StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free
Premium+

A Redemption Journey in the Kite Runner - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
This is "A Redemption Journey in the Kite Runner" essay. Khaled Hosseini is a literary master that uses his takes to expound on several major themes. …
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.9% of users find it useful

Extract of sample "A Redemption Journey in the Kite Runner"

Analysing a Redemption Journey in The Kite Runner

Khaled Hosseini is a literary master that uses his takes to expound on several major themes. One possible theme worth analyzing is a redemption Journey in The Kite Runner. The theme of redemption is among the most significant of these themes, and various individuals try to make amends following their wrongdoings in the past. In the tale above, we see Amir, who acts as the main protagonist in the narrative share a story about his childhood. In his story, however, it becomes clear that the experiences he encountered as a child are bound to shape the novel's plot. Amir is on a quest to find redemption after he betrayed Hassan, who was once his best friend during this childhood. As an Afghani-American, he feels his cowardice led him to commit the gravest sin and betrayal in Afghani culture during the rape. To gain atonement, Amir will need to set out for a long, dangerous, and tedious journey back to his homeland. The journey will have him return to an Afghanistan that's still war-torn and ravished by violence.

During their childhood, Amir and Hassan had remained inseparable friends. The two would play all day long, and they frequently climbed the poplar trees that dotted the driveway to Baba's homestead. From the treetops, they would proceed to annoy their neighbors for good fun by reflecting light onto their houses using shards of broken mirrors. Despite coming from separate social backgrounds and ethnicities, the two friends were able to remain close despite the different circumstances that they faced. While Hassan belonged was considered to be of a lower class by being a Hazara, Amir, on his part, belonged to a higher class, by part of the Pashtun class and religious sect. Despite these differences, their friendship held strong, and both children were not bothered by the different social classes, or that his friend was a servant in Amirs household. Their friendship would, however, be shattered after Assef, another boy from the Pashtun social class, found and chased Hassan trying to steal Amirs stylish kite. Still, Hassan remains steadfast and refuses to surrender the kite. In his anger, Assef compares Hassan to a pet by calling him a loyal Hazara. Worse still, Assef proceeds to lunge himself at Hassan and proceeds to rape him as the ultimate effort of showing his authority over Hassan. Amir gets a view of the whole confrontation and the subsequent rape, but Amir is out of sight from both boys. In his cowardice, too, he remains hidden and doesn't raise the alarm in defense of his friend. Following the incident, Hassan walks towards his best friend, all the while weak and about to collapse. However, Amir proceeds to pretend that nothing out of the ordinary has happened.

His betrayal, however, beings to lead to various issues that affect the relationship with Hassan. As from an extract of the story below, Amir is filled with guilt for allowing the rape to happen. In the story, Amir is frequently consumed by his thoughts:

"Just like I pretended, I hadn't seen the dark stain in the seat of his pants. Or those tiny drops that fell from between his legs and stained the snow black" (Pg. 78).

In his guilt, Amir tries to get rid of some of his internal guilt and resulting pain by offering Hassan the chance to resort to physical violence against him.

". . . hurled the pomegranate at him. It struck him on the chest, exploded in a spray of the red pulp. Hassan cried with surprise and pain. "Hit me back!" Amir snapped" (Pg. 92).

However, Hassan refuses to be part of the violence or to harm his friend, and this causes Amir to be even angrier. Furthermore, every action Amir decides to take following the incident in a bid to reduce the guilt ends up only making him more miserable. Ultimately, Amir decides that the only way for him to be done with the guilt is by getting rid of Hassan. To fulfill this objective, he broaches the idea of getting new servants with Baba (his father). However, Baba is quick to rebuke him, and immediately rejects the notion of getting rid of Hassan's family, his father. Amir even reprimands his son for thinking such preposterous thoughts. Not content with his father's response, Amir takes matters into his own hands, for he is resolute in his quest to get rid of Hassan. Accordingly, he accuses Hassan of theft after secretly placing his watch plus some cash under his bed. On reporting the incident to Baba, Hassan is confronted about the stolen items. Having never denied Amir anything before, Hassan accepts accusations raised by Amir, despite theft being the gravest sin in Afghani culture. By accepting the blame, Hassan and his father have no alternative but to move out and find other living quarters. It is ironic, however, for Hassan had not stolen anything. In contrast, Amir, with his actions, had taken away the little innocence Hassan still had left after being raped by falsely accusing him of theft.

Despite the many faults witnessed in the main protagonists and a few other characters in the story, atonement is still achieved towards the end of the tale. Following the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, Amir and Baba flee to America, where they settle in the state of California among other refugee families from Afghanistan. In America, Amir assimilates much better and successfully as compared to Baba as he attends university, and soon after gets married and starts a family. The eventual passing of Baba sees Amirs last link with his old life seemingly cut. However, his past soon catches up with him when towards the end of summer, his friend, Rahim Khan, calls him from Pakistan. Rahim proceeds to ask Amir to plan to travel to see him, and knowing this is more than a casual request; Amir proceeds to make travel arrangements knowing that the time to atone for his pending sins was fast approaching.

