Effects Of Tragic Events In The Kite Runner

Improved Essays
Many people in life go through devastating events, which causes their whole life to be affected by it. In the novel, The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, many of the characters undergo changes throughout. Amir, Baba and Sohrab all had tragic events happen to them in their lives and we see the impact it has on them.
In the book, Baba (the main character’s father) undergoes a tragic event that causes him to suffer very much. Later in the plot, we find out that Baba betrayed his best friend, Ali, had an affair his wife and she ends up having a child, Hassan. No one knew what Baba had done except for Rahim Khan, Baba’s business partner and close friend. Rahim told Amir what Baba had in a letter done and Amir realized his closest friend,
…show more content…
All throughout the novel we see Amir longing for Baba’s attention and he never seems to receive it. The only way Amir thinks that he can get Baba’s approval is sacrificing Hassan. After the kite tournament, that Amir and Hassan won, Hassan went kite running and ending up in an alleyway. There, Hassan ends up being raped by Assef (the books antagonist), Kamal and Wali. Amir witnessed this entire thing happen and didn’t do anything to stop it and at this moment, Amir’s guilt beginnings. The blue kite, that Hassan is protecting, symbolizes Hassan’s loyalty to Amir and all of Amir’s guilt but it is also the key to Baba’s acceptance. Amir says, “I put the kite down and walked into his thick hairy arms. I buried my face in the warmth of his chest and wept. Baba held me close to him, rocking me back and forth. In his arms, I forgot what I’d done. And that was good” (Hosseini; page 79). Amir lets Hassan get raped and we see how the kite symbolizes Baba’s acceptance and the pain Hassan must go through. The effect Amir has is feeling extremely guilty for what had happened. Amir says, “He knew I’d seen everything in that alley, that I’d stood there and done nothing. He knew I had betrayed him” (Hosseini; page 105). Amir is feeling guilty for what he has done and is constantly thinking about what had happened. Amir also tries to redeem himself by trying to find Hassan’s son, …show more content…
Wheezy cry. ‘I’m so dirty and full of sin.’ ‘You’re not dirty, Sohrab,’ I said. ‘Those men—’ ‘You’re not dirty at all.’ ‘—they did things…the bad man and the other two…they did things…did things to me.’ ” (Hosseini; pages 319-320). Sohrab went through so much when he was with those men and we definitely see the impact that it has on him. Sohrab is conflicted internally and we see that when he tells Amir that he doesn’t even want his parents to be alive because he feels dirty and he thinks that his father is ashamed and disappointed in him. We also see it when he actually tries to kill himself in the bathtub after Amir tells him he may have to go back to the orphanage. Sohrab says to Amir, “ ‘—wish you hadn’t…I wish you had left me in the water’ ” (Hosseini; page 355). Sohrab was afraid that it would happen again and he even wishes that Amir didn’t save. At the end of the book, we see Sohrab suffering from everything that had happened to him and the impact it gave him. In The Kite Runner, we see Baba, Amir and Sohrab all go through terrible events that led them to deal with the impact it had on them. They all dealt with it differently and not all of them were able to overcome the fear of the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Kites In The Kite Runner

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages

    To Amir, kites represent many different things as he is in different stages of his life. The story speaks to the differences in the way Amir perceives kites as he transitions into adulthood. From pride and envy, to guilt and regret, Amir alters the way he views the world, and the way he views kites, as he begins his path from betrayal to redemption. From the beginning, pride and envy play a big role in Amir’s life. Amir feels as though he is always competing for attention and approval from his father, whom he calls Baba.…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As Amir seeks redemption for his cruelty to Hassan, saving Sohrab is not enough to atone for all his past mistakes. To begin, Amir is a selfish person, especially when it comes to Hassan. The first example of Amir’s selfishness is after cutting the last kite. “For the next few minutes, I scoured the bazaar in vain. Maybe the old merchant’s eyes had betrayed him.…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    That is why Amir is so shocked to find out that Baba withheld the secret of the brotherhood between himself and Hassan. Baba betrayed his own moral principles, and in turn betrayed Amir. It could be argued that he also betrayed Hassan. He stole from Hassan the access to a childhood filled with the unconditional love of a…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Heroism In The Kite Runner

    • 1019 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In life people change over time, at one point you can be very self centered and at other times you can become a hero, throughout the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Amir demonstrates how people can change over maturity. In the novel Amir is at first portrayed as a negative and jealous person who treats his servant Hassan unfairly. Amir is very jealous how Baba behaves with Hassan, because he feels that he is getting less attention. Throughout the novel Amir comes around and becomes a contemporary hero by going back to Kabul and showing everyone he cares about that he has changes for the better throughout his maturity. In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini illustrates how Amir overcomes his past to become a contemporary hero…

