The Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini. The novel is about the relationship between two boys, Amir and Hassan. The story is set in Afghanistan, and explores the themes of friendship, betrayal, and love.
The novel opens with a brief history of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union’s invasion of the country. The narrator, Amir, then tells us his story. Amir is from a wealthy family, and Hassan is from a lower-class background. The two boys are friends, but their relationship is strained by their different economic backgrounds.
After the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, Amir and Hassan are forced to flee to Pakistan. They eventually return to Afghanistan after the Taliban regime is overthrown. Amir becomes successful in America, while Hassan remains in Afghanistan.
The novel explores the theme of love through the relationship between Amir and Hassan. The two boys are friends, but their relationship is tested by their different economic backgrounds. Amir betrays Hassan, and this betrayal weighs heavily on him throughout the novel. However, Amir eventually comes to realize that his love for Hassan is stronger than anything else. The Kite Runner ultimately demonstrates that love can triumph over betrayal and hatred.
In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the sacrifice one makes for love is depicted. Amir, Hassan, and Baba are all subjected to major events throughout the book that shape them as individuals. Each of them gives up a portion of their own pleasure in order to benefit their loved one. Even though Amir was not a good friend in childhood, Hassan remains loyal to him. In order for Amir to obtain an education in America, Baba sacrifices his life in Afghanistan. Amir risks his life so that Sohrab, Hassan’s son, may have justice after doing harm to him.
The novel shows different types of love, but the most important is the father-son relationship. The theme of love is dominant throughout The Kite Runner and Hosseini uses this to show the reader that even when times are tough, there’s still room for love and relationships in our lives.
One example of love in The Kite Runner is Hassan’s loyalty to Amir. In their childhood, Amir was never really a good friend to Hassan. He would always take advantage of Hassan and would never stand up for him. “Hassan was my loyal friend, my faithful companion.
But I never truly was his. I betrayed him long before…I used him” (Hosseini 56). Despite all of the things Amir put Hassan through, Hassan was still always there for him. He was always loyal and would do anything for Amir. Another example of love in The Kite Runner is Baba sacrificing his life in Afghanistan for Amir to have an education in America.
Baba knows that if he stays in Afghanistan, Amir will not be able to get the education he deserves. “I’m sending you to America. You’ll go to school there, become a doctor or a lawyer, something we could never have done here” (Hosseini 153). This shows how much Baba loves Amir and is willing to do anything for him to have a better life. The last example of love in The Kite Runner is Amir risking his life for Sohrab, Hassan’s son.
Amir knows that he needs to repay the wrong he commits against Hassan and the only way to do that is by rescuing Sohrab from Assef. “It was never about redemption. It was about you and me. I wanted to be good again. No, I wanted to be great. And for that, I needed Hassan’s son” (Hosseini 280). This shows how Amir has grown as a person and how much he has changed since the beginning of the novel.
Throughout the novel, Hassan, Baba, and Amir all exemplify the theme of self-sacrifice for those you care about. Hassan and Amir grew up in different circumstances as a result of their economic status and race. In hazaran, Hassan lives in a servant house on Amir and Baba’s property whereas Amir and Hassan are friends owing to their differences, except that Amir understands that they are not equal, creating trust disparity.
The night of the kite flying tournament, when Amir won and Hassan ran to retrieve the fallen kite, Hassan was caught and brutally raped by Assef. The event changes both boys’ lives forever. The relationship between Baba and Amir is always a little rocky. Baba feels that he needs to toughen Amir up in order for him to become a man.
The two characters butt heads quite often but they are able to overcome it because they have each other. The one thing that Baba has always wanted was a son that could stand up for himself. The only person that can get Baba to see eye to eye with anything is his lifelong friend Rahim Khan. Khaled Hosseini uses these three relationships to show how The Theme of Love can have a positive or negative effect.
The novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini tells a story of love, sacrifice, and betrayal. The book starts off with the narrator, Amir, telling us about his childhood in Afghanistan and his current life in America. We learn that Amir has not been back to Afghanistan since he was a child and he is now living in San Francisco with his wife Soraya. The reason he has not been back is because of the guilt he feels for what happened to Hassan. Hassan was Amir’s best friend and servant growing up. He was also a Hazara, which is an ethnic group that is discriminated against in Afghanistan.
His loyalty is unwavering, and he decides to keep the kite. Amir believes that Hassan does not know that Amir did not assist him in his ally until one day he discovers that Hassan knew all along. “He understood I’d witnessed everything in the alley, including his betrayal.
The theme of love is reoccurring in Khaled Hosseini The Kite Runner, he uses the characters to show how important Love is and how different types of love affect people. Hassan’s undying loyalty to Amir, Rahim Khan’s selfless actions for both Hassan and Amir, and Sohrab finally trusting Amir all demonstrate Hosseini’s thoughts on love.
Different types of love are present in The Kite Runner, the three main being family love, father-son love, and friendship love. The first instance of love is when Hassan shows his loyalty to Amir. It does not matter what the situation is Hassan will always be there for Amir no questions asked; this could be seen as a form of family love. Hassan is not blood related to Amir but, he is the closest thing to a brother that Amir has ever had. The second type of love displayed in The Kite Runner is father-son love. Baba does not express his love for Amir often but, it is seen through his actions.