The Kite Runner Analytical Essay

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In Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, Amir is the protagonist who struggled to be awakened from his past filled with many atrocious conflicts – allowing Assef, the antagonist, to rape his half brother Hassan and failing to impress Baba; he hopes for redemption to bring him out of his guiltiness. Amir reminisces in the beginning of the novel and, highlighting a prevalent message, he alleged, “I thought of the life I had lived until winter of 1975 came along and changed everything. And made me what I am today” (2). He admonished the reader how the past may influence one presently. Thus, Amir’s past made a 180° turn in his life from the character of a coward, jealous and a selfish person to a selfless man of integrity when he decided to return to Afghanistan. The character of the adolescent Amir revealed that he was a jealous and selfish person. Trying to earn Baba’s favor, Amir takes every opportunity to grab his attention, but it always fall upon Hassan. In the eyes of Amir, he saw how…show more content…
Unfortunately, Hassan encountered Assef, a racist Pashtun neighborhood bully, who sexually assaulted him without shame. Amir fully witnessed this scenario and when he caught a glimpse of Hassan’s face, it reminded him of “the look of a lamb.” (p. 76). A celebration of how the prophet almost sacrificed his own son for God was reminded by Hassan’s facial expression in the anticipation of agony. The way they slaughtered the lamb was how Hassan was brutally raped. Amir was in the battle of two grounds, whether to stand up and defend his friend the way Hassan had done for him, or run. Lost of integrity and filled with fear Amir’s legs moved and he chose to “[run] because [he] was a coward. [He] was afraid of getting hurt…” (77). Although he witnessed Hassan’s incident and tries to brush it off to forget the moment, it remained as a stain in his
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