A Brief Analysis of the Recovery of Amir's Humanity in The Kite Runner

Abstract:In the 1970s, under the influence of Afghan culture, the writer of the novel and his friend led a life like Amir and Hasson. He put his experiences into the novel. Under the influence of paternal love and Afghan culture, Amir got rid of his guilt towards his half-blooded friend Hasson with the subsequent recovery of humanity. The author of the novel provided its readers with the vision of the Afghans and Afghan culture, based on some researches on The Kite Runner, its various translations and many other works about the Middle Eastern problems after the Afghan War. As is vividly depicted in the film adaption of the novel The Kite Runner, the writer gives us a dedicated description of the Afghans and Afghan culture, which seems warm and enviable. This paper explores the brittle relationship between father and son, human and God,individuals and the whole nation through the detailed analysis of Amir's cowardice in his childhood,his betrayal to Hasson in his adolescence, and his redemptive regrets in his adulthood. With the deep description of the customs and traditions of Afghan immigrants when they lost their motherland, and struggled to live with Americans, it is noticeable that the redemption does not equal happiness.

Key words: The Kite Runner; Amir; humanity;recovery

A Brief Analysis of the Recovery of Amir's Humanity in The Kite Runner

Outline

Thesis Statement: This paper analyzes Amir's removing of his guilt towards his half-blooded friend Hasson with the subsequent recovery of humanity under the influence of paternal love and Afghan culture in The Kite Runner.

I. Introduction

II. Amir's Cowardice in His Childhood

A. His Strong Desire for Paternal Love

B. His Inwardness Regulated by Afghanistan Culture

III. Amir's Betrayal of His Friend in His Adolescence

A. His Framing of Hasson

B. His Hurt to Hasson

IV. Amir's Redemptive Regrets in His Adulthood

A. His Memory of Childhood

B. His Regret to Half-Blooded Hasson

C. His Guilt to Sohrab

V. Conclusion

A Brief Analysis of the Recovery of Amir's Humanity in The Kite Runner

I.Introduction

According to Chicago Tribune, "The Kite Runner is a perspicacious, real and reasonable work. The great power of this novel is the compassionate description of the Afghans and the Afghan culture.The writer uses warm and enviable words to describe Afghanistan and its native citizens. It is a vivid work."1 However, if we follow Chicago Tribune's fundamental perception and we can learn much about Amir's humanity and the redemption. Amir, a young boy living in Afghanistan, betrays his best friend Hasson who is the son of his father's servant,Ali. Thus he takes the way of redemption. Under the influence of America in the 1970s, the writer described Afghans and the culture of Afghanistan.The Afghan immigrants, who lost their motherland,struggled to integrate into American lives, but they still had their own traditional customs. The scene of Afghanistan is comfortable and snug. Because of the two different races, they become nervous little by little. Under the circumstances, it is obvious that redemption does not equal happiness, and in this novel the kite stands for the delicate relationship between Amir and Hasson. When he recollects the past days in his childhood and adolescence, it is hurt that can not be healed. He participates in the kite competition in order to get the paternal love. When the sky is not full of kites, it seems unstable: the Taliban rulers are coming and the Afghans are not in freedom. The recovery of humanity reflects the course of Amir's growth from childhood to adulthood,giving up cowardice, picking up courage, and finally becoming mature and brave.

II.Amir's Cowardice in His Childhood

For children, paternal love means magical emotion, which can give them courage, concern, and happiness. Children of the same age often strive for the paternal love like Amir and Hasson.

A.His Strong Desire for Paternal Love

The day before the orphanage opened, Amir's father decided to take Hasson and him to the Ghargha Lake, a few miles north of Kabul. But he didn't want Hasson to go with them, so he lied to his father that Hasson had something to do. He even told his father that he had got cancer, but his father said nothing. He didn't know why his father treated him so indifferent. One day, he represented his class to participate in the poetry contest and won the first prize, he felt excited but his father just said his performance was good. Like the moment that he gave his father the short novel which he thought he wrote very carefully, his father just said he did a good job in the competition. He didn't realize that his father was an unfeeling person. After that, his father asked him to join in the football team, but he felt that he didn't have any ability to do that.Thus he became an audience and told his father this.To his surprise, his father thought he was absentminded. Before Hasson's birthday in early winter of 1974, he had already gotten several gifts from his father, so Amir was very upset. For a while, he used to ask what Hasson wanted, but he was giving up doing that then because Hasson was always too modest to actually suggest a present. In that year, his father gave Hasson a special gift, a plastic surgeon. The doctor planned to cure the harelip of Hasson. His father said this gift would accompany Hasson for the rest of his life, and he hoped that he could become disabled to some degree. In this way, maybe his father would show him mercy. He thought that it was unfair, for Hasson could get father's care even if he didn't do anything.

