The Kite Runner: The Theme Of Guilt

Have you been guilty for someone which you did a bad thing, but afraid to tell him/her? I believe everyone does. The main character from the book The Kite Runner Amir is truly indeed able to “be good again” and achieve redemption and atonement in the novel after he knows the truth about his half-brother Hassan.

From another perspective, Amir has not achieved self-salvation and made life better. Amir took Hassan’s son back to his home in the United States and only explained to the general that Hassan was his brother and he did all this only for his father. Also, have an extra child is adds to the burden on the family’s economy, which does not make them have a better quality of life. Instead, watching Hasan’s son slowly grew more and more like Hassan is long-term torture. It’s reminding Amir’s cowardice and ruthlessness from time to time like a stomachache. Sin began with a kite race. Although Hassan helped Amir win the championship and helped Amir go to pick the winning kite. Hassan was bullied by Assef on the way to pick the kite. However, Amir chose to turn a blind eye because of his timidity and contempt that Hassan was just a servant. The seed of guilt was deeply buried in Amir’s heart. After that, Amir did not speak to Hassan for a long time because he didn’t know how to face him. Later, Amir even deliberately threw Hassan with pomegranate because he wanted Hassan to learn to resist and learn to have his dignity. But Hassan knew that the social class was insurmountable and he could only be a faithful slave. As the seeds of guilt slowly germinated, Amir couldn’t stand it anymore and he decided that the bad guys would do it to the end and kick Hassan out of the house because he couldn’t do anything for Hassan. As a reader, in my opinion, Assef’s bullying of Hassan is a shadow that cannot be erased for a lifetime. The same goes for Amir as a bystander. However, after Amir and Baba were fleeing to the United States, Amir assimilates far more easily, describing America as “ America was a river roaring along, unmindful of the past. (Chapter 11)” Admire views this American life as an opportunity to start over and free himself from his sins against Hassan in Afghanistan. As soon as Amir has a peaceful life, he does not even think about atonement. We can prove that in (Charpeter18), “I can’t go to Kabul, I had said to Rahim Khan. I have a wife in America, a home, a career, and a family. But how could I pack up and go back home when my actions may cost Hassan a chance at those very same things? I wished Rahim Khan hadn’t called me. I wished he had let me live on in my oblivion. ” These are all Amir’s excuses, the “oblivion” for Amir is never happens, he has been lived in the pain for Hassan all the time or he would not thinking too much about Khan’s call. Because he knew that once things happened, they couldn’t be changed and time cannot go backward. He now has a life that looks perfect. He thought that maybe Hassan also has a happy family. He should not be in Hassan’s life again to remind him of those unfortunate things that happened before. Another evidence from (Chapter 18) that Khan said, “There is a way to be good again.” The word ‘again’ indicates that Amir was indeed good at one time and to be restored to that state of grace, the implication is that Amir must do something to atone for his sins. And rescuing Sohrab is only the beginning, not the end, of what he must do. From the perspective of Baba’s son, Amir later decided to save Hassan’s son out of filial piety because Amir thought his father was upright all his life, this was the last thing he could do for his father. After all, it was because Baba publicly did not recognize Hassan that he had a later story.

However, Amir was going to achieve redemption for himself. When Amir saw Hassan’s son Sohrab and decided to negotiate with Assef to take him away. Assef certainly disagreed and hit Amir. This time Amir did not escape, he bravely stayed to face the common enemy and determined to take Sohrab away. The evidence from the book is “What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden nook in a corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this…my body was broken–just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later–but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed. (Chapter 22)” Amir used “healed” mean mentally because he fights back with his brave, fearless and he can be a man like Baba. Also, it an act of late revenge for Hassan as a friend as family. Amir got a very severe physical injury at this time. As humans must be irritated with tears by body pain. But Amir can still laugh. It can be seen that the big rock in his heart was put down. He successfully let go of his anger at Arthur and let go of his inner torture for years.

Amir successfully brought Sohrab home for atonement to Hassan about what he did before and he decided to take on the responsibility of a family to give the child care and love until he grew up. Amir was willing to come to his son to atone for sin as Hasan did to himself. When Amir and Sohrab were flying a kite together, Amir took the initiative to pick up the dropped kite for Sohrab and said, “For you, a thousand times over, I heard myself say.” Atonement cannot be accomplished overnight, and it will take a lifetime. However, I believe that Amir and his wife can slowly heal the scars on this child’s heart with love and get real salvation because of the soft word from Amir, “It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn’t make everything all right. It didn’t make ANYTHING all right. Only a smile. A tiny thing. A leaf in the woods, shaking in the wake of a startled bird’s flight. But I’ll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting.” This passage used metaphor, the unusually quiet Sohrab’s heart was as cold as winter because he never felt love. The author here uses snow rather than ice to be more appropriate for the simplicity and weakness that a child would have. Amir compares himself to spring because spring has strong energy for lives to grow and he believes that he can take up the responsibility of taking care of a child. Despite it may be the thousand years of snow, it will turn into a clear and lively stream after spring again and again.