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Guilt has the power to inspire a personâs motives and shape who they are at their core. In 2003 Khaled Hosseini wrote the moving and powerful novel The Kite Runner which has a major focus on guiltâs intense power. Throughout The Kite Runner characters use their guilt as the driving force of their actions as the plot progresses. The narrator of the novel, Amir, witnesses his playmate get horribly abused and does nothing about it, plaguing him with guilt for the next thirty or so years. Amirâs guilt leads him to seek redemption, causing him to travel across two countries to do so. Guilt has an extreme power many people fail to realize; it has the ability to completely undo a person and push them towards redemption, as evident in the characters of Amir, Baba, and Sanubar in Hosseiniâs The Kite Runner.
In The Kite Runner the character Amirâs guilt drives nearly all of the decisions he makes throughout the novel. In the beginning of the novel Amir witnessed his playmate and closest âfriendâ Hassan being raped. Amir realized that in that moment he had only two choices he could âstep into the alley [and] stand up for Hassanâ or he could run, âin the end [he] ranâ (77). Amirâs guilt sprouted from the very moment that he ran away from the alley, leaving Hassan to be raped. Hassan had stood up for Amir throughout their entire lives, and the one time Hassan needed Amir most, Amir had failed him. Amirâs guilt from the situation followed him throughout his life. Soon after the event happened Amir whispered into the darkness that he watched Hassan get raped. He desperately hoped that âsomeone would wake up and hear, so [he] wouldnât have to live with the lie anymoreâ (86). Amir felt horribly guilty after watching Hassan and desperately sought for anyone to find out, but refused to actually tell anyone the truth. Amir tried throwing pomegranates at Hassan, as an attempt to get Hassan to fight back and punish Amir for leaving Hassan to be harmfully violated.
Hassan refused to throw any pomegranates at Amir, instead smashing one into his own face. Amir wanted Hassan to fight him back so he could have âthe punishment [he] cravedâ (92). Amir wanted Hassan to be angry, to fight him back. Amir wanted his wrongs to be righted, but it wouldnât happen through violence. Nearly twenty years later Amirâs guilt drives him back to Afghanistan as âa way to be good againâ (192). Amirâs guilt had led him to make this hefty decision to return to Afghanistan and rescue Hassanâs orphaned son, Sohrab, from the harsh conditions he was left to face in Kabul. Amir sees this as a chance to redeem himself, a chance to free him from his guilt. Nearly all of Amirâs decisions throughout The Kite Runner have circulated around his guilt of not standing up for Hassan when he needed Amir most. The character Baba from Hosseiniâs The Kite Runner is not immune to the guilt afflicted on the other characters; his own guilt prompts many of the choices he made. Baba believed that âthere is only one sinâ (225): theft. Baba believed that when someone lied they stole âsomeoneâs right to the truthâ (225). Babaâs stark beliefs rival and almost seem hypocritical to his guilt.
Towards the end of the novel it is revealed that Baba was Hassanâs biological father. Baba had stolen the truth from the people he loved. From Amir he stole the fact that he had a brother, from âHassan his identityâ (225), and from âAli his honorâ (225). Baba had to live with the guilt of not only betraying his closest friend, lying to his legitimate son, hiding the truth from his illegitimate son, and committing what he believed what he believed was the only sin. Baba acted as if the guilt was nonexistent, instead taking it out on Amir by criticizing the way Amir acted. Babaâs guilt caused him to constantly act ashamed of Amir, when in all reality he was ashamed of himself. Baba claimed that there was always âsomething missing in [Amir]â (22). Baba wanted Amir to be the perfect son, so he didnât have to feel remorse for giving Amir the lavish life over his other son Hassan. Babaâs guilt for not being able to be a father to Hassan led him to do everything he could for Hassan while still keeping up appearances as a respected man with only one son. When Hassan was accused of stealing Amirâs birthday presents, even though he committed the only sin that mattered to Baba, Baba forgave him.
Babaâs guilt for not being a father to Hassan, led for him to care deeply for Hassan and do anything and everything he could to keep Hassan in his life. Amir always believed that his father was free of guilt, the epitome of a human being, but that was not the case, not in the slightest. Even minor characters within The Kite Runner, such as Sanubar, are affected by guilt and any/all of their decisions made in the novel were based off of their guilt. Sanubar was Hassanâs mother. Shortly after giving birth to Hassan, she was lost âto a fate more Afghans consider far worse than deathâ (6): she ran off with a group of singers and dancers. Sanubar had completely abandoned her son, never looking back. Guilt had driven her to this decision to leave her son, as it is later revealed in the novel that Baba is actually Hassanâs father, meaning Sanubar and Baba had committed adultery. Sanubar feared the backlash if the truth ever came out, driving her away from her son. Nearly thirty years later, Sanubar showed up at Hassanâs front lawn, her old age was evident and she suffered many injuries on her face.
When she arrived sheâd asked to see Hassan and begged for his forgiveness. She cried saying that â[she] wouldnât even hold [him]â (210) and begged for Allahâs forgiveness. Sanubarâs guilt for abandoning Hassan drove her right back to him and to make an effort to be a part of his life. Sanubarâs guilt for abandoning her son and her husband impacted nearly all of the decisions she makes throughout the The Kite Runner. Hosseiniâs 2003 novel The Kite Runner allows Hosseini to give his readers an important message about guilt. He uses the guilt of the narrator of the novel, Amir, to drive the plot along and show how much his guilt for betraying his best friend when he was twelve years old affected Amir for his entire life, not going away until Amir sought redemption.
Hosseini uses the character Baba to display that guilt can reside inside of a person, change who they are, and ruin their relationships, as displayed in Babaâs broken relationships with Hassan and Amir. The character Sanubar is used to show that guilt can trail a person forever, such as her guilt for abandoning her only son: Hassan. Hosseini wants his readers to realize that guilt never ends, that guilt has more power than most people ever realize. Guilt can twist and mold someone at their core; guilt will eat away at person until they finally redeem themselves for their wrongdoings and free themselves from the chains of guilt. Photo used under Creative Commons from Vassilis Onl
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