In winter, the kite competition would be held in every city of kabul, so his father bought a kite for him and Hasson. Sometimes, he didn't want his father to buy one for Hasson, and he hoped his father would be only very fond of him. In order to get his father's care, he decided to try his best in the kite competition. As a result, his father would give anything he wanted so that he would never lose any kite in the competition. If he won the competition,maybe his father would give more concern over him.He wanted his father to see an extraordinary son.During the competition, he looked at his father now and then, and he cared very much whether his father was surprised or not. At the moment when there were only two kites in the sky, all people clapped their hands, stamped their feet, screamed and cheered. He might took notice of his father. At last, he won the competition, and his father stood at the balcony of their house, clapping his hands, stamping his feet,screaming and cheering. He experienced the wonderful moment in his life when his father was proud of him.

B.His Inwardness Regulated by Afghanistan Culture

Afghanistan was a country whose citizens were of various religious beliefs. Islam was their main religion, which was divided into two parts, Sunni and Shiite2. Pushtuns3 was the largest ethnic group of Afghanistan, it took an important role in society,politics, economy and culture of Afghanistan. Sunni was the largest faction of Islam, and they called themselves Orthodox, which was opposite to the Shiite, Hazara's belief. The population of Hazara ranked the third of Afghanistan, and they had Mongolian blood. The inequality of Amir's family was equal to the inequality of enthnic groups in Afghanistan. He and his father were the host as Pushtuns while Hasson and Ali were the loyal servants as Hazara. Ali and Amir's father grew up together,but Amir's father did not admit that Ali was his friend though he said they were like brothers. The betrayal was not simply between friends but between enthnic groups. In this situation, Amir and Hasson hardly became friends, for the ethnic hierarchy was the gap between the two boys. In this way, it is apparent that the betrayal of him was due to the strong desire to get paternal love and praise, and thus Hasson was the person that he must give up.Maybe Hasson was just a Hazara. When he saw Hasson got humiliated, he also found the a reason why Hasson was just a Hazara. The Kite Runner shows the authoritative pattern of Afghans in the transition of society and politics in the 1970s.

III.Amir's Betrayal to His Friend in His Adolescence

Because of the strong desire for paternal love and praise, Amir chose to betray and frame Hasson.He found the excuse that Hasson was just a Hazara,and thus he could hurt him.

A.His Framing of Hasson

Ali and Hasson gave him a brand new book called Shahnameh, which had colored illustration and hard shell. In his opinion, they spent much money on this gift. Amir thought that he did not deserve the gift, so he also threw it into the gift heap in order not to burst into tears. He did much harm to Hasson, so he could not forgive himself. This was an opportunity that he could catch to forgive himself in some way. Later he decided to frame Hasson. He thought if Hasson admitted that he had stolen his birthday gift, his father would not like Hasson any more, and on the contrary he would get more paternal love than before. So at last he put his new watch and a lot of money on Hasson's bed, telling his father that it was Hasson that stole his watch. He thought that was the last lie and the excuse that he found to frame Hasson. Sometimes, Amir found he was regretful. Because it could not be changed again, he kept silent. His father decided to forgive Hasson although he had admitted that he stole Amir's watch.Unfortunately, Ali and Hasson wanted to leave. At that moment, he understood that he hurt them deeply and he saw that their eyes were red and teary. He knew if they really went away, he could not meet them forever. Under the influence of discrimination rooted in Afghan culture, they could not be respected by others. When they stayed here, his father treated them like friends, the real friends. So they could be respected all the time. No one could infer what would happen after they went away. On a rainy day,Ali and Hasson went to Hazarajat by his father's car. He saw the car disappearing from his view by little, Which made him upset, and for him this emotion did not exist before. He knew he had lost everything.

