the kite runner redemption essay

Redemption in Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” Essay

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Introduction

Amir’s redemptive model, baba’s redemptive model, sanaubar’s redemptive model, works cited.

‘The Kite Runner’ is a unique work, which has been translated into all European languages. The story begins in the pre-war Afghan city of Kabul in the ’70s, where there were children who did not know what shelling and explosions were. At the same time, a favorite pastime and a grave matter for all residents are kite competitions—happiness to defeat rivals and be left alone to soar in the bottomless blue sky. ‘A kite symbolizes the soul, flying high in the sky or lying broken on the ground’ (O’Brien 4). The contest becomes not only the point of no return, after which everything changes in the lives of Amir and Hasan. Flying is also a metaphor for the fates of these boys, carried away by the winds to different sides of the world.

Among the many lines, the central theme is betrayal and redemption. Through the prism of their life’s tribulations, the characters understand their actions, accept the guilt, and try to atone for it. Each personality has experienced tragedy and has walked a unique path of redemption. An analysis of the book will help identify those features of redemption models that are difficult to determine at first glance. By reasoning and examining the details of the lives, it will be possible to draw a clear parallel between the actions and consequences and conclude the main lesson the author was trying to convey.

The analysis will focus on the three main characters: Amir, Baba, and Sanaubar. This will be done using a redemption model that is specific to each character. At the same time, it has elements common to all, among which are: chastity flaws, transgression, trigger event(s), conscious resolution, acts of atonement, and changed life. The author reveals the peculiarities of the soul of a sinful man who admits his mistakes to demonstrate that redemption is the only way to restore the connection with God and find happiness.

Amir is the main character whose cowardice and jealousy prevented his personal development. The redemption process became the only opportunity for him to find full-fledged happiness, which constantly eluded him due to his unwillingness to acknowledge problems. The first meaningful moment in his journey was undoubtedly Amir Hassan’s significant betrayal, the master’s display of cowardice to his servant and friend. From this moment, Amir’s internal vices begin, which leave in his soul heavy scars of remorse and anguish of conscience, which impose an imprint on all areas of life. Thus, in general, not an evil man, Amir becomes a hostage to the vices of his ego, unable to get out on his own.

The second significant moment is a call from Pakistan from a friend of his father. Rahim Khan encourages Amir to come up with a mysterious but understandable phrase: ‘You have a chance to get on the righteous path (Hosseini 262). Amir clings to that possibility, though his former self tries to refuse. Not only does he endanger his life and health in the hope of redeeming his former guilt, but he also undergoes a tremendous inner transformation on the road to Islam and harmony. He makes an important decision, saves the child, and thus finds himself on the proper path. It demonstrates how a man who himself had not given much thought to the need to move toward the mercy of the Creator, through his sins and their atonement, finds his way to the worship of Allah.

This suggests that the whole life is in a state of disharmony and moral turmoil until sin is atoned for. Redemption, in turn, is the connecting category between man and God that can restore the broken unity between them and strengthen the bond. Amir’s way demonstrates how sins are equivalent to bondage that can destroy lives and how overcoming them and repentance can release the burdens.

Baba’s original sin is that he had an affair with the wife of Ali’s servant. At the same time, Baba knew that the child to be born was his own. Despite this, he allows everyone to think that Hasan is Alli’s son. Moreover, Baba saw that Hasan and Amir were friends, and Amir mistreated Hasan, but the father never defended Hasan. That is, his original sin is that he abandoned his child and condemned him to the bad fate of a servant. However, it is necessary to mention that Baba’s sins do not end with this. When his wife died in childbirth, he blamed his son, even though Amir was not responsible for his mother’s death.

It is important to emphasize that Baba tried to redeem himself and build an orphanage, so he did not hesitate to give money to charity. That is, Baba tried to distract and convince himself that the terrible things he had done did not define him as a bad person (Hosseini 300). At the same time, he accepted his guilt and tried to atone for his sin by doing good to others. It is significant to mention that Baba tried to improve his relationship with Amir because he saw himself reflected in him. In conclusion, although Baba did not tell anyone about his sin and did not incur the wrath of his loved ones, he successfully found redemption. By helping others and building a relationship with Amir, Baba forgave himself. Thus, he found temptation and died peacefully, knowing that all would be well with Amir.

