Lit essay #4

Leonard B Horne

Prof. Solórzano

English 1A

Essay Literary Analyses

4 April 2010

Redemption Comes From Our Conscience

Everybody has some baggage they are carrying. They know that at some time they’ve done wrong. It picks at them, and they never quite forget it. It’s wrong what they say about the past, about how you can bury it because it will claw its way out to haunt you (Hosseini 1). Most of the time it’s something they’ve done, they knew they shouldn’t have. Something they had no right to do. This can be proven over and over again. In the book The Kite Runner, it’s filled with just such events. Amir’s redemption will come at a hard price, and most of the errors could have been averted in the beginning. Here redemption is what will make Amir and his father good again.

The story starts with Amir and Hassan having a strong relationship that seems to be going good, but it turns out Amir is coming to a realization. Amir is having problems competing for his father’s love with Hassan. At the age twelve he is starting to realize that his father is not giving him all of his affection. Amir tries to deal with this by driving Hassan off so he won’t be around to compete for his father. Amir feels a kind of guilt for not being more like his father. Hassan is always pleasing Baba, and gaining the acceptant that Amir should be receiving. One of the turning points in the story comes when Amir starts challenging Hassan in deferent ways. He makes up a story and describes Hassan as an imbecile. Then another time Amir is throwing pomegranates at Hassan, and Hassan refuses to throw one back infuriating Amir (Hosseini 92). Amir shows what he is really thinking when Assef confronts him and Hassan on the way up the hill. Amir thinks, "But he is not my friend," then, "He is my servant" (Hosseini 41). Amir will betray Hassan, and this can be considered a form of sin (Cliff notes). This is probably the worst thing Amir will do.

Amir’s relation to his father it a strained one at best. As hard as he tries, he cannot be the son his father wanted. He is most like his mother in the ways of what he likes. In his country, he shows little of what is expected from a man. He isn’t into sports, or of being a strong forward individual. At the lake with Baba and Hassan, they were skipping stones. Hassan made his skip eight times. Baba patted him on the back, even putting his arms around him. (Hosseini 14). Even on the day that he became what his father wanted, he didn’t fulfill what his father wanted. The problem being that he knew it. Amir was seeing affection go to Hassan that he thought should go to him. The statement in the Ford Torino about Baba wishing Hassan was there infuriated Amir (Hosseini 133). With all of this Amir could see something that was wrong. Baba lived with a secret that made him suffer. Baba was a man torn between two halves, Amir and Hassan (Hosseini 301). He loves both, but he couldn't love Hassan openly (Hosseini 301).

Baba will receive his redemption by the way he lives. He does the right things, and will live by a higher standard. What happened in the past, he will confront with dignity, even though he never tells Hassan he’s his father. Baba will never insult Ali by revealing this secret. He lived a respectful life showing that he would not gossip and living by his own terms (Hosseini 141, 173). Baba found a way to create good out of his remorse (Hosseini 303).

Amir would take a hard road toward redemption, and it would never be easy. He starts with his return to a country that has changed more that he could imagine. The Taliban have taken control of most of the country. In 1998, the Taliban overran much of northern Afghanistan (Rashid), putting their form of law into place. . They have used the belief of Muslims to justify the killing of people based on ethnicity or sect (Rashid). Every turn is a surreal experience. He meets a professor that taught at the university from the 1950’s, that knew his mother, but is not living on the street, destitute and begging. The fear that Amir will need to confront is amazing. Meeting a Taliban that earlier that day killed two people in front of him(Hosseini 276). Then realizing that this was Assef, probably the meanest person he had ever known. Amir would go many weeks to recover from the injuries, and always carry the scars. His guilt travels with his, as he thought that he did this for the wrong reason, but when asked what happened in the house, he said, “let’s just say that we both got what we deserved (Hosseini 285).

Who needs redemption; this is a major part of the story. Amir for what he did; Baba for living the lie of hiding Hassan as his son; Soraya for her drifting away from the family; Rahim Khan for supporting Baba, and hiding a secret for so many years and Sanaubar for leaving her son, and her lifestyle. Did they all receive redemption for what they had done, they can be the only one to know. It comes down to what their conscience tells them. Redemption comes by the actions one will do to, and if they have no conscience, they need no redemption. Amir is working on his redemption, and still has time to complete his task. Amir will take up religion and bring Sanaubar back to America. Baba will create good out of remorse, and live a proper life. The others receive forgiveness and acceptance. The question still remains, were they able to forgive themselves? The closing paragraph brings home the point that if we try, we are on the path to redemption.

Cited work

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead, 2003. Print.

"The Kite Runner: Critical Essays: Themes in The Kite Runner - CliffsNotes." Get Homework Help with CliffsNotes Study Guides - CliffsNotes. Web. 30 Mar. 2010.

Rashid, Ahmed. "The Taliban: Exporting Extremism." Foreign Affairs 78.6 (1999): 22-35. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 2 Apr. 2010.