B.His Hurt to Hasson

From humanity, it was noticeable that his father was dissatisfied with him. He was cowardly and frail.After losing his mother, his father was everything.So Hasson always helped him retrieve the toy and retook the kite. Hasson seemed much more perfect than him. In order to get more paternal love, he decided to hurt Hasson. Every time he wanted to frame him,he always found the same excuse that Hasson was just a Hazara to make himself feel better. When he framed him, all things were different.

As the author wrote, Hasson was just a scapegoat.When he was young, he got teased and humiliated now and then. He could not say no or resist. When he grew up, he came back to the house where they lived before. Under the influence of discrimination and in order to protect the old house, he became the victim of race-baiting. He could do everything for Amir because of the hierarchy and the friendship between them. He treated Amir like warm-heart friends, but Amir did not treat him as a friend. He was a real scapegoat.

IV. Amir's Redemptive Regrets in His Adulthood

When he grew up, the mercy of Afghans had been out of existence, but they could not avoid being slaughtered. At Kabul, fear was omnipresent, which was just one thing of their lives.

A.His Memory of Childhood

Amir always recollected the days when they lived together. When he left Kabul for Peshawar4, he remembered many things about Hasson and himself. When he looked at the corner of the wall, he remembered they played glassball there every time in the past.

His father found a job at Washington Avenue and was proud of him. At that time, his father was amiable when he said if Hasson were here, it would be better. When they drove a car from East Bay to Penisula, he saw the real sea, which he saw on the book when he was in Afghanistan. At that time, he sat close to Hasson and thought they would walk along the seaside one day. After several months he fell in love with Soraya, who was Taheri General's daughter.At that time, his father got cancer. He told all things to Soraya except something about Hasson. The next day, they got engaged with the agreement of his father and her father. His father said that day was the most important day of his life.

B.His Regret to Half-Blooded Hasson

One day, Amir told Soraya that he need go to Pakistan because Rahim Khan was seriously ill. The last sentence Rahim Khan said was that there was a way to be good again. In the dream of Amir, Hasson was running on the grassland while he was singing with smile. So he came there immediately. After he arrived at Peshawar, he knew something brutal that happened in his homeland, Afghanistan. The last time he met Rahim Khan was the night when he fled from Kabul. At that time Rahim Khan was thin. From 1992 to 1996, Taliban dominated Kabul, and Northern Alliance occupied Kabul, so citizens in Kabul found any methods to keep them away from danger. The orphanage was destroyed and there were many corpses of children in it. Finally, the Afghans gained peace.

Rahim Khan told Amir that he lived with Hasson in his house. In 1986, Hasson would be 22 years old or 23 years old if he was still alive at that time.Fortunately, he found Hasson, his wife and the unborn baby, but Ali died. The next day, they decided to move to Kabul with Rahim Khan, but they didn't move into the house because of respect. So they came to the dunghill, where Hasson lived before. In autumn of that year, Hasson's wife had a dead baby, and Hasson buried her behind the house. In winter of 1990, Hasson got his son called Sohrab, which was the name of the person who was the hero that Hasson liked most in Shahnameh. Those days in Kabul were like in the hell. In winter, Hasson took his son to run the kite, but there were no kite competition because Kabul was in danger so no one dared to stay long. In 1998, Taliban began to slaughter Hazara at Mazare Sharif. In order to protect the house, Hasson and his wife were killed by shooting. Amir read the letter twice, which Hasson wrote in Farsi with childlike and neat handwriting he just learned.

C.His Guilt to Sohrab

Rahim Khan asked Amir to go to Kabul to save Sohrab, which was not about money, but he didn't want to Kabul at all hazards. After he recollected the days with Hasson, he wanted to admit that Hasson was his half-blooded brother. There were nearly 250 orphans in the orphanage, but the boy was taken away by Taliban alone. When he saw the boy who was poor and heartrending at last, he saved him from innumerable trials and hardships. They went to a hotel after they left there. In the hotel they stayed, Sohrab told him something about his father and mother, but Sohrad failed to get the impression that they left him with. At the same time, he did not know why people always hurt his father. Such a young boy could not understand the adverse effect of hierarchy and Amir could not explain it to him.

