Custom «Baba's Guilty Changes Amir's Life – Kite Runner» Essay Paper

Introduction

 Baba is a wealthy citizen in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is widely famous, working in public works and the father of Amir and Hassan. Although the citizens very respected  him, he has strained relationship with Amir.  In their childhood, Hassan loved and always stood for Amir as also Amir confesses, “I spend most of the first twelve years of my life playing with Hassan” ( chap 4, page 27). Even though,this used to happen through all these years, Amir was dishonesty, and he was disloyal to Hassan. The main aim of Kite Runner is to discuss how Baba’s guilty led to the redemption of Amir from his earlier childhood.

During the life of each person, there happens to be many personal struggles of guilty. These  may be of both small and large magnitudes. This guilty lasts, and it cannot have peace, unless there is personal redemption. This arose when Amir suspected that his father favored Hassan, since Amir probably thought Hassan was physically and mentally stronger than him, but I think most probably because he is a successful “kite runner” for Amir. Amir also feels blamed for his mother’s death, and he thought it was weak and unable to stand for him. He is always be jealous to Hassan by Baba such as buying him a lot of birthday gifts.

•  

  0

  Preparing Orders

•  

  0

  Active Writers

•  

  0%

  Positive Feedback

•  

  0

  Support Agents

 

Title of your paper

Type of service

Type of assignment

Number of pages

-

+

Academic level

Timeframes

Spacing

Currency

USD

• Total price

Continue to order

 

Therefore, Amir’s personal conflict comes from his inability.  For example, he wanted to do something to please his father despite many efforts, such as writing stories, which everybody likes except his father. According to these, it is safe to say that the more he tried to keep up with his father’s high expectations, the more his self esteem became low. In addition, Rahim Khan encourages Amir to write and comforts, so it can balance his father’s hardness. His father’s attitude changes him and reduces him to “A boy who won’t stand up for himself …cant stand up for anything.” (chap 3, page 22).

Kites are a popular activity in Kabul when schools have closed. It is one of the only interests that Amir shares with Baba. Hassan runs the kite for Amir and then shouts a farewell, “…for you, thousand times over.” (Hosseini 2008). He knew where the kite would fall after cutting the string even if he did not look at it. After Amir wins a kite fight tournament, Hassan runs to pick the trophy for his father to praise him, but delays to come back. When Amir goes looking for him, he finds him being raped by Assef and his friends. Instead of helping the fellow he runs away, and he doesn’t help Hassan. This  shameful act will later haunt him. When he is back home, he pretends to be ignorant of what had happened when Hassan comes back limping. And Amir embarks lasting journey of seeking for forgiveness from Hassan, his father as well as Amir.

The cowardice behavior he showed so haunts Amir. He says “I opened my mouth almost said something. Almost …I just watched paralyzed.” (chap 7, page 73).  It can be expected that he needs to confess or rather reconcile with Hassan. However, he schemes and frames Hassan a thief of a watch so as to force him to leave. Therefore Hassan and his father, Ali, leave, because the last one could not stand the suffering his son went through. Though they left, Amir still lives with guilt of what he did. Later, Baba and Amir flee the attack of Afghanistan by Russians and flies to California. While in America, the bad actions from his childhood are denying his peace. He periodically got flashbacks of many sins he did to Hassan, especially that in Alley when failed to fight for him against Assef.

He hid his emotions and escape from all his guilt, but it became in vain.  He says “…it’s wrong that they say about the past, I’ve learned, how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.” (chap 1, page 1).  When the woman, that he seeks to marry, tells him of her dark past life, he had another opportunity to confess of his guilt. However, he let that moment go. Amir hopes that getting married and having a family would make him forget his past. Unfortunately, Rahim Khan’s call reminds him of every dark sin in the past, but luckily enough it is the beginning of redemption.  It seems he was determined to harbor his guilt all his life as all chances leading to his atonement. Amir’s continued attempts of dealing with his sin or guilt by avoiding, so it becomes a reason for ever cringing whenever there is mention of Hassan’s name. Baba dies of cancer, but he further waning Amir’s chances of redeeming himself.