Sanaubar had a nice appearance and enjoyed it; she cheated on a man, which was considered a disgrace for a Muslim woman. At the same time, after the birth of her son Hasan, she left him with his unrelated father and began to travel with a group of singers (Hosseini 162). Thus, the woman’s initial sin is her debauchery and fleeing from her problems. The militant attack was a hidden reason to find her son because she feared for his life. The woman returned and found her son when she was older; she also tried to redeem her sin when she established a relationship with Hassan. It should also be mentioned that Sanaubar helps Farzana give birth to her son Sohrab, but she could not raise the child because she died. The woman successfully achieved her goals and atoned for her sin.

Hence, this work argues that redemption is the only way to reconnect with God and find happiness. One can also find parallels between the redemptive models in the novel and the relationships between people in the real world. Therefore, they can be applied to understand how to atone for sins. The value of the novel is that it substantiates that everyone deserves to find redemption from their sins. Thus, the story tells different experiences of characters who have done unworthy things, but at the same time, one can trace how they have tried to correct them and find peace. Alex Lickerman can be remembered at this point, as he wrote that if a person admits mistakes and sincerely wants to improve them, then sin can be atoned for (Hagan). This is because people are not good or evil by nature; it depends on their striving. Hence, the novel gives each reader faith that there are ways to rectify unworthy actions to find peace.

Hagan, Ekua. ‘What Does It Mean to be Redeemed?’ Psychology Today, 2011, Web.

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner . Penguin, 2003.

O’Brien, Sarah. ‘Translating Trauma in Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner.’ Transnational Literature , vol.10, no. 2, 2018, pp. 1-12.

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IvyPanda. (2022, December 15). Redemption in Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner”. https://ivypanda.com/essays/redemption-in-khaled-hosseinis-the-kite-runner/

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1. IvyPanda . "Redemption in Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner”." December 15, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/redemption-in-khaled-hosseinis-the-kite-runner/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Redemption in Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner”." December 15, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/redemption-in-khaled-hosseinis-the-kite-runner/.

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The Kite Runner

A journey for redemption in the kite runner justin caleb walters college.

In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, several major themes arise. One of the most dominant themes is the idea of redemption for past wrongdoings. The protagonist, an Afghani-American named Amir, relays the story of his childhood; through this, one realizes the issues he went through and the events that will come to shape the plot of the novel. Amir seeks redemption for his betrayal of his childhood best friend, Hassan. Because of his cowardice during Hassan’s rape, his betrayal of Hassan after the incident, and his committing of the vilest sin in Afghani culture, Amir must depart on a long and debilitating journey for the ultimate goal of total redemption that will take him back to his violent and war-torn homeland and beyond.

As children, Amir and Hassan were inseparable. The two of them “used to climb the poplar trees in the driveway of [Amir’s] father’s house and annoy our neighbors by reflecting sunlight into their homes with a shard of mirror” (Hosseini 3). The two young boys, though they were of different social classes and ethnicities, were able to remain steadfast friends no matter the circumstances presented to them. Amir, a Pashtun, was of a higher class and a different religious sect than Hassan, a Hazara. This did...

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The Kite Runner

Khaled hosseini.

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The quest for redemption makes up much of the novel’s plot, and expands as a theme to include both the personal and the political. Throughout his childhood, Amir ’s greatest struggle was to redeem himself to Baba for “killing” his mother during childbirth, and for growing up a disappointing son who was unlike Baba himself. After Hassan ’s rape, Amir spends the rest of his life trying to redeem himself for his betrayal of his loyal friend. This ultimately culminates in Amir’s return to Afghanistan and his attempts to save and adopt Hassan’s son Sohrab .

After Amir learns of Baba’s betrayal of Ali , Amir realizes that Baba was probably trying to redeem his adultery through his many charitable activities and strong principles in later life. Amir is also able to find a kind of redemption in his bloody fight with Assef (Hassan’s rapist), and his adoption of Sohrab. Hosseini subtly connects these personal quests for redemption to Afghanistan itself. Despite its violent and corrupted past, Hosseini hopes for a redemption for his country someday.

Redemption ThemeTracker

Redemption Quotes in The Kite Runner

Because the truth of it was, I always felt like Baba hated me a little. And why not? After all, I had killed his beloved wife, his beautiful princess, hadn’t I? The least I could have done was to have had the decency to have turned out a little more like him. But I hadn’t turned out like him.

I was going to win, and I was going to run that last kite. Then I’d bring it home and show it to Baba. Show him once and for all that his son was worthy.

I envied her. Her secret was out. Spoken. Dealt with. I opened my mouth and almost told her how I’d betrayed Hassan, lied, driven him out, and destroyed a forty-year relationship between Baba and Ali. But I didn’t.

