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April Antonio

Mrs. Bartosiewicz

ENG 4U1

7 April, 2013

The affection or stand up for what is right

“Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.” Franklin D. Roosevelt said

this quote to explain that when people try to take advantage of opportunities, they

forget to acknowledge the consequences of other people whom they care for. The

novel, Kite Runner, by Kahled Hosseini tells a story about two boys from different

ethnic groups. Amir, a Pashtun boy, lives a wealthy life with his father, Baba, he is a

friend with his servant boy name Hassan who is a Hazara (lowest ethnic group) and

lives in Amir’s place with his father, Ali, who is also a servant. Despite Hassan’s poor

life, he and Amir are usually together doing activities and being mischievous.

However during a kite-fighting tournament an event has unfolded that causes Amir

to push away Hassan to the point of making him leave his place. Now 25 years later,

Amir gets a call from Baba old friend, Rahim Khan, asking him to com to Pakistan

and retrieve Hassan’s little boy Sohrab who now became an orphan. Amir has to

prove that he is no longer a coward and must repay for his sin.

The constant battle of trying to catch Baba’s affection has taken a toll on

Amir. Amir shows selfishness and jealousy when Baba shows more affection

towards Hassan or other people. Amir decides to take the opportunity to win the

kite-fighting tournament in order to please Baba but no happiness is gain when the

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guilt is weighing him down. Just when things in America is going okay, his past

comes back to haunt him to make him repay. It comes to show that when people’s

intention overcomes them and takes the advantages for that chance, they forget that

there are consequences, not on themselves but on the other people.

Amir had only one purpose throughout his whole childhood and that was to

please Baba in anyway he can. Because Baba was a very stern kind man with a

tough personality, it was very hard for Amir to please him especially since he was

not like his father. When Amir talks about his father, he points out, “ I always felt

like Baba hated me […] The least I could have done was to have had the decency to

have turned out a little more like him.” (Hosseini 19). The quote explains the reason

why Amir must please his father, because Amir feels responsible for his mother’s

death, he feels like he should be more like Baba to make up for that. Baba main

concern for Amir is that he will not be able to stand up for himself when he grows

older and he will always have to rely on someone. When Baba talks to Rahim Khan

about Amir, he says, “ A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who

can’t stand up for anything.” Here Baba explains Amir’s major flaws and that is his

cowardice. If Amir cannot stand up for himself he cannot stand up for what is right,

which is the reason why Baba finds it hard to praise Amir because he feels that Amir

cannot conjure up the courage to do anything right causing Amir to desperately gain

Baba affection. Baba values the action of standing up and because Hassan does this

he shows more loving action towards Hassan.

Amir’s jealousy is shown towards Hassan especially when Baba gives more

affection towards him. His jealousy is shown when Baba surprises Hassan by giving

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him surgery to fix his cleft lip. During that time Amir argues,” It wasn't fair. Hassan

hadn't done anything to earn Baba's affections; he'd just been born with that stupid

harelip.” [Hosseini 46]. Instead of being happy for Hassan, Amir cannot accept the

affection that Baba is showing towards Hassan, he thinks that Hassan had done

nothing while he (Amir) works really hard to grab the affection of Baba and gains

nothing from it. His jealousy is not only towards Hassan but also towards those who

keeps Baba time occupied because to Amir it means that Baba has more time for

them. When Amir talks about the orphanage that his father built, he says, “ I already

hated all the kids […] sometimes I wished they’d died along with their parents.”

(Hosseini 17) Although Amir is very proud of his father for doing something so

thoughtful, he cannot help but feel jealous towards the kids who occupy Baba times

because Amir hardly sees him at home and it is already bad enough that they do not

have a tight relationship with each other. Because of Amir constantly tries to win

Baba attention, it had caused him to act jealous every time Baba showed more

affection towards Hassan and others and it had also caused him to become selfish.

