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David
Monges
Individual
Writing Assignment
Westchester
Community College
Prof.
Terry Haynes
March
4th, 2010
The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner
is a novel that clearly identifies the value of loyalty, devotion and the
fragile relationship between friends because of the class difference between
them. Baba was a wealthy man. He and his son Amir lived in a beautiful home in
Afghanistan, while their servants Ali and Hassan lived in humble house. Amir’s
mother died giving birth to him and Hassan’s mother ran off with traveling
singers and dancers. Ali was like family although Ali was Baba’s servant, while
Amir and Hassan had been fed from the same ***. Amir had nothing in common
with his father Baba, and therefore he was always looking for his acceptance.
In Afghanistan, there is a winter tradition to hold a kite-fighting tournament,
and Amir being twelve years old found this tournament as an opportunity to gain
his father’s acceptance by winning the challenge. Amir and Hassan prepare for
the event, not knowing this day will haunt him for the rest of his life. There
are two scenes which clearly show the theme of sin and atonement. In the first
scene Amir runs away and leaves Hassan alone to sacrifice himself for a kite.
The second scene is when Amir finally feels free from his childhood guilt for
betraying Hassan, by making things right with Sohrab, Hassan’s son. We can
clearly see in these two scenes, a person can learn from their past mistakes to
make the future better for themselves as well as others.
In chapter 7
after winning the kite tournament, Hassan and Amir embrace. Knowing that they
need the blue kite as a trophy Hassan runs off to bring it back to Amir. Amir goes looking for Hassan and finds him in
the alley guarding the kite from three boys, Wali, Kamal, and Assef. Assef had
told Hassan to give up the kite and he would let him go. Knowing how much the
kite meant to Amir, Hassan sacrificed himself and was raped by Assef as the
other boys held him down. Amir having the opportunity to stand up for Hassan,
just ran the other way. Amir confesses to himself:
I actually aspired to cowardice,
because the alternative, the real reason I was
running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan
was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba. Was it
a fair price? The answer floated to my conscious mind before I could thwart it: He was just a
Hazara, wasn’t he? (77)
Does everything
come with a price? The love between a father and son should be unconditional
and without the feeling of trying to prove oneself. Amir should not believe the
words of Assef when he say’s “Nothing in this world is free.” To Assef maybe that was a true statement.
Amir reflecting on his life with Baba, trying to win his love and attention saw
this as something potentially true.
Amir could not
live with the guilt of betraying Hassan, so he framed Hassan for the theft of
his birthday money. Hassan once again being loyal confesses to be the theft. Then,
Amir and Hassan move away to never see each other again, but Amir is constantly
haunted by how he betrayed him. To escape the Soviet regime, Baba and Amir left
Afghanistan to Pakistan before moving to the United States. Amir gets married
and Baba dies of lung cancer, and then Amir receives a phone call and travels
back to Afghanistan.
When Amir
arrives in Afghanistan he is told a family secret - Hassan is his father’s
child. Amir also finds out that Hassan has died and left behind a son, Sohrab,
who is held by the Taliban. The Taliban official that is holding Sohrab as a
sex slave is no other than the man who raped and killed his father Hassan. Amir
finds Sohrab and confronts Assef. Almost losing his life, Amir rescues Sohrab
and takes him out of Afghanistan. Amir brings Sohrab to the United States to
live with him and his wife.
Back at home
sitting in the living room Amir and Soraya’s father general Sahib, talk about
his journey back to Afghanistan. The general’s eyes kept drifting to Sohrab who
was asleep on the couch, wanting to know why Amir has brought him back with
him. Sahib is worried about his reputation and asks, “What do I tell people if
they ask why there is a Hazara boy living with my daughter? Amir replies:
You see, General Sahib, my father
slept with his servant’s wife. She bore him
a son named Hassan. Hassan is dead now. That boy sleeping on the couch is
Hassan’s son. He’s my nephew. That’s what you will tell people when they ask.”
“And one more thing, General Sahib,” I said. “You will never again refer to him as ‘Hazara
boy’ in my presence. He has a name and it’s Sohrab.” (361)
Amir reveals the
lie and confesses his father’s sin. Baba had been a thief, he not only stole
from Amir - he stole from Ali and Hassan. Hassan was Baba’s true son,
underprivileged, uninitiated, and sacred. Amir is tired of all the lies; he has
carried around the guilt from the sin’s he committed as a child. Finding out
that Hassan was his half brother, was hard for him knowing what all he had
done. Even though Sohrab is a Hazara decent, he is Amir’s nephew and he will be
treated as family. Amir has embraced the truth and can move forward feeling
free of his guilt. He does not want Sohrab to grow up like he had done in some
ways, trying to gain acceptance from the people closest to him. Amir gives
Sohrab an identity so people don’t look at him as if he were an object. The
name Sohrab comes from a Persian hero who was mortally wounded by a great
warrior Rostam, before finding out that he was his long lost son. Hassan would
cry every time Amir would read him the book and wonder, why? Maybe Amir finally
realizes that the character Sohrab reminded Hassan of Amir who longed for
Baba’s love. In a way, Hassan named his son after Amir. Amir knows he missed
the chance to make things right with Hassan, but it’s not too late to do better
with Hassan’s son Sohrab. By confessing Baba’s sin and giving Sohrab an
identity, Amir had begun to atone for his childhood sins.
Growing up in a
certain human environment can lead a person to make wrong decisions. On page
226 Amir had said, “Like father, like son […] Baba and I were more alike than
I’d ever known.” He learned his ways from his Baba, without even knowing Baba’s
sin. I believe that the cultural environment that Amir was brought up in played
a major part in his actions against Hassan. After living in the United States
and returning to Afghanistan, Amir saw things from a different perspective.
Seeing the young children dirty and hungry in Afghanistan, he realized he grew
up spoiled being the son of a rich man. Amir felt remorseful and recalled the
time he had framed Hassan for stealing. Seeing the children with hardly
anything, Amir put money under their mattress – Amir had grown up not just
physically, but mentally and spiritual after these meaningful experiences.