Listening to them, I realized how much of who I was, what I was, had been defined by Baba and the marks he had left on people’s lives… Now he was gone. Baba couldn’t show me the way anymore; I’d have to find it on my own.

My suspicions had been right all those years. He knew about Assef, the kite, the money, the watch with the lightning bolt hands. He had always known.

Come. There is a way to be good again , Rahim Khan had said on the phone just before hanging up.

“You know, Rahim Khan said, “one time, when you weren’t around, your father and I were talking… I remember he said to me, ‘Rahim, a boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.’ I wonder, is that what you’ve become?”

As it turned out, Baba and I were more alike than I’d ever known. We had both betrayed the people who would have given their lives for us. And with that came this realization: that Rahim Khan had summoned me here to atone not just for my sins but for Baba’s too.

Another rib snapped, this time lower. 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 the 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 .

I loved him because he was my friend, but also because he was a good man, maybe even a great man. And this is what I want you to understand, that good, real good, was born out of your father’s remorse. Sometimes, I think everything he did, feeding the poor on the streets, building the orphanage, giving money to friends in need, it was all his way of redeeming himself. And that, I believe, is what true redemption is, Amir jan, when guilt leads to good.

Your father, like you, was a tortured soul , Rahim Khan had written. Maybe so. We had both sinned and betrayed. But Baba had found a way to create good out of his remorse. What had I done, other than take my guilt out on the very same people I had betrayed, and then try to forget it all?

“Sohrab, I can’t give you your old life back, I wish to God I could. But I can take you with me. That was what I was coming in the bathroom to tell you. You have a visa to go to America, to live with me and my wife. It’s true. I promise.”

If someone were to ask me today whether the story of Hassan, Sohrab, and me ends with happiness, I wouldn’t know what to say.

Does anybody’s?

I looked at Hassan, showing those two missing teeth, sunlight slanting on his face. Baba’s other half. The unentitled, unprivileged half. The half who had inherited what had been pure and noble in Baba. The half that, maybe, in the most secret recesses of his heart, Baba had thought of as his true son… Then I realized something: That last thought had brought no sting with it… I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering its things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.

“Do you want me to run that kite for you?” His Adam’s apple rose and fell as he swallowed… I thought I saw him nod. “For you, a thousand times over,” I heard myself say. Then I turned and ran. It was only a smile, nothing more… A tiny thing… 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.

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Theme of Redemption in the Kite Runner

This essay will analyze the theme of redemption in Khaled Hosseini’s novel “The Kite Runner.” It will explore the protagonist’s journey of atonement for past mistakes and the novel’s portrayal of guilt, forgiveness, and personal growth. The piece will examine how the theme of redemption is intertwined with the motifs of friendship, betrayal, and cultural and political changes in Afghanistan. PapersOwl offers a variety of free essay examples on the topic of Book.

How it works

It is only normal for humans to make mistakes, but it is how the mistakes are resolved that will dictate ones’ fate. In The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, he describes the life of a young boy named Amir whose mistake haunts him for years, and his journey to find a way to relieve the guilt he had to live with. The author demonstrates how guilt can physically and psychologically push a person to search for ways to redeem them self.

Redemption is a way to rid people of the guilt from the mistakes they have made. Without redemption, it could really affect the way someone lives their daily life because that thought, or act can stay with the person their whole life. Most people earn and deserve a shot at redemption; yet some people don’t change, and commit acts so vile that they cannot be redeemed.

The main character of The Kite Runner, Amir, knows a thing or two about making mistakes. Throughout all stages of Amir’s life, he is striving for redemption. Whether it was him saying the wrong things or hiding from the truth, Amir was always finding out new things he would have to redeem himself for. It started from when Amir was a child, when he felt that his father blamed him for his mother’s death and how his father Baba couldn’t love him the same. Amir sees Baba as an elevated person that he could never amount too and that is why Amir is always trying to find ways to make things right with him. For example, Amir enters the popular kite flying competition they traditionally do in Afghanistan and wants to win in order to gain love and acceptance from his father. Although Amir wins the competition, something went wrong which would stay with him forever. Amir’s closet friend Hassan, who was also his servant and neighbor since he was born, was the reason Amir won the competition. Hassan ran after Amir’s winning kite and found it in an alley where three other older boys were also, and who wanted the kite. Hassan refused to give it to them and stayed loyal to Amir as he was since the first day they met. The older kids led by a cruel nasty boy Assef, refused to back down and ended up raping Hassan as a result of disobeying him and not handing over the kite. The worst part about this is how Amir watched the whole thing happen, paralyzed at the scene. Amir stabbed Hassan in the back by not jumping in and not putting one bit of effort to try to rescue Hassan. This results in Amir not living a peaceful life due to his nagging guilt because deep down in his heart he feels he should have done something and feels horrible that he had chosen not to. Amir’s feeling of guilt and his vital need for redemption are always a part of his life as he grows up. Amir chooses to be a coward when Hassan is raped. A few days later, Amir already feels guilt and resentment inside him and you can hear the emotion from his narration:

