Analyse how the strengths and/or weaknesses of a character reinforced a key idea

The novel, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, tells the story of an Afghan boy named Amir. Amir constantly finds himself in traumatic situations, however, is always rescued by his servant and only ‘friend’, Hassan. One day the roles were reversed when Hassan was sexually assaulted by the town bullies. Amir had the opportunity to be the hero for once but didn’t and this haunted him for the next 26 years of his life. During moments in this text, Hosseini gives us insight into Amir’s inner strengths and weaknesses including acceptance, selfishness and courage. Through these traits, we can see that what Amir wants most is to feel redeemed from the guilt that his younger self caused. Khaled Hosseini uses Amir’s strengths and weaknesses to show that there are many layers for one to feel redeemed which include that there it is a journey to find redemption, redemption must be faced head-on, and to feel it you must feel internally balanced.

Redemption does not happen instantly. It takes the strength of accepting why you need it and realising it involves a long journey to gain. Acceptance means that an individual is willing to tolerate and work with not against a difficult situation. Amir does not develop this trait of acceptance for the 26 years he needs it most but when he finally does his life changes for the good. The Kite Runner opens the book with a flash-forward of Amir reflecting on his life. He was walking through Golden Gate Park when an old friend Rahim Khan called and offered a chance to make amends with his past. Amir knew he would have to take this proposal when he acknowledges, “I knew it wasn’t Rahim Khan on the line. It was my past of unatoned sins.” This phone line connecting Amir back to Kabul is not seen, it is invisible just hanging above him. However, it is still there, just like his undealt with sins that are constantly hanging over Amir without being seen. Taking this offer means that Amir is finally showing the strength of acceptance. Accepting that earning redemption means he has to begin this journey sometime, somewhere and that is now. Amir furtherly embraces acceptance when he states “The past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alleyway for the past twenty-six years.” He has finally realised that this painful memory that he has been timidly but frequently ‘peeking’ at is there because he is choosing to keep doing so. It is highlighting that by continuing to look inside the alleyway, Amir is never going to feel redeemed in himself. When Amir recognises these factors in the first chapter of the book and chooses to use the strength of accepting, it opens him and the audience up to the theme of redemption. Hosseini uses Amirs newly gained strength of acceptance to illustrate the idea that redemption is not just handed over to someone in need of the feeling. It takes accepting the fact of the sin then accepting that you actually have to take a journey to find it. The purpose Khaled Hosseini is trying to communicate to his readers is the fact that it may take as long as 26 years, but by acknowledging you have to take this one step or that one opportunity, it brings you onto the road of redemption.

When pushing something out of sight, it does not necessarily mean out of mind when it comes to feeling redeemed. Doing this is simply selfish. For Amir selfishness is a weakness he has carried throughout the entire novel. Although this was elevated after Hassan was sexually assaulted. Amir did not know how to feel or what to do. Selfishness took over him when he could not stand to look at Hassan anymore, driving Amir to frame him. He planted his new watch and birthday money under Hassan’s bed then told Baba it was Hassan. This lead to Hassan and his father leaving. During this scene, Amir states, “I lifted Hassan’s mattress and planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it…then I knocked on Baba’s door and told what I hoped would be the last in a long line of shameful lies.” Amir was doing whatever it took to get the feeling of redemption he so desperately craved. To him, it did not matter how selfish it was, he was just trying to cover up his own mistakes because he thinks this will give him the feeling of being redeemed. His weakness of selfishness develops the idea redemption further when Amir thinks “A part of me was glad. Glad that this would all be over with soon.” This portrays that it did not matter to Amir that he had just betrayed his only friend, his selfishness meant that the only thing that mattered was that he thought would finally feel redeemed. Through Amir’s selfishness, Hosseini reinforces the idea of redemption. That someone could do something so wrong without acknowledging that it could affect anyone but themselves. Amir pushed Hassan away for selfish reasons, although after this Amir does not feel any better than he did before. It proves that the feeling of redemption cannot be felt by pushing something to somewhere you cannot see. Like said before out of site does not mean out of mind. The author does this to make us understand that hiding your guilt will not make you feel any better. It takes standing up to the problem head-on because, in the eyes of redemption, selfishness will get an individual nowhere. The whole idea of it is to do something for the person you have done wrong.

The feeling of redemption is only felt when you be courageous by making the leap to feeling equal with your sin. Courage is a strength because you are acting in spite of the danger and being brave. Amir does not develop this trait early on in the book since he is the one constantly being stood up for. However, the day he chooses to fight for Sohrab, Amir finally develops this strength of being courageous. Amir put aside what could happen to him for once and fought because he knew this was how he was going to get Sohrab back and he was going to do it no matter what. During the fight, Amir thinks to himself, “My body was broken- just how badly I wouldn’t find out until later- but I felt healed. Healed at last. I laughed.” This demonstrates that even though Amir was so physically beaten and almost at death point, he felt so redeemed that it was funny. Amir believes that the result from his act of courage was what he deserved because he finally feels internally equal to what he did 26 years earlier. He then goes onto thinking, “What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace. I laughed because I saw that, in some hidden nook in a corner of my mind, I’d even been looking forward to this.” As much as Amir thought his sins were in the past and that he had moved on, they were always there ‘hidden’ in the back of his mind. He now knows that finding the courage in himself to try to feel balanced means that you will feel redeemed. Hosseini reinforces the idea that you have to act up and be brave to feel equal to what you have done. Redemption comes as a result of this because it is an internal feeling. The value Hosseini adds makes the audience recognise that an individual could wait a lifetime to try and have this feeling of redemption but at the end of the day, all it takes is the courage to stand up and make yourself feel balanced however that may be.

The idea of redemption is explored throughout The Kite Runner through Amir’s strengths and weaknesses. Inside the novel, he gains the trait of acceptance, obtains his selfishness but grows to become courageous. Within these, the audience comes to recognise key ideas of redemption. The author makes us understand that it takes a journey to find redemption as it does not just come to anyone at any time, and you have to accept that it will be a long road ahead. We also come to the understanding that the craving for the feeling can take over an individual, causing them to make heartless decisions that will only benefit themselves. Finally, the fact that redemption is an internal feeling, meaning that in order to feel it, you have to feel balanced to what is making you feel this way. Hosseini communicating these ideas makes us as an audience understand how these traits can develop the idea of redemption further. We come to see that there is a lot more to redemption than what meets the human eye. Readers can use Amir’s journey of how his different characteristics portrayed different ideas within redemption to reflect on our own times in need of the feeling.