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Shame In The Kite Runner

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It is fact that shame can lead to low self-esteem, diversion of blame, acts of physical and/or verbal abuse, isolation, becoming a perfectionist, being overly nice, or any combination of those just listed (http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/guilt-shame, http://www.therapists.com/fundamentals/guilt-shame). In Khaled Hosseini's fictional novel, The Kite Runner, the characters Amir, Baba and Saunabar are used to demonstrate the constructive forces of shame. Baba was generous to make up for his shame of Hassan, Amir was more than willing to do whatever it took to make up for his unatoned sins and Hassan’s mother, Saunabar, came back to him after she abandoned him as a baby.
Sanaubar’s shame and guilt for leaving Hassan when he was a child …show more content…
"I remembered beggars in the old days too - Baba always carried an extra handful of Afghani bills in his pocket just for them; I'd never seen him deny a peddler" (Hosseini 245), was a quote from Amir remembering what a humanitarian Baba was. Not only that, but the quote "The custom is to divide the meat into thirds, ... Every year, Baba gives it all to the poor. The rich are fat enough already, he says" (Hosseini 76), also establishes his benevolence. Baba bought everyone in the bar alcohol due to his pride for Amir. After that, while Amir drove him home, Baba made the remark of, "I wish Hassan had been with us today" (Hosseini 132-133), along with his pride he felt shame due to the memory of Hassan causing him to be more likely to be generous. Although Baba never told anyone of his secret son, Hassan, he managed to pass away with his mind set to ease from all the constructive and charitable actions he did along with the pride for the success of …show more content…
Amir managed to grow as a person, as demonstrated by this quote, "It did bother me a bit, but ... in the end the question that always came back to me was this: how could I, above all people, chastise someone for their past" (Hosseini 165), due to his shame, it more or less made it easier for him to not be judgemental towards others. In the passage, "Outside, I gave him an envelope. ... 'How much is in here?' Farid said slightly dazed. 'A little over two thousand dollars'" (Hosseini 312), Amir demonstrated generosity due to his shame of watching Hassan get raped by Assef. Amir went to Kabul to find Sohrab with the intention of bringing him to the Caldwells' orphanage. He went to the orphanage in Kabul, could not find him, then went on a wild goose chase that led him to Assef, a childhood bully. He found Sohrab and shortly after found out the Caldwells did not exist (Hosseini 228-308). The sheer want for redemption led him to do whatever it took to be good again; In this case is meant risking his life to save his nephew and bring him to a better place. With his shame came the constructive force of redemption, from half way through the book until the end of The Kite Runner.
In The Kite Runner all three mentioned characters felt the need to focus their shame, due to an event including Hassan, into a constructive force, such as generosity, to redeem themselves

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