I watched Hassan get raped, I said to no one. Baba stirred in his sleep. Kaka Homayoun grunted. A part of me was hoping someone would wake up and hear, so I wouldn’t have to live with this lie anymore. But no one woke up and in the silence that followed, I understood the nature of my new curse: I was going to get away with it. (Hosseini 86)

As Amir is lying in the dark, nothing but his own thoughts and guilt are taking over his life. He understands how he is going to get away with betrayal and how the only way to live with his remorse is to ignore Hassan, so he doesn’t have to think about his sin. In a result, Amir ends up setting up Hassan, and states, “I took a couple of the envelopes of cash from the pile of gifts and my watch and tiptoed out…I lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghan bills under it.” (Hosseini 104). Amir needed to get Hassan out of sight and the only way was to make it look like Hassan has committed a sin that Amir’s dad hated the most, stealing. This led to Hassan and his father getting kicked out of the house; however, Amir still can’t get over his guilt and the fact how Hassan has moved out of the house doesn’t change anything. His sin will still haunt Amir in his adult years and makes him feel worst when he feels responsible for Hassan’s tragic death.

After reading the novel and studying Amir’s guilt, due to the betrayal of Hassan, the reader sees how guilt can worsen over time and can have a major impact in the decisions one makes. Guilt is an emotion that has the power to destroy one’s life without redemption. Redemption is for the people who deserve it and understand to learn from their mistakes and become a better person from it. Redemption is not for everyone, some mistakes are more costly than others and some people just don’t have the heart to change no matter how much advice or help they get. However, that is not always the case, in fact it is always inspiring to see someone pick themselves up and keep trying even though they keep making the same mistake and go through many disappointments. “Mistakes are synonymous with being human. We all have a dark side, a destructive side. How much we allow it to take over depends on our level of awareness and what stage of growth we’re at.” (Manal Ghosain). Most people in this world have it in their hearts to change and to grow from failure, some people just can’t make up for their vile acts and those are the people who are ones facing life in prison and the people who just mentally can’t move on from their past. In an interview with famous American executive, Oprah Winfrey, she stated, “We’re all on the same journey. People are taking different paths to get there. And I think no matter how many times you fail, you fall down in your life, you certainly have the opportunity until you take your last breath to be redeemed.” (Manal Ghosain). In other words, as long as someone is alive with the right heart and mindset, every minute can be the beginning of a new chance. It takes guts to own one’s mistake and go for a second chance. It is an act of courage to admit to our shortcomings and takes strength and trust to believe in ourselves and the possibility of changing. “We can’t escape the effects of our past causes, of course, but we can aim to be transformed by them in a way that strengthens the good in us.” (Alex Lickerman). People who live in the past and don’t learn from their past mistakes are the people who just don’t have what it takes to be redeemed. Unlike Amir, it is not until several years later that Amir finally finds a way to redeem himself of his sins when he says, “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.” (Hosseini 226-227). Amir is now aware that he must save Hassan’s son, Sohrab, to atone for his sins. He understands how he needs to risk his life to save Sohrab and since Amir is older and more mature in this point of the novel, he finally makes the right decision to go that would eventually change his character and future life.

Exploring Amir’s need for atonement shows the reader how important finding redemption is and how being forgiven can allow one to finally have freedom from one’s sins and feel good about themselves. Guilt is dangerous and can take over someone’s life if they don’t redeem themselves. Redemption can only be earned and deserved and key to living a healthy lifestyle. The Kite Runner teaches how personal sacrifice, no matter at what cost, has a lasting reward. Amir helps the reader learn how that feeling of redemption allows one to move on from the past and to instead look towards a brighter future.   

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Forgiveness and Redemption in 'The Kite Runner'

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Introduction

Seeking baba's approval.

The Betrayal of Friendship

The journey to self-redemption.

Forgiveness and Redemption in 'The Kite Runner'. (2016, Mar 30). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/redemption-in-the-kite-runner-essay

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