After Baba’s death, Amir receives a call from Rahin Khan who tells him that “there is a way to be good again” (chap 14, page 192) and tells him to go to Pakistan. The caller tells him this as an encouragement to rescue Hassan’s son Sohrab from Afghanistan,so he can finally redeem himself. Rahim Khan acts as an unofficial counselor who has the concept of redemption. He asks Amir to forgive him for having kept Baba’s secret until he died. He advises Amir, “…God will forgive. He will forgive your father, me, and you too…forgive your father if you can. But most important, forgive yourself.” (chap 23, page 302). 

Rahim Khan gives the novel’s main message: we all need to come to terms with own sins, to atone for them, and hence we do not have to wait for a higher power to convict us of them. Despite the taken advice, Amir is still a captive of guilt and much fear, so he asks God not to live Sohrab’s blood on his hands. But he doesn’t pray for his recovery without selfishly wanting to remain clean. Finally, personage’s redemption influences him when he manages to forgive himself.

 Acceptance to Rahim Khan’s call would give him the freedom that he really need. Amir knows that Ali had been killed by a land mine while Hassan got married and had a son named Sohrab before Hassan and his wife were murdered by the Taliban. He also learns that Hassan was his half brother from Khan. Baba had not revealed to Amir about his half brother when he was young. I think if he had, Amir would not have become jealous of his brother. In fact, until this revelation of his father’s secret, Amir thinks of himself to be the only sinner. Therefore, he realizes his father also needed redemption. I believe this is the main reason why Baba was so hard on him to cover up the guilt of the sins he committed. Now he feels that his life has been full of betrayals, even preceded his betraying Hassan. Rahin wanted Amir to go Kabul so as to rescue Sohrab from an orphanage, so Amir can reduce the sense of  guilt.

Just as Hassan really needed Amir’s help, which he denied him, Sohrab’s situation is giving Amir a second chance. In this situation, Amir can cleanse himself of his betrayal to Hassan and Ali by rescuing the boy. Although this action alone will not be the final step of redemption, but he will be required to take Sohrab to the United States. This can make most significant steps to atone and redeem hero. He has to atone for the sins which he and his father did, and he committed: to erase the discrimination lines, which had been part of his life, by giving Sohrab an equal opportunity to success and prosperity life.

At the orphanage, Amir meets a man in sunglasses who is eventually revealed to be Assef. The last one could have been sexually assaulting Sohrab for the boy confessed “I am so dirty and full of sin…did things to me.” (Hosseini 2008). Amir was cruelly beaten for Sohrab to be relinquished, and he accepted it. Fortunately, he and Sohrab was saved, when Sohrab shot into Assef’s left eye. Now the failure of main personage to rescue Hassan from being raped by the offender is running his kite. This acts also is a greater force to run away from his own cowardice. This is fulfillment of Hassan calling him, “One Eyed Assef” (Hosseini 2008). Amir promises to take Sohrab to America, adopt him and never to allow him be sent to an orphanage. This is an important step in Amir’s redemption.

However, the “hero” almost forgot to keep his promise. This led to Sohrab’s attempt to commit a suicide which forced Amir to take him back to the United States. The fellow was so emotionally disturbed that he could not speak or even set his eyes on Soraya. Amir shows Sohrab some of the tricks of kite flying used by Hassan, which increased the interaction forcing Sohrab to yield and gave a smile. The analyzed character ran the kite for Sohraba as he shouted, ”for you, a thousand times over.“ (chap 23, page 305).  It is kite running – Hassan’s best game, which also portrayed guilty hero as a coward that makes him feel redeemed.

In the book Kite Runner, Baba is a rich man who lives with his son Amir a servant named Ali and his perceived son, Hassan. Amir is a good kite cutter, but Hassan is his kite runner so that he wins a final tournament. The indicated personage feels unloved and unappreciated by his father, and always favors Hassan because he can stand for himself for he is physically and mentally strong. After the tournament, Amir run away when he finds out that eternal rival is being raped by Assef. This gives rise to guilt in mind that haunts him for many years until he developed a great need for redemption which he had to pay for through pain, but eventually got it. He learnt the importance of love, redemption and forgiveness.