The Ideas of Betrayal and Redemption In The Kite Runner

True friendship is when someone knows you better than yourself and takes a position for your best interests in a crisis. It goes beyond just sharing time together, and it is long lasting. The novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini demonstrates various themes that influence the development of the story including family, betrayal, violence, loyalty, regret, culture and many more that applies to the protagonist named Amir. Amir lives with Baba, his father, and two servants named Ali and his son, Hassan. Growing up in the same roof made Amir and Hassan closer to each other. They usually spend their free time together and made some unforgettable memories. Amir thinks highly of his father, Baba, who is a wealthy, well-respected businessman, and at the same time, he is terrified of Baba because Baba doesn’t appreciate his efforts towards him and his own interest which is writing. Overtime, Amir realized that Baba acknowledges Hassan more than him even though Hassan comes from a lower class family. Amir treated Hassan mischievously, but on the other hand, Hassan continues to treat him as his friend and remain lowly. This situation led Amir to do things for his own gain that he would eventually regret doing so in his whole life. The Kite Runner portrays how betrayal becomes a cyclical action that can result in redemption because of sense of guilt and regret.

Betraying someone for your own benefit can influence the decision that lies ahead in the future. Once you have done it, you will do it again and again. After the kite running competition, Amir reels in his kite and accepts everyone’s congratulations, then goes looking for Hassan, asking neighbors if they saw him. Eventually, Amir found Hassan in the alley in the Bazaar with Assef and his friends being sexually assaulted, Amir found himself running away instead of standing out for Hassan. He reasoned out, “ I ran because I was a coward. I was afraid of Assef and what he would do to me. I was afraid of getting hurt. I actually aspired to cowardice, because the alternative, the real reason I was running, was that Assef was right: Nothing was free in this world. Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba’s heart.”(77). In terms of Amir’s character growth, his desperation to please his father, which we have witnessed throughout the story, plays a significant part in the causing of this event. Although Amir feels paralyzed by fear when he sees what is happening, he admits that his main reason for not intervening is selfish. To finally please Baba, Amir feels he must show Baba that he is like him by winning the tournament and bringing home the kite of his final opponent, only then Baba will forgive him for killing Baba’s wife and his mother. Amir did not stop Assef from raping Hassan because first and foremost, he wants the kite to bring to Baba, and Hassan is the price he has to pay not because he is afraid of what Assef can do to him. Furthermore, Amir was guilt-ridden of what he had done to Hassan, for not standing out for him in front of Assef which he is clearly capable of doing so if he has only conscience towards how it would affect and devastate Hassan. It was Amir's thirteenth birthday when his second betrayal happened. Amir planned to set up Hassan by accusing Hassan of stealing the watch and the money that he received from Baba in his birthday which succeeded in making Ali and Hassan voluntarily leave the house. Amir's point of view, ''Did you steal that money? Did you steal Amir's watch Hassan?', Baba asked. Hassan's reply was a single word, delivered in a thin raspy voice: 'Yes.'..... Hassan knew. He knew that I'd seen everything in the alley, that I'd stood there and done nothing. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time. I wasn't worthy of this sacrifice; I was a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And I would have told, except that a part of me was glad. Glad that this would all be over with soon. Baba would dismiss them, there would be some pain, but life would move on. I wanted that, to move on, to forget, to start with a clean state. I wanted to be able to breathe again.'(105). Amir does not know how to deal with his feelings of guilt and unhappiness after Hassan’s assault. He thinks that by doing these things, his guilt in him would lessen up but yet his guilt is only heightened when Hassan admits to stealing the money and watch. Amir recognizes that Hassan is sacrificing himself again, despite knowing that Amir did not do the same for him when he was assaulted. Hassan proves his love and loyalty to Amir are unshakable, whereas Amir proves that his love and loyalty are weak. Betrayal is a strong act that breaks a relationship between two people, never underestimate the things that would result after doing this act because this can lead to regrets and guilt that will leave you with a deep unforgettable impression in your whole life.

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Guilt enlightens us to make our way right, it makes us feel responsible to atone for a perceived offense that we had done to someone. Baba told Amir that there is only one sin: theft. Baba explained that every other sin is a variation of theft. Murdering a man, for instance, is stealing his life to live. Amir points out, '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. Not at all.'(19). Many things made him feel guilty, since his birth. Amir started feeling guilty when his mother died while on childbirth even though it was out of his control. Amir is always plagued by his actions and tries to solve problems, but he doesn't have any idea how to solve it. In addition, Amir become a man and marries a woman named Soraya and experienced being in love for the first time. Soraya told him her deep secret that she regretted doing before their wedding and made Amir think about the sins that he did as a child in the past. He wondered, 'But I think a big part of the reason I didn't care about Soraya's past was that I had one of my own. I knew all about regret.'(180). Amir felt empathetic when Soraya told him her secret. He felt guilty and regretful for those vicious things he had done to Hassan. Amir wishes to have Soraya's courage to be able to compensate for his sins and to start anew again despite the time has been wasted a lot and gone through fast. Regrets can be a good factor for someone to learn how to atone their sins and guilt. It might be just regret but it gives yourself a big impact in your decisions in the future.

Redemption for one's sin is a way to start a new life and live in satisfactory without regrets. Amir was on Assef's house to get Sohrab. He eventually got Sohrab but Assef's philosophy is that nothing is free in this world and they should finish the fight that they didn't finish back in the days in Kabul City. In exchange of Sohrab, Assef wants to beat Amir up. Amir reliefly laughed, '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 a corner of my mind, I'd been looking forward to this.'(289). In this quote, Amir felt pleased and comforted of Assef's beating towards him even though he is close to dying. He feels that enduring the pain from the beating is a way of him finally showing of atoning for his wrongdoings towards Hassan, not only the symbolization of his redemption to Hassan but also standing out for Sohrab as well. Furthermore, after the process and arrival of Sohrab's immigration from Pakistan to California, the family of Soraya asked Amir if what is the real identity of Sohrab and why is a hazara boy has come to live in a pashtun's house. Amir explained, 'You see, General Sahib, my father slept with his servant's wife. That boy sleeping on the couch is Hassan's son. He is my nephew. And one more thing, General Sahib, you will never again refer to him as a 'Hazara Boy' in my presence. He has a name and it is Sohrab.'(361). Amir stands up Sohrab. Once again, trying to redeem himself to Hassan and his family by doing the right thing and what they deserve by them. Amir feels as though by doing this, he is proving that he is faithful to Hassan even though in this uncorrupted detail and is removing his guilt and regrets. Redemption is the best way to have your life live to the fullest.

Betrayal is a drug. You can be addicted but redemption is the key to atone your mistakes. Betrayal might be a strong act one can do but redemption is beyond powerful. No one but ourselves can free our mind from guilt and regrets. In this world full of dullness, be the one that shines. This story is strange, fascinating and yet oddly familiar at the same time~