The kite runner

of the English of the Concerned 14 November The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is indeed a saga of friendship spanning across generations, replete with moments of happiness and sorrow, bliss and joy, elation and regret. As the author says “ Of course, nothing is free in this world, and my pardon comes with a small price (Hosseini 63)”, The Kite Runner is essentially about the travails of a gentleman to resuscitate and revive the long lost bonds of friendship and to get over the guilt of silence, through sincerity, sacrifice and love.
The main character in the story that is Amir shares a deep and at the same time enervating bond with his Hazara servant Hassan as evinced by the line “ Did you know Hassan and you fed from the same breast (Hosseini 64).” In that context the dynamics of friendship between Amir and Hassan happens to be strange and peculiar, verging on the borders of what may be called a misplaced sibling rivalry, while at the same time being strengthened by bonds that only could be cast and preserved through blood. At the same time this friendship is marked by strong undertones of guilt affiliated to Amir, owing to his inability to show support and empathy for a friend, who is always willing to go beyond oneself to assure his happiness. This friendship carries the burden of an atrocity that though known to both the friends, born by one and callously sidelined and evaded by the other, never showing any inclination to bring it to the surface. The irony is that even Amir is also aware that Hassan is more than willing to let him go with his evasive stance, as he says “ And that was as close as Hassan and I ever came to discussing what had happened in the alley (Hosseini 69).”
Being in an immature phase of his life, Amir is totally possessed by the need for soliciting the approval of his father, further bolstered by his innate guilt of jilting Hassan when he most needed his support and sympathy, to the extent that he does not hesitate from planting Hassan in a stealing incident. The burden of the guilt becomes too much of an obsession with Amir and in his conscience he ends up believing that he could only redeem his peace back by pushing Hassan out of his life as he says, “ I want you to stop harassing me. I want you to go away (Hosseini 77).” However, as Amir matures to being a young man in a world far away from Afghanistan, he eventually realizes the need to expunge himself of his guilt and betrayal by going back to Afghanistan to find Hassan’s son. Finally when Amir manages to solicit a lopsided smile from Hassan’s son in climax, Amir manages to revive and seal the long lost friendship by repeating the words long ago said by Hassan “ For you, a thousand times over (Hosseini 323).”
To put it simply The Kite Runner is a beautiful story of gratitude and coming of age.
Works Cited
Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. London: Bloomsbury, 2004. Print.