The Kite Runner: Amir's Redemption

After reading the sad story of The Kite Runner, you really realize how lucky you are to having the privilege and being lucky to living in a safe, stable country like Canada. In this novel we see how the lives of the main character Amir and is half brother Hassan turn out to be. Despite going through many struggles one is able to get free from the difficult life in Afghanistan but one's life gets caught in the dangers of living there. But it was these difficulties and struggles that led to a change in the main character.

In this story we are introduced to Amir and Hassan, two boys who live in Afghanistan, one who is a regular boy and the other who is a Hazara and servant to Amir. But the relationship these two boys had were not normal, as they were very close but Amir was ashamed and embarrassed to have people know that a Hazara such as Hassan was his best friend. This embarrassment that Amir had is the biggest cause for him to carry such guilt throughout this story. Time after time Hassan was able to prove his loyalty and love to Amir while time after time Amir was able to disappoint, tease, and bring shame to who his father in how he was brought up to how he should treat his friend Hassan. Throughout the beginning of the story we are introduced to this friendship and as the story goes on the way Amir treats Hassan gets worse and worse. Amir starts with teasing Hassan with his illiteracy and calling him an imbecile while telling him it means to be smart. Amir also makes Hassan do everything he wouldn't want to do, and worst of all he never stood up for Hassan. Amir would just deny him as a friend when it would come to standing up for him. After each time he did something like this to Hassan he would always feel guilty but when he felt the most worst was when he watched Hassan get raped and just pretended nothing happened. It was at this moment he would forever feel guilty and ashamed of himself.

Then due to the Russians taking over parts of Afghanistan and making life difficult for the people living there. Amir and his father went through a very difficult journey in order to make their way over to America. For Amir this was great as he would be leaving his terrible past behind, so he thought. After more than 20 years Amir's shame and guilt will all come back to him. This time though, an opportunity at redemption and do something that could make up for all the wrong he has done for Hassan.

What happens is that Amir receives a call from Rahim Khan, who is a good friend of both Amir and his father. In this phone call he asks Amir to come visit him as he is sick and will die soon. When Amir arrives in Afghanistan he is reminded of his terrible past filled with regret and he learns that all along he and Hassan were actually half brothers. Another piece of news Amir receives is that Hassan and his wife got murdered and left behind a son by the name of Sohrab who was taken by the talibans. Rahim explains "There is a way to be good again, he’d said. A way to end the cycle. With a little boy. An orphan. Hassan’s son. Somewhere in Kabul." When Amir heard this he was hesitant, he wanted to help but he was afraid, but for the first time he made the right decision and went to Kabul. When he went to Kabul he went to the orphanage that was supposed to have Sohrab but he learned that the taliban took him. So off he went to meet with the taliban to go get Sohrab but what came next was something he was not expecting, when he spoke with the head of the taliban he learned that the man he was speaking with was Assef. Assef was the boy who raped Hassan and as well as bully Amir, in Amir's confrontation this time he stood his ground and took the beating from Assef instead of running away but once again was saved by a slingshot, this time by the son of Hassan. After getting away from Afghanistan Amir introduces Sohrab to kite flying, an activity Amir and Hassan enjoyed. Then when Sohrab asked Amir to go run for the kite we hear Amir say "For you, a thousand times over." this quote here is something that Hassan always told Amir despite of how bad of a friend he was. This quote shows how much Amir has changed and that he is now ready to be a good friend, not to Hassan but to Sohrab his nephew.