Struggles In The Kite Runner

In Literature many characters face struggles with their past and must deal with them. Amir from Khaled Hosseini’s book The Kite Runner must face his past in order to achieve the redemption he so desperately needs. Hosseini uses Amir’s attempts to relieve his guilt, the kite, and Amir’s illness that results from his guilt, to show that despite our past sins there is the possibility for atonement.
Throughout the book Amir struggles with the memories and the guilt from his past. Amir tried multiple different methods for relieving the guilt, but despite these efforts the past would continuously haunt him. We first see Amir’s problems when Baba, Amir, and other family members are in car driving from Jalalabad. Amir politely “Please pull over, Baba… …show more content…
Amir first avoids Hassan later when Amir asks Baba “Baba have you ever thought about getting new servants” (89) he soon finds out that his innocent ways are not going to work for that. Amir resorts to hiding money and his watch under Hassan’s bed. When Baba discovers this he calls Amir, Hassan and Ali into his office where Baba shocks Amir and says “I forgive you” (105) to Hassan. Later Amir and Baba move to America when Afghanistan becomes too violent, this Amir feels again will cure his guilt, by not being constantly reminded of what he had done. This escape fails too as shown when Amir and Baba are in the Car and Baba mentions that he wished “Hassan had been with us” (133) and the feeling Amir instantly got. No matter what Amir does he can never escape the guilt he feels. This guilt is what drives Amir to become what he eventually does, he escapes his cowardice and becomes …show more content…
In the book many major events happen with the kite. First Amir and Hassan win their first and only kite running competition, but when Hassan retrieves this kite that they won Assef rapes him to protect the kite for Amir. Amir watches Hassan get raped, that way Amir can keep the kite to show Baba “ the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba” (77). Later in the book Amir finds his overall redemption in the kite, after Sohrab tried to kill himself and stopped talking, kite running was the first thing that Amir and him did that actually brought Sohrab out of his shell. Amir states while flying the kite “I felt a presence next to me and looked down. It was Sohrab. Hands dug deep in the pockets of his raincoat. He had followed me” (368). This moment is the first time since Amir and him got into the United States that Sohrab actually wanted to do something with Amir. All of these huge event in the book happen after the kite running, after all the book is named the kite runner. The kite symbolizes the beginning and the end, the beginning being Hassan’s rape and the end as his redemption with