The book that I’m comparing Atonement to is The Kite Runner, because the premise of both books are very similar: a protagonist makes an unforgivable decision and spends the rest of the plot trying to make it right. The Kite Runner is set in Afghanistan and follows Amir, a well-to-do child and his friend, a servant’s son named Hassan. A series of incidents test the nature of their friendship, and Amir ends up betraying Hassan, framing him for a crime he didn't commit. While he and his father escape to the United States when the Soviets overrun their nation and he tries to put his past behind him as he grows up, he is suddenly brought back to his country where he finds out that Hassan was actually his half-brother and that his loyalty to the …show more content…
Both books, however, fail in delivering a satisfactory experience. It seemed to me that both plots were attempting to create an atmosphere of empathy on the part of the audience towards the protagonist. Having grown up, they now realize how wrong their actions were and, while they can never fully atone for their sins, they end up bearing an uncomfortable burden of guilt that they can only share with the readers. The reason this fails is that neither of the protagonist’s attempts at seeking the audience’s forgiveness for their childhood misdeeds are successful, instead, they appear wimpish and frail, weakened by the supposed burden of guilt that they shoulder every day. Furthermore, the characters they wrong are never able to either appreciate the possibility of getting any satisfaction from an apologetic and more responsible adult or demanding some form of retribution (and a reasonable one at that) In both movies, only the wrongdoer survives. They also appear to be satisfied with their actions (adopting Hassan’s child and bringing him to the U.S, or writing a novel and declaring she’s suffering from a terminal disease,) while it is evident that what they did is beyond repair of any sort. Hence both stories become “look at me, I’m an example of what not to be” which does not offer any sort of closure at