When they arrived at America several days later,she welcomed Amir and the boy, who was pious and well-behaved with smile. They gave Sohrab a new comfortable bedroom and treated him like their own son. They promised Sohrab that they would do everything for him, and they would not hurt him. One day, Amir and his wife went to fly the kite in a beautiful park with Sohrab, which made him recollect the memory of the childhood. In a sense, Amir and Sohrab or Amir and Hasson, were the best partners in the kite competition. One could do everything for the other. At last Amir asked Sohrab to run the kite for him. Sohrab gave a nod as the signal, which helped Amir to recollect his memory of the sentence that Hasson once said when they were young. In some senses, Amir achieved the redemption of himself.

V. Conclusion

The plot of this story is like the rhythm of life, and the climax of this novel is brutal but beauteous. The writer presents us with the culture and history of his homeland and puts his own experience into the novel. This novel is not simply about the political problems in the Middle East but a story about the real Afghanistan, a beautiful country. Although the protagonist Amir makes several mistakes, he feels self-condemned day and night.In this way, it is apparent that he gets pricks of conscience. Amir did something wrong in his life,so he should have much courage and confidence to face the condition. He went back to Pakistan to find Hasson alone and wanted to beg for Hasson's to forgiveness. After he knew the tragedy, he came to Kabul where was at war or in violence. After Amir saved the boy, he achieved the redemption of himself.He and his wife guaranteed Sohrab a sweet life. They promised him that they would do anything for him,and they would not hurt him. Some days later, the boy spoke to them with smile on his face. Actually,if the protagonist could not realize what he did was wrong and get the redemption of himself, maybe he would not forgive himself forever. Amir flew a kite with the boy and run the last kite like Hasson that day. They helped Sohrab out of autism and at last they lived a happy life.

From the novel, it is obvious that the kite not only symbolizes family affection, friendship, and love but also symbolizes righteousness, kindness, and honesty. The delicate relationship between Amir and Hasson is just like the flying kite in the sky. The sky just stands for the peaceful Afghanistan when they were little boys. For Amir, the kite reveals his cowardice and selfishness of his personality when he was young. When he catches up with the kite,he can become the person who has healthy personality and the man who he expects to be. So when he grows up, he catches up with the kite and retrieves the losing personality. The course of his growth is equal to the course of the recovery of his humanity.The Kite Runner enjoys great popularity all over the world: on the one hand, the writing method is skillfully used; on the other hand, the writer puts his own experience into this novel. This novel also discloses the social hierarchy in real Afghanistan.They choose to face up to the different kinds of contradictions without considering the nation and religion.

Bibliography

【1】Hosseini, Khaled, The Kite Runner. London:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2004.

【2】Sheraz, Umar."Foresight as a Tool for Sustainable Development in Natural Resources: The Case of Mineral Extraction in Afghanistan," (Resources Policy, Pakistan: 1Senior Policy Analyst, 2014), 39.

【3】Clark Peter, Sillup George P. and Gapo Joseph A. "Afghanistan, Poppies, and the Global Pain Crisis," Medical Science Monitor, (Philadephia:Saint Joseph's University, 2012), 16.

【4】傅小强 "《中国周边民族宗教概况》专题之六——阿富汗民族宗教概况,"《国际资料信息》2002(3),第12页.

【5】卡勒德•胡塞尼著,李继宏译 《追风筝的人》,上海:上海人民出版社,2006.

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Notes

1.Chicago Tribune, The Comments of The Kite Runner (Amir's Cowardice, 2006), 79.

2.卡勒德•胡塞尼著、李继宏译,《追风筝的人》,上海:上海人民出版社,2006年,第8页.

3.Clark Peter, Sillup George P. and Gapo Joseph A."Afghanistan, Poppies, and the Global Pain Crisis,"Medical Science Monitor, (Philadephia: Saint Joseph's University, 2012), 16.

4.Sheraz Umar, "Foresight as a Tool for Sustainable Development in Natural Resources: The Case of Mineral Extraction in Afghanistan," Resources Policy, (Pakistan: Senior Policy Analyst, 2014), 39.