Diyana Atheer
ENG 3UI­DeVrieze
04­13­2015

A Chance to Redeem
It is natural for humans to make mistakes, and everyone has a chance to redeem themselves, because “There is [always] a way to be good again” (2). In
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini there are many examples of guilt and redemption. Amir, the main character in the story, commits many mistakes but he always finds a way to redeem himself and cover his mistakes. In order for Amir to beat the shadows that haunt him, he decides to rescue Sohrab, his best friend and half­brother’s son, and do for him what he did not do for Hassan. Baba also commits many mistakes, but he attempts to make up for them in his everyday life. There is always something people can do to expiate their guilt. Throughout Amir’s childhood, he constantly feels that his father blames him for his mother’s death and that he does not love him. Amir does everything he can to make up for the mistakes he made in the past. “I always felt like baba hated me a little. And why not? After all I had killed his beloved wife,” he says (19). Since Amir feels no love from Baba, he thinks of ways to make things right with him. Amir sees his father as a perfect man because everyone in their neighborhood looks up to him. In order to convince Baba that he is an ‘ideal’ son, Amir decides to sign up for the kite running competition, he sees it as the only opportunity to become closer to his father and prove

his worth. Amir tries to redeem himself, so that Baba does not blame him for the death of his mother anymore. Overall Amir did redeem himself by winning the kite running competition. In Hassan’s attempt to make Amir; his best friend, feel appreciated in any occasion, he decides to run the last kite for him even before he asks, saying, “For you thousand times over”(71) This shows Hassan’s loyalty to Amir and the love that he has for him. However, at the time Amir does not understand the full meaning and power of that phrase.When Hassan gets raped by Assef and his friends, Amir stands between two choices; either run, or stand up for his best friend. However, he decides to run away. For 27 years he waits to do anything in his power to take away the feeling of guilt.
When Rahim Khan calls him and tells him that “there is a way to be good again.”(2)
Amir takes his only opportunity to redeem himself and goes to rescue his nephew
Sohrab from Assef’s hands. Amir also stands up for Sohrab when his father­in­law calls him the “little Hazara kid,” After many years, Amir finally understands what it is like to love someone and willing to do everything in their power to make that person happy.
When he tells Sohrab “for you a thousand times over”(391) it refers to how much
Hassan loved