...Kite Runner: Redemption Amir’s Atonement When you do wrong, you are plagued with guilt. Guilt can be sinful; it stains your conscience and ruins your morals. Although these actions are wrongful, they can be atoned to through sacrifice or purification. People find piece of mind in doing something that makes up for the cause of guilt and this is especially eminent in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner. Although there are many ways to advocate to wrongful doing, through the main character Amir’s actions sacrifice was proven to be the most liberating act. Throughout the book, the main character, Amir, seeks redemption for his “…past of unatoned sins” (Hosseini, p. 1). These feelings of guilt arise at the beginning of his life, when his mother, Baba’s love, dies giving birth to him. From that point on, Amir strives to redeem himself because he feels he is responsible for her death: “Because truth of it was, I always felt like Baba hated me a little. And why not? After all, I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn’t I?” (p.20). It is this guilt that Amir carries throughout most of his childhood and for which he tries to atone to with Baba’s love and affection: “Maybe he’d call me Amir Jan like Rahim Khan did. And maybe, just maybe, I would finally be pardoned for killing my mother” (p. 60). Amir competes against Hassan for the approval...
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...Being a hero is not something everyone can be. One has to make sacrifices for the better of others. If one is not willing to make sacrifices, they are not strong enough to be a hero. Specific heroes are hard to find. Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner”, revolves around characters portraying heroism. Although the story revolves around many characters showcasing the theme of heroism, the character that has been the hero throughout the story is Hassan. This is proved by the sacrifices Hassan made for Amir, Hassan accepting his mother back into his life and Hassan protecting Baba’s house after he left to America. Firstly, Hassan is the true hero of the story because he was constantly there for Amir. Hassan was loyal and was willing to do anything for Amir: “For you a thousand times over!” (Hosseini, 71). This quote specifically portrays that Hassan was willing to do anything for Amir, as he said he will do anything a thousand times over for him. This is a powerful quote because this exemplifies Hassan being heroic through his loyalty for Amir. Hassan also was willing to do anything for Amir without expecting anything back from. Hassan also proved his heroism when he stood up for Amir against Assef: “If you make a move, they’ll have to change your nickname from ‘Assef the Ear Eater’ to ‘One Eyed Assef’, because I have this rock pointed at your left eye” (Hosseini, 45). This quote portrays Hassan’s heroism because Hassan stood up against Assef. Amir was being threatened...
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...The Book Report---- A Thousand Splendid Suns The story follows the lives of two Afghan women, Mariam and Laila, who become caught up in the repression and misogyny of conservative Islamic culture. Events span the decades from the rule of Afghan kings, the Soviet invasion, the civil war of the Mujahideen warlords, the takeover of the Taliban and the eventual liberation by Allied forces. It gives compelling details about the tragic struggles and sacrifices of the two principal characters as they try to survive through anarchy and extremism in what would become a brutalizing culture. I have read the writer, Khaled Hosseini’s last book, The Kite Runner before. I'll try steer away from comparing the two books here. They're both very good reads and worth your time. But I will say that I consider A Thousand Splendid Suns to be the better of the two. The author's narrative style is stronger and less predictable and he stretches himself, very effectively, to look at the events of the last 35 years in Afghanistan from a woman's point of view. Hosseini does an excellent job of referencing the global and regional political issues in the story without making them a main plot point. The large events are a backdrop, a scene setting device that serves as a canvass for the personal tribulations the main characters endure. In doing this, he avoids being overtly preachy and opinionated. The result is a narrative that keeps its focus on the subjects of the story, while exposing the reader...
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...redeem himself though Sohrab, but it is not though saving Sohrab that will entirely redeem himself. Amir takes the final leap towards his reconciliation with the facing of Assef in Kabul, from whom Hassan had always shielded him from. As Assef is beating him, Amir is laughing as it gave him a sense of relief and freedom. Amir finally relieves his past cowardice and feels healed as he saves a life, in doing this he finally repays Hassan for his life of sacrifice. Through these events Hosseini reveals his views and values of irony as Sohrab pulls out a slingshot and shoots Assef in the eye portraying Hassan as a little boy, and the adoption of Sohrab by Amir and Soraya as they are unable to have a baby themselves. In conclusion Khaled Hosseini’s novel ‘The kite Runner’ is a complete story of redemption as Amir completes his journey by saving Sohrab, standing up to Assef and admitting everything including the truth about Sohrab. Amir preforms a good deed and an admission of guilt as he makes up for Hassan’s sacrifice through sacrifices of his own and for the “first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at...
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...Nothing Gold Can Stay Guilt. Cancerous almost, spreading through your body, manipulating your thoughts, working as a deterrent against any type of long term vivacity. As seen in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner one of the main themes is seeking redemption. Hosseini uses the motif of selflessness to show that in order to seek redemption and earn it, you must have the self-motivation deeper than other people pushing you (illustrated by Rahim Khan motivating Amir with his phone call). For most of the book, Amir has little self-confidence to achieve redeeming himself. It was an incredibly afflictive situation for Amir or any person to go through. Selflessness does not have a determined end or beginning; it happens when you’ve given your best...
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...Research Paper on “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini Introduction: The international best-selling novel, The Kite Runner was first published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, written by the Afghan-born American novelist and physician, Khaled Hosseini. He was born into a Shia family in Kabul, and later on in his life when the family moved to Paris because of his father’s occupation, Hosseini’s family was unable to return to Kabul due to the bloody Saur Revolution; hence they had to seek political asylum in the United States. Being as young as he was, roughly 11 years of age, the actions of his home country must have left an impression on him. It is such a great read because among many other themes such as betrayal, redemption, bullying, inhumanities of revolution, discrimination, loyalty, hypocrisy, horrors of rapes etc. the main focus of this story is of a man who is haunted by his past demons. We see in some of the opening lines of the novel, “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975… That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out.” These opening lines gets the ball rolling on what is to come and to be expected from the story, of possibly an aged man who is looking back at the past and justifying how it has made him the way that he is to date. The setting vividly takes place in the disorderly country of Kabul, Afghanistan...
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...e Runner begins with our thus-far nameless protagonist explaining that the past cannot be forgotten. A single moment in time defined him and has been affecting him for the last twenty-six years. This moment was in 1975 when he was twelve years old and hid near a crumbling alleyway in his hometown of Kabul, Afghanistan. When the protagonist's friend, Rahim Khan, calls him out of the blue, he knows that his past sins are coming back to haunt him even in the new life he has built in San Francisco. He remembers Hassan, whom he calls "the harelipped kite runner," saying "For you, a thousand times over." Rahim's words also echo in his head, "There is a way to be good again." These two phrases will become focal points for the rest of the novel and our protagonist's story. Chapter Two The protagonist remembers sitting in trees with Hassan when they were boys and annoying the neighbors. Any mischief they perpetrated was the protagonist's idea, but even when Hassan's father, Ali, scolded Hassan, he never told on the protagonist. Hassan's father was a servant to the protagonist's father, Baba and lived in a small servant's house on his property. Baba's house was widely considered the most beautiful one in Kabul. There Baba held large dinner parties and entertained friends, including Rahim Khan, in his smoking room. Though the protagonist was often surrounded by adults, he never knew his mother because she died in childbirth. Hassan never knew his mother, either, because she eloped with...
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...THE KITE RUNNER by KHALED HOSSEINI Published 2003 Afghan Mellat Online Library www.afghan-‐mellat.org.uk _December 2001_ I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-‐six years. One day last summer, my friend Rahim Khan called from Pakistan. He asked me to come see him. Standing in the kitchen with the receiver to my ear, I knew it wasn't just Rahim Khan on...
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