Analyse how a key idea (or ideas) in the text (s) were used to comment on society’s perception of guilt and/or redemption.

 

Plan:

How do we know if a person is guilty

Anyway for them to redeem themselves

Does society need to be physically punished

Amir

  • Intro-thesis

How he deals with his guilt, he pushes hassan away, splits the fam up, leaves to america, is this what most people do, push it away and try distract themselves?

What does his guilt eventually drive him to do? Search for sohrab, goes home.

Beaten up by assef, physically punished, takes sohrab home (life punishment needs to make it up to him) this is when he feels redeemed.

 

Thesis

Hosseini uses Amir as a character to show us the ideas of how society deals with guilt and if it is possible to find redemption.

 

Introduction:

Hosseini uses Amir as a character to show us the ideas of how society deals with guilt and if it is possible to find redemption. The first main idea in this essay will be how Amir deals with his guilt and how society is impacted on this, also how he pushes Hassan away and begins to frame him for his sins. The second main idea is what Amir’s guilt then drives him to do Hosseini shows us this idea when we see how Amir’s guilt never leaves him and eventually drives him on his journey to redemption and that Amir could save what he had broken and that there was a way around his past sins and that their was a possibility for redemption. The final idea in this essay is how Amir feels he needs to be physically punished to feel fully redeemed for his past sins.

 

Paragraph 1

The character Amir is used to represent the ideas of how society deals with guilt and if it is possible to find redemption, Hosseini shows us this idea when we see how Amir deals with his past sins and guilt and how he tries to forget about them by pushing people away the people who reminded him of his past sins. Amir’s past sins and guilt revolve around Hassan, this is because in chapter seven of the novel Hassan was being loyal as ever fetching Amir’s kite after he was then cornered in an alleyway where he was raped by Assef. This relates to the narration by Amir “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. That’s what I told myself as I turned my back to the alley, to Hassan. That’s what I made myself believe”. This sin then lead Amir to ignore Hassan, frame him for stealing, all because he did not want his father to know what had happened and what Amir did, by the end of these actions Hassan had enough of how he was being treated so he moved out which was ultimately Amir’s goal because he did not want to face up to what he had done, and seeing Hassan everyday was too hard for him. “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 slate. I wanted to be able to breathe again”. This dialogue spoken by Amir shows us they key idea of how the author has written these scenes to show us that this is how us as a society have been brought up. When something goes wrong that can not only affect the people around us but ourselves as well, we don’t want to deal with it, which can then lead to a worse consequence especially because Hassan was a Hazara, Amir didn’t think he was worth the risk of hurting himself to save Hassan. We can draw a connection to “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.” This can compare to Abdel Nasser Ould Ethmane, as he was raised in a nomadic village where slavery was normal. For Abdels 7th birthday he received his first slave. As he grew older and got an education he realised that slavery was wrong but if he were to try put a stop to it he could have been arrested or possibly killed. Abdel can compare to Amir because they were both brought up with everything they would have ever needed, including things that were wrong, such as a servant. Eventually they realised it was wrong, and they were not able to redeem themselves at such a young age so instead they became part of society and continued life the same for many years.

 

Paragraph 2:

The character Amir is used to represent the ideas of how society deals with guilt and if it is possible to find redemption, Hosseini shows us this idea when we see how Amir’s guilt never leaves him and eventually drives him on his journey to redemption. This was reinforced in the novel when Amir ran away from his problems by moving to America. “America was different. America was a river, roaring along, unmindful of the past. I could wade into this river, let my sins drown to the bottom, let the waters carry me someplace far. Someplace with no ghosts, no memories, and no sins”. America was very different to Afghanistan. America is always moving forward, things that happen now aren’t always influenced by the past. Amir believes that in America his past will be forgotten and it is a start fresh for him. In society today when people make a mistake and conceive a past sin they run away from the problem and shun away people who remind them of it. This is exactly what Amir does, but as the novel endures and the longer he tries to escape his sins the more they come back to haunt him.“That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realise I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years”.  There is a common misconception about the past that Amir eventually recognises throughout the novel. The word “bury” indicates that when people try to get rid of their past, it can never be permanently hidden – buried, things have a tendency of rising to the surface again. As the novel continues Amir cannot live with the guilt of his past sins the pain and regret would not go away no matter how hard he tried. This can compare to Cornealious Anderson, he was arrested for for robbing a burger king at gunpoint. He was sentenced 13 years but due to a clerical error he never went to prison. Although Anderson had thought he could use his freedom for more crimes he decided he could not live with the guilt. The guilt of his past sins drove him to start his own construction business, become a youth football coach, and volunteering at his local church. This shows us that once you make one bad decision you do not need to keep doing them, redemption can be found. This dialogue spoken by Rahim Khan “Come. There is a way to be good again, Rahim Khan had said on the phone just before hanging up” advised Amir to gain an opportunity for himself to go home to Afghanistan to make it up to Hassan after all these years. Amir went back to Afghanistan for Hassan, he then saved Sohrab his nephew and Hassan’s child. This shows us that on his journey to redemption he saved a child from pain and abuse. Overall guilt drove Amir to save what he had broken and that there was a way around his past sins and that he could be redeemed.  

 

Paragraph 3:

The character Amir is used to represent the ideas of how society deals with guilt and if it is possible to find redemption, Hosseini shows us this idea when Amir needs to be physically punished to feel fully redeemed from his past sins. This was assisted in the novel when the dialogue spoken by Amir “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 nook in the corner of my mind, I had been looking forward to this”. This highlights the key idea of Amir feeling that he had gotten what he had deserved after so many years and that this was the moment he finally felt healed of his past sins. This can compare to Joshua Milton Blahyi, this Liberian warlord admitted to recruiting soldiers at the age of 9, and he estimates that he has killed around 20,000 people. At some point in his life he had a religious epiphany and he now works as a preacher, rehabilitates child soldiers, and visits his victims families to beg for forgiveness and offer compensation. Due to Liberia having a poor legal system, Blahyi has never been charged for his crimes. Although he has willingly claimed to go to prison or even be executed if that’s what it takes to be redeemed for his crimes. This associates with the perception of society believing that to be fully redeemed you need to be physically punished. For example in the real world when people misdeed they are physically punished like prison, execution or community service to help redeem themselves. This can compare to Amir as he is beaten up which is his punishment for his misdeed, it also benefits his moral redemption from his past sins. Amir not only gets beaten up by Assef as a physical punishment for his past sins, but he is in a way given a life sentence by taking Sohrab in. This is because when he looks at Sohrab every day he is reminded of Hassan, Assef and his past sins and the mistakes he made and also the idea that Amir will do anything for Sohrab now because he owes it to him and Hassan. This is a sign of society and the physical punishment Amir is faced with for the rest of his life to feel fully redeemed.

 

Conclusion:
In conclusion The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini is a novel about Amir and his road to redemption. Hosseini uses Amir as a character to show us the ideas of how society deals with guilt and if it is possible to find redemption and how a person can find redemption. The three main ideas I discussed on Amir’s road to redemption was how he dealt with his guilt and how society impacted his decision and behaviour. Also how Amir’s guilt ultimately drives him on his road to redemption. The final idea is how Amir feels he needs to be physically punished to feel fully redeemed for his past sins. Overall Hosseini has showed us Amir’s journey to redemption and the decisions and choices he made throughout the novel which were ultimately determined on what society had enforced on Amir at a young age, which therefore not only affected Amir but the people around him. Finally The Kite Runner and Hosseini as an author has shown me as a reader how it is possible to find redemption no matter how hard it is and how long it may take.

 

By Samantha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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