Final Response

I have always heard of the Kite Runner story and believe I have read segments of it in the past; however, I never had the opportunity to read the entirety of it as I had in the past months. It is definitely a book that I feel proud of reading and have enjoyed tremendously given the connection and my want to read such an amazing and inspiring story.

The novel brought me many mixed feelings throughout different segments of the reading. From the beginning, when Khaled Hosseini depicted the childhood of the protagonist, Amir, I felt extreme hatred toward him. In my opinion, he was a wealthy, coward, ignorant, selfish, and jealous boy who had no reason to be, he was gifted with the best friend ever and one of the best lives in Afghanistan. He should have embraced and enjoyed life along with his father and Hassan, but instead decides to ruin everything, letting his feelings of jealousy and lack of bravery get to him. I could never, and still don’t, forgive Amir for letting his half-brother, (best friend at the time) get sexually abused. He should have at least reacted in some way to try and stop the act. In addition, when Amir plants the money and his watch under Hassan’s pillow to blame him of theft was the end of the line for me. That is just cruel for a child who is fortunate of gaining such gifts to frame a poor unfortunate Hazara boy that not only works for his family but also spent his entire life paying and living with Amir. Scenes like these showed who Amir really was in the novel, and it took me time to look at him differently.

It came to the point where Hosseini moves from childhood to early adulthood in Amir’s life when his move is depicted form Kabul to America. I found that Amir, even though an eighteen year-old man at this point, kept displaying child-like feelings while he was within the boundaries of Afghanistan. It is like the borders of his home country prevented him from growing into a real man that could stand up for himself and take his own decisions. Baba would always over power him and stand up for him when he couldn’t, it was time to grow up and be a man, and I believe America was the solution for it. In America , Amir definitely grew up a little and gained his confidence. He displays this growth in several instances, such as when Baba was having a fit at the store when they asked his I.D., and Amir calms him down and takes him out of the store. He stands up for the name of his family and their reputation and finally takes his own rational decisions. A major breakthrough in my opinion for Amir was when he went against Baba’s view in his future career. When baba wanted him to become a doctor or take part in any other high paying job, Amir says he wants to become a writer no matter what, and that shows his self-confidence and eagerness to study something that he enjoys. Yet another sign of maturity is when he meets Soraya, and basically has love at first sight. Even though his confidence in future career has risen, his confidence in talking to women clearly had not since it took him over a year at the flea market to finally talk to her. Nevertheless, he finally does and it becomes a mutual relationship. His ultimate display of confidence is when he asks baba to ask the general for his blessing to have Amir marry Soraya.

Amir’s journey through life took him in many different directions, and mad him take difficult decisions in life that may have affected him negatively. He lived his life in the search to possibly repay all of his negative actions and decisions in his childhood, the memories that have lurked with him for his entire life and the memories that he rejects deeply but still doesn’t have the courage to tell the world that he did mistake. The best feeling in the world is to relieve the weight from the chest by saying a secret out load or simply telling the truth and accepting your mistake. It is hard, but it will only be a moment’s hardship instead of a lifetime of regret. We have all been in this situation and the best solution is to speak the truth and release the secrets and burdens that are keeping us down form growing in life. On this note, I believe Amir’s decision to finally travel to Kabul and adopt Sohrab was his ultimate moment of joy and some sort of pay back to Hassan for all the negative actions Amir committed or let be committed on him. He does it partly on guilt but also partly on love for both having a son, and the love he had always felt for Hassan, but that may have been hidden by his childhood feelings.

Kite runner was a great book that I really enjoyed reading. Even though it is mostly depressive, the few moments of glory, learning, surpassing challenges, and coming true to the world make it all worth it.