Analyse how specific events reinforced your understanding of one or more ideas. “Ideas” may refer to character, theme, or setting

The novel, the Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini tells the story of Amir, a young boy growing up in Afghanistan and the events of his life that moulded him into the person that he is today. These specific events in Amir’s life help to reinforce the idea that guilt is inescapable and while you may try to repress it, this will only lead to it taking over your entire life. The novel begins with Amir living in San Francisco and reflecting back on an impactful phone call that he had with a life long friend, Rahim Khan and is the first indication of a lingering sense of guilt that has resided in Amir for over 26 years. This idea of guilt is later presented after the kite competition of the winter of 1975, where Amir first betrayed his lifelong friend, Hassan and sacrificed a meaningful relationship only to be overcome with a guilty conscience in realising what he has done. Finally, this idea is reinforced in Amir’s second betrayal of Hassan, in which a desperate attempt to rid his father’s household of servants only heightens his sense of guilt and self-hatred. This idea of inescapable guilt is weaved seamlessly amongst these specific events to reinforce the idea that we cannot escape our past regrets and must face them if we are to move on from our mistakes in life. Together, the reflection of his phone call with Rahim Khan, the betrayal in the alleyway, and the attempt at removing Hassan from his household, force Amir to realise that the longer he represses his guilt, the more he will suffer. Only when he choses to make up for his mistakes will he be able to rid himself of a lifelong guilty conscience.

Throughout the novel, Amir’s driving force in achieving redemption, is his own sense of guilt. This lingering sense of guilt that plagues his conscience first becomes predominant in chapter 1 where he reflects back on recent phone call that he had with a lifelong friend, Rahim Khan. While the details of this event that has plagued his life with guilt and a sense of regret are vague, it is clear that they have moulded him into the person that he is today regardless. “The past claws it’s way out. Looking back now, I realise I have been peeking into that deserted alleyway for the past twenty-six years.” Here Amir explains that over the past 26 years, his attempts at burying his past regrets have gotten him nowhere, that they have figuratively ‘clawed’ their way out from the deepest parts of his mind to infiltrate the way that he thinks on an everyday basis. He has been ‘peeking’ into that deserted alleyway that functions as the source of his guilt for the past 26 years, and as time has gone on, Amir has chosen to suppress his guilt rather than face and and move on from it. When you suppress guilt, you do not rid yourself of it, just temporarily push it away as you don’t want to deal with it in the present. However, guilt festers over time and will become only more impactful over your life the longer that it sits with you. When presented with the opportunity “to be good again”, Amir knows that he now must face his mistakes so that he can move on from his past cowardice that has come to dominate his life. 26 years have gone by since this event, however, Amir’s guilty conscience is so dominating over his life, that it drives him towards wanting to make up for his regrets, illustrating how guilt lasts forever, and it’s power over your life will drive you towards redemption if you allow it do so.

As the novel progresses further, Hosseini illustrates just how powerful Amir’s guilt is in driving him to make decisions that will impact his life. After the kite competition of the winter of 1975, Amir witnesses the rape of his closest childhood ‘friend’ and servant, Hassan. He realises in that moment that he had only two choices. “I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan – the way he’d stood up for me all those times in the past – and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran.” The sense of guilt instilled in Amir through his father blaming him for the death of his mother, caused him to make the selfish decision to abandon a meaningful relationship in a desperate attempt to be redeemed by his father. The decision to run away created a festering guilty conscience in Amir that moulded the rest of his life. In earlier chapters it becomes apparent that Hassan would do anything for Amir, his loyalty undeterred regardless of the way that Amir treats him. However, the one time that Hassan needed him, Amir failed him due to his own selfish need for approval. There is a cruel irony in his motives for abandoning Hassan, as he “sacrifices” his friend for the blue kite and Baba’s approval, but it is clear in hindsight that Baba would have been pleased more if Amir had “stood up for himself” and done what was right, even in the face of danger. The scene in the alleyway demonstrates the lifelong power of guilt over your life. Although Amir committed this cowardly act at such a young age, it stuck with him for over 26 years, because even as the memories of the alleyway faded, the feeling of guilt that he was struck with upon realising the severity of his betrayal stayed with him for the remainder of his years. The act of attempting to bury this guilt beneath all of the other events of his life, ultimately proves unsuccessful as at times of weakness such as Baba’s death and his own marriage, glimpses of his betrayal infiltrate his mind, illustrating how a guilty conscience will stay with you as long as you let it. Until you actively seek redemption, you will forever be guilty for your actions in the past, regardless of how badly you have acted.

Amir’s selfish betrayal of Hassan in the alleyway is temporarily justified through Baba finally approving of his son after 12 years of neglect. However, this is only a temporarily fix, as Amir later realises just how selfish his “sacrifice” of Hassan was, and is struck with a sense of guilt that he is unable to deal with. Instead of repaying his actions and mending the relationship he sacrificed for Baba’s approval, Amir’s guilt drives him to make another hefty decision based on personal gain. After Baba refuses to rid the household of servants, including Ali and Hassan, Amir choses to frame Hassan for stealing, the only ‘sin’ that Baba cares about. “When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness… there is no act more wretched than stealing”. Thinking that there is no act worse than theft, Amir plants presents given to him for his 12th birthday beneath Hassan’s mattress. However, this set up does not play out the way that Amir had planned and far from easing his guilty conscience, his actions only heighten his sense of guilt. This is only another act of suppressing Amir’s guilt. He is trying to get the source of his guilt out of the picture so that he can ‘move on’ with his life. However, it is demonstrated in the novel, that suppressing your guilt will only lead to it resurfacing later in life at points of weakness. Until Amir actively makes a decision to make up for the past and seek redemption himself, his guilty conscience remains with him influencing the way that he sees himself and the decisions that he makes on a regular basis.