Amir's Redemption In 'The Kite Runner'

Words: 1087
Pages: 5

Salman Ahmed
Mrs. McIntosh
ENG 4UI
Amir’s journey towards redemption
Many people believe that they cannot make up for past wrongs and this makes them suffer emotionally. In the novel “The Kite Runner”, written by Khaled Hosseini, Amir makes mistakes and punishes himself because he betrays his loyal friend Hassan. Amir watches Hassan get raped by Assef and decides to not interfere or do anything about it. He feels strongly guilty but pretends as if nothing happened. He is not able to face Hassan anymore so he finally put an end to their friendship. Several years later Amir tries to redeem himself by first accepting his mistakes, going back to Kabul to find his nephew and lastly saving Shorab’s life from Assef. Through Amir, the reader learns
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For Amir “America was different. America was a river. I could wade into this river, let my sins drown…let the water carry me someplace far.”(144), he feels that he does not have to worry about his past sins and that somehow god would forgive him when suddenly Rahim Khan calls. Rahim says to him “Come. There is a way to be good again” (2), Amir takes this as a chance to repent for his sins and immediately flies back to Pakistan where he finds out that Hassan has a son somewhere in Kabul. He also finds out Hassan has been killed by the Taliban, Amir decides that the only was he can make things right with Hassan is by finding Shorab and giving him a better life than he is currently living. Amir travels to Kabul to find his nephew and tries to save him from being an orphan. He is risking his life for redemption and since he had ruined Hassan’s life by allowing him to be he raped he is seeking to give his nephew a successful life. The fact that he is risking his life shows that people will do anything in order for themselves to feel redeemed. If he did not have this determination to redemption he would have probably allowed for his nephew to be killed in the bad conditions of Kabul. Amir visits the orphanage with Farid where he finds out that the Taliban has taken Shorab. In order for Amir atone from his sins he must forget about his wife, home, career and risk his life for to save shorab’s