    • 1019 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It is clear from the beginning of the novel that Amir and Baba don’t have the best relationship. Amir says, “I remembered all the times he didn’t come home until after dark, all the times I ate dinner alone… he was at the construction site, overlooking this, supervising that…I already hated all the kids he was building the orphanage for; sometimes I wished they'd all died along with their parents” (Hosseini 18). The lack of a good relationship between the two caused Amir to be hateful and even immoral at times. The first sign of this was when he was trying to win the kite fighting contest. Amir thought this was his chance to get to his father.…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Guilt is described to be the feeling of being ashamed and sorry for something oneyou may have done wrong. It is an emotion that everyone is familiar with. In the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini explores the idea that the past, if not confronted, will manifest itself in every aspect of life; he demonstrates this by using the path that Amir and Hassan’s relationship takes through the symbols of the pomegranate tree, books, and kites. The pomegranate tree is a recurring occurring symbol of friendship and change in The Kite Runner as the state of the tree throughout the novel represents the development of Amir and Hassan’s relationship.…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Most people, at some point in their life, will go through a specific journey in order to seek redemption for a wrong decision or mistake they made at some point in their lives. This journey can only be completed by an individual who is willing to do whatever it takes in order to find the redemption they seek. In Khaled Hosseini 's novel The Kite Runner, Amir, the main character, has to risk his life to find redemption for a decision he made during his childhood in Afganistan. Amir witnesses Hassan, his best friend, being raped by Assef. Instead of helping Hassan, Amir, thinking only about his own safety, runs away.…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    And that right there was the single greatest moment of my twelve years of life, seeing Baba on that roof, proud of me at last.’ This shows that when he finally won the prize of his father’s attention he lost his loyal best friend and half brother Hassan only a few hours later by allowing him to sacrifice himself so Amir could exchange his winning kite for his father’s acceptance. But Baba’s love went as soon as it arrived, Amir was quickly becoming an outsider again, there were only so many people Baba could brag to, the glory was short-lived. Again Amir was left out of the hilarious…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In literature, no scene of violence exists for its own sake. In the book titled The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini there are many scenes that contain violence, and these violent scenes do not exist for their own sake. The Kite Runner showcases the friendship between Hassan and Amir, and how one disloyal action can lead to years of guilt. The violent scenes in this book include war, murder, fighting, and sexual abuse. All of these scenes all contribute to the overall meaning of the book and each scene impacts the book in a different way.…

    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the novel, Amir choose to embark upon many betrayals in hopes of personal gain, such can be first seen when Amir and Hassan win the kite tournament in Kabul. Having spent many days trying to gain his father’s affections, Amir beings to feel he can finally change all that by bringing him the last kite as can be seen in the line “Behind him, sitting on piles of scrap and rubble, was the blue kite. My key to Baba’s heart.” When Amir came to find that Asseff had corned Hassan in the alley, his integrity was challenged as he was faced with a choice between what is morally right and his own self-fulfillment; in the end Amir chose to save the kite…

    • 1030 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hassan ran into some trouble with a bully and ended up being sodomized. Amir wanted to help but he was to afraid and thought Hassan’s sacrifice was necessary in order to get the kite to earn his father’s approval. He had gotten it to, but only momentarily. After Hassan and his “father” Ali had left, and Amir and Baba had gone to America, Baba would still talk of Hassan. It wasn’t until Amir had learned of Hassan's true origin that he would know he always had his father’s approval but Hassan would always have a place in his heart for being the son he could never…

    • 542 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The most important Influence in my childhood was my father”- Deforest Kelly. This quote clearly illustrates parent-child relationships and the affects it can have on a person. In the novel The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini, the theme of parent-child relationships are abundantly evident throughout the entire novel. The most evident parent-child relationship within this novel is undoubtedly, Amir and Baba’s. However, their relationship is very distant during many parts of the novel.…

    • 1617 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Impacts of misfortunate events; An analytical study of The Kite Runner Every country in the whole world has problems. Although not all problems are equal and effect the citizens in different ways. Afghanistan is one country that has had some major problems and this has caused many people to flee this country. The novel The Kite Runner shows how Baba and Amir have to flee from the disaster and come to america.…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Both situations haunt Amir at different points of his life, Baba’s hatred affects more of his childhood whereas not standing up for Hassan haunts Amir’s adulthood. One major theme in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, is searching for redemption with his relationship with Baba and Hassan.…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Amir has been willing to do anything to gain Baba’s affection. He is best friends with Hassan throughout most of his childhood, but in reality he does not accept that they truly are best friends. He looks at Hassan as just his servant and someone to hang out with when he is bored. Immediately after watching Hassan be raped by Assef, Amir starts to consider what he just did and how he could benefit from it. He realizes that “[He] actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason [he] was running, was that Assef was right: nothing was free in this world, maybe Hassan was the price [he] had to pay, the lamb [he] had to slay, to win Baba” (Hosseini 77).…

    • 1523 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays