In The Kite Runner, Amir, the main character, lives in two different countries throughout his life. He grew up in a town called Kabul in Afghanistan but later moved to the United States when turmoil hit his home country. For Amir, Afghanistan represents the past and all the conflict in his life, while the United States represents new beginnings, independence and redemption.
Afghanistan held Amir’s childhood and past inner conflicts he had to battle for years of his life. One conflict was constantly trying to impress his father, Baba. Baba was an esteemed man, held in high respects from many people of the community. Amir had big shoes to fill and was therefore pressured to try and seem like a man and worthy in his father’s eyes. Another conflict was when he watched his close friend and servant, Hassan, get raped by a bully, Assef, and did nothing about it. Hassan would always stand up for Amir, but Amir was afraid to get hurt and so he just ran away. The guilt that Amir felt made him drive Hassan out of the house, leaving him lonely and tortured by shame of betraying Hassan.
Once war and turmoil hit Afghanistan, Baba and Amir moved to America. In America, Baba and Amir truly experienced a new beginning. In Afghanistan, Baba was wealthy, but in America, they were poor and Baba had to work a dirty job at a gas station just to make ends meet. But Baba got sick and died, leaving Amir for the first time. Amir was afraid because for the first time, he didn’t have Baba to tell him what to do. Although he had a wife, he was really on his own for the first time.
When Amir got a call from an old friend, Rahim Khan, in Afghanistan, Amir returned to his old country to find the towns in shambles and executions happened virtually everyday. Amir was asked by Rahim to retrieve Hassan’s son, Sohrab, because Hassan and his wife were executed. Being back in Afghanistan, Amir was forced to confront his past and his conflicts. He didn’t have Baba to pressure him to be a man, but he had to be independent and brave because Afghanistan was such a dangerous country at the time with the Russian invasion. Also, getting Sohrab’s son was Amir’s first connection to Hassan in twenty-five years. It was also Amir’s chance to redeem himself for betraying Hassan all those years ago. Amir was nearly killed for retrieving Sohrab. But he finally felt better because he felt like he got what he deserved for betraying Hassan. All these years he’s gotten away with his burdening secret and for him, he got his closure.
Amir took Sohrab back to America to start a new beginning. Although Sohrab was unresponsive at first because he was traumatized and emotionally drained of the life of an orphan and even tried to commit suicide, Amir still tried to get through to Sohrab so they could start a life together with his wife as a family. Amir and his wife couldn’t have a child for unknown reasons, so Sohrab would be like a son to them. America is where Amir finally started his phase of redemption to Hassan for taking care of his son.
My kellie :) i find it funny reading that you choose Kite Runner, thats the one i was going to choose!!! i liked how you shed light on the fact that amir looks at Afghanistan as the past and America as the future where was Hassan looks at Afghanistan as both.
ReplyDeleteBut i think that you could have focused more on America and Afghanistan instead of the problems. I did the same thing, summarized my book again. Ugh oh well. But other than that, good job!
Kell! You and Tori both made me really want to read this book. I better get on it. Anyway, your response was really concise and pleasant to read. Like Tori, I found it very interesting to know that Amir viewed Afghanistan as the past and America as the future, whereas Hassan views Afghanistan as both.
ReplyDeleteI did think that that you focused too much on the story's plot and not enough on the two places. I probably did the same thing, but maybe you could just briefly explain what happened in the book and focus more on the two settings and the characters experiences there, how it affected them, etc. Good job :]
I'm commenting on your blog cause the comment buttons weren't working on the others that I read, lol.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think your topic was a good choice for the kite runner (Afghanistan vs. America) but your points and examples were only clear sometimes, like the third paragraph.
I think the essay would have been stronger if you were a little clearer on the Afghanistan perspective, but the "new life in America" side was good.