The Kite Runner
The main themes in this book are betrayal and forgiveness. Betrayal is enduring and eventually becomes cynical in the book. For the most part of this book, Amir makes an effort to handle his guilt by evading it. However, doing so apparently does not help