On arrival to Pakistan, Amir learns that his boyhood friend, Amir, has been slain, together with his wife. Moreover, their only son, Sohrab, has been subsequently kidnapped. According to Rahim Khan, getting the son of Hassan back could be a way for Amir to atone for his sins and to gain atonement. On learning of the whereabouts of Sohrab, he quickly sets off to rescue him. Standing in the way of his plans of retrieving his nephew, however, is Assef, his childhood foe who refuses to give up the child into Amirs care without a fight. In the ensuing bout, Assef almost beats Amir to the death, but Sohrab comes to his rescue, just as his father did previously and saves Amir from certain death by shooting Assef directly in the eye using a slingshot. Accordingly, the narrative seems to come full circle with respect to the protagonist's character arc, and his quest for revitalization. While their life is nowhere close to perfect after that, he returns to the United States with the boy Hassan bore. Once settled, Amir further offers to be the kite runner for Sohrab, and this shines a glimmer of hope on him.

In the end, redemption is finally achieved, but this comes at a significant cost, and after multiple hard-fought battles, both physically, mentally, and emotionally. While Amir struggles to find his peace and makes a few wrong turns in the way, he can gain back some of his innocence from his childhood days playing with Sohrab and coming to his aid.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(A Redemption Journey in the Kite Runner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words, n.d.)
A Redemption Journey in the Kite Runner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words. https://studentshare.org/literature/2089379-a-journey-for-redemption-in-the-kite-runner-premium-essay
(A Redemption Journey in the Kite Runner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words)
A Redemption Journey in the Kite Runner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words. https://studentshare.org/literature/2089379-a-journey-for-redemption-in-the-kite-runner-premium-essay.
“A Redemption Journey in the Kite Runner Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words”. https://studentshare.org/literature/2089379-a-journey-for-redemption-in-the-kite-runner-premium-essay.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF A Redemption Journey in the Kite Runner

Married to Society: The Kite Runner

In the essay “Married to Society: the kite runner” the author looks at the novel “the kite runner”.... And Amir, who fled away to escape the heavy challenges, but in the end seeks redemption and make way to be good again.... The cruelty and discrimination of those in the lower status like the Hazaras are an after-effect of the “marriage' that Afghanistan bonded through the structure of society it has....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

World Literature

It is all about running away from the past, fighting the kite runner begins with the protagonist, Amir, telling us that the past cannot be forgotten.... He is once again reminded of Hassan and "Those thorny old barbs of guilt bore into me once more, as if speaking his name had broken a spell, set them free to torment me anew" (the kite runner).... “ This and Rahims words "There is a way to be good again" (the kite runner) become focal points for the rest of the book....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Conditions for the Redemption of Shares

The paper "Conditions for the redemption of Shares" presents that sections 684 to 689 of the Companies Act 2006 deal with various issues relating to the redemption of shares including the premium payable on such redemptions.... Accordingly, the process of redemption to be followed by Mirza Plc will depend upon the terms either provided in its Articles of association or settled by the resolution of the board only when articles expressly empower directors to do so....
6 Pages (1500 words) Case Study

Anthropology (movie)

Marc Forster's “the kite runner” (2007) was adapted from Khaled Hosseini's novel of the same name and the focus of this paper is to critically consider how the visual presentation of culture as articulated by Ebert's review of the film the novel's depiction of… Ebert's review of the film adaptation (2009) suggests that Marc Forster provides an insight into the turbulent life of an Afghani immigrant in citing the central protagonist Amir and Hassan's journey from Afghanistan to America....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

What is the Significance of the events of Chapter 7 to the Novel as a Whole

Nevertheless, the overall beauty of the Kite Runner is the ability to use the correlation between pain, guilt, and redemption to force the reader to reflect on their own experiences notwithstanding the cultural and religious differences of the central characters in the kite runner.... In conclusion, it is submitted that "the kite runner" clearly provides a microcosm for Afghani socio-cultural norms.... This essay describes the “kite runner” (2003) by Khaled Hosseini, that provides an insight into the turbulent life of an Afghani immigrant citing the central protagonist Amir and Hassan's journey from Afghanistan to America....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

The Kite Runner

?the kite runner.... ? Without a doubt, Afghanistan is culture is dominated by Instructions: Answer the following questions in an essay one page about kite runner book What did you learn about Afghanistan's culture, history, and contemporary issues?... What were some of your ideas about Afghanistan before you read the book?...
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Religion and Fanaticism in The Kite Runner by Khaled

One of the aspects is adherence to love, forgiveness, redemption, and sacrifice to achieve or show honor for the first three mentioned aspects.... These circumstances lead to the emergence of yet another theme associated with the Islamic faith, redemption.... Amir, in addition to his cowardice, has not tried to seek redemption....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Kite Runner - How the Scene Sets the Stage for the Novel

?the kite runner.... Hassan proves a kite runner to Amir (Hosseini, 34). Amir's masculinity kite runner Question How the scene sets the stage for the novel The scene sets the stage for the novel as it presents the audience with two character traits with different backgrounds.... Hassan proves a kite runner to Amir (Hosseini, 34)....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us