’s disinterest in him, which created him extremely jealous of Hassan. Amir could not recognize at the time, why his father adored his servant’s son much more than his personal son. As the tension increases among Amir and Hassan, Amir can no longer stand to see Hassan each day simply because of what Amir had not stopped and he could not bear seeing his father showing Hassan love and not him. Hassan and his father are forced to leave their residence after Amir locations his watch under Hassan’s pillow and accuses him of stealing it. Hassan did not even deny the accusations because he had figured out what Amir was performing. “Hassan knew. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the final time.” pg.111Even soon after the alleged theft of the watch, Amir’s father is prepared to forgive Hassan, which stunned Amir, and produced him see that the really like his father has for Hassan is greater than he imagined.

Amir did not just ruin Hassan’s life he also ruined the lives of several men and women with his decisions right after the incident in the alley. Baba lost a likelihood to watch his son, Hassan, grow up and also lost the possibility to bring him to America so he could begin a new life. Sohrab lost both his parents to war simply because they had been nevertheless living in Afghanistan, lost his childhood to war, and tried to commit suicide as a outcome of Amir going back on his guarantee to hold him secure from orphanages. Soraya lost her appropriate to the truth when Amir kept his previous a secret even though she opened up to him about hers. It is one issue to destroy your personal life with guilt, but it is a totally various issue when you destroy the lives of others.

Just before Amir can go on the road to redemption, Amir have to comprehend that he can’t go back and alter what he has accomplished as a kid, and he must locate inner peace. Although if it was not for Amir’s actions as a kid, Sohrab in no way would have required to be saved in the initial location but by saving Sohrab, the final piece of Hassan’s life, does make a distinction. From the moment he chose to turn his back on Hassan, there were many possibilities where “There’s a way to be excellent again” pg.238 for all his wrongdoings, but he chose not to take any of these. Sohrab was his final and only likelihood for redemption. “I have a wife in America, a property, a profession and a family”. But how could I pack up and go back house when my actions might have expense Hassan a chance at these very exact same things? And what Rahim Khan revealed to me changed things. Produced me see how my whole life, long ahead of the winter of 1975, dating back to when that singing Hazara woman was nevertheless nursing me, had been a cycle of lies betrayals and secrets.” pg.238

Amir admits that he price Hassan a chance at a excellent life and that he had a lot of opportunities to alter the outcome of Hassan’s life. But at this moment he realized he could drop every little thing he has built in America, but for the 1st time in his life, Amir did not care about only himself, he came to terms with what he had carried out, and he was ready to redeem himself at any cost.

Amir lastly became the man who stood up for himself and his sins. Throughout his childhood, Amir looked for his father’s affection and he never could get it. His father had stated “I’m telling you, Rahim, there is some thing missing in that boy.” pg.24 Amir’s father would have been proud of him at this really moment since that was all he had wanted from him. The guilt that was constructed over the years was lastly put to rest at the safety of Sohrab. In Afghanistan when Amir stood up for Sohrab and Assef aggressively beat him up, Amir had said “My body was broken just how badly I wouldn’t discover out till later but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed.” pg.289 which showed Amir had come to terms with what he had carried out as a child and was finally felt relieved. Despite the fact that he was receiving beat up, it did not matter anymore, he just wished he had stood up to Assef years ago, and maybe he would have earned his redemption in that alley.

In chapter seven, an unthinkable factors take place: Hassan is raped in an alley by a bully, Assef, and Amir does nothing at all to quit it. He permits Hassan to be abused and is secretly a small happy that Hassan is becoming punished for all of the consideration he has stolen (at least in Amir’s mind) from Baba, Amir’s father. He runs away from the awful scene and says, “The actual explanation I was running, was that Assef was right: Practically nothing was totally free in this globe. Maybe Hassan was the cost I had to spend, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba”.

Issues get even worse in chapter nine when Amir’s guilt, shame, and anger are so fantastic that he wants nothing much more than for Hassan to be gone. Amir tries many techniques, butnone of them perform. Finally he frames Hassan by planting a watch and some money under Hassan’s bed. Baba is ultimately forced to ask Hassan straight about the incident.

Baba came appropriate out and asked. ”Did you steal that funds? Did you steal Amir’s watch, Hassan”? Hassan’s reply was a single word, delivered in a thin, raspy voice: Yes. I flinched, like I’d been slapped. My heart sank and I virtually blurted out the truth. Then I understood: This was Hassan’s final sacrifice for me. If he’d said no, Baba would have believed him because we all knew Hassan by no means lied. And if Baba believed him, then I’d be the accused I would have to clarify and I would be revealed for what I truly was. Baba would never ever, ever forgive me. And that led to an additional understanding: Hassan knew He knew I’d observed every little thing in that alley, that I’d stood there and carried out absolutely nothing. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me as soon as once again, perhaps for the final time.

Amir wanted to get rid of Hassan, and Baba now sends Hassan away simply because of Amir’s lie. We uncover out later that Hassan is also Baba’s son, so Hassan is getting betrayed by both Amir, his brother, and Baba, his father. In spite of that, Hassan remains loyal and loving to them both.

The opening lines of the book speak of Amir’s guilt and remorse: That was a long time ago, but it is incorrect what they say about the previous, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it, since the past claws its way out. Seeking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the final twenty-six years.

Amir lives with this guilt for a lengthy time much more than two decades later, a family buddy, Rahim Khan, gives Amir a possibility for redemption. He wants Amir to come back to Afghanistan to rescue Sohrab, Hassan’s son, from an orphanage. Hassan died in yet another act of loyalty to the household. Amir finally agrees to rescue the boy who, it turns out, is in a a lot worse place than an orphanage by the time Amir finds him.

That was supposed to be the finish of his obligation: Amir would rescue his nephew, Baba’s grandson, and leave him with a good family members in Pakistan. As an alternative, Amir is moved to bring Sohrab back to the United States and raise him as his personal son. This act of rescue serves as an act of redemption, both for his own sins and his father’s against the correct and loyal Hassan.