Baba had bragged to Amir about winning the kite tournament a lot, which

caused Amir to take this opportunity to prove he is like Baba and win the kite

tournament. However the tournament takes a toll for the worst when Amir

witnesses Hassan getting raped by Assef (violent boy who is famous for his brass

knuckles). The readers get to see the how selfish Amir is and how his intention

overcame him. As Amir stands in the corner and let Hassan get rapped he says, “I

had one chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going

to be.” Because Amir is desperate to get his fathers approval, he is torn between

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standing for what is right and getting the affection he has ever wanted. His fear and

desires ends up betraying his loyalty to Hassan and causes him to feel this strong

guilt. Amir does not tell the truth about what happened in the alley instead he says,

“ I buried my face in the warmth of his chest and wept […] I forgot what I’d done.

And that was good.” Amir refrains from telling the truth because he knows that it

will make Baba hate him more however although he won the tournament and Baba

affection, he is still not as happy as he is suppose to be and it is because of that guilt

he is carrying that is weighing him down and preventing him from feeling satisfied.

The kite that once represented his happiness has now represented his guilt. As Ali

explains to Baba that they are leaving, Amir says, “ I understood the depth of the

pain I caused, the blackness of grief I had brought onto everyone.” Because of Amir

selfishness, he has ruined two long friendships. He had ended a friendship between

him and Hassan and between Baba and Ali. Looking at Hassan reminded Amir about

his guilt and his betrayal so the only way to get rid of the guilt was to get rid of

Hassan.

As Amir and Baba immigrate to America, their relationship starts to build up

and they become closer to each other. Amir finds America a way to forget his past

and start a brand new life. As Baba disapproves of Amir career choice, Amir says, “ I

didn’t want to sacrifice for Baba anymore. The last time I had done that, I had

damned myself.” By now Amir has given up his intention for Baba affection and

shows that this time he is standing up for what he wants and not doing the same

mistake he has done back in winter 1975 when he betrayed his loyalty to a friend

and ruined a relationship. Just as things were getting better in America, Amir past

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comes back to haunt him and he is forced to come back to Pakistan to fulfill a dying

friend wish. To make things worse, Rahim Khan reveals that Hassan was Amir half

brother and that Baba had slept with a servant girl. After storming out the building

upon hearing the truth, Amir remembers Rahim Khan say, “ There is a way to be

good again.” Rahim Khan had known all along about what happened back in winter

1975 and wants Amir to not only repay for his sin but for his father also. Both Baba

and Amir had betrayed their closest friends so going to Kabul and proving that Amir

can stand up for what is right will make up for his and Baba selfish acts. The letter

Amir reads from Rahim Khan stated, “ Your father was torn between two halves.”

There was a reason why Baba treated Amir so hard and it was because he could not

show any love openly towards Hassan so he felt guilty and took his guilt upon Amir.

Baba could not share his wealth to Hassan because the truth would come out and

Baba found is reputation to be very important to him. Because Amir lived in a

wealthy environment he was free from any punishment however as for Hassan, he

was oppressed by everyone and hardly got respected, which made Baba feel even

guiltier. To make up for the guilt, Baba built the orphanage, fed the poor etc. to

make up for his sins. When Baba immigrated to America with Amir, he went from

high class to low class and this made Baba feel like he finally repaid his sin because

he now lives a poor life just like how Hassan did.

Amir’s childhood involved a constant battle between Hassan and others to

win the affection of his father, Baba. Because of his intention, Amir had shown acts

of jealousy and selfishness, which caused him to ruin a long friendship between him

and Hassan and Baba and Ali. His guilt comes back to haunt him but was able to

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redeem himself. Although the book did not end with a very happy ending, the

author shows us the reality of how the world works and that everything is not

always perfect, the world does not always provide easy answers to big problems.

Hosseini ends the book with a bit of hope that one day everything will fall back into

place piece by piece. The life lesson in this book is that there are no simple answers

to big problems.

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Work Cited

 "The Kite Runner." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, 2010. Web. 08 Apr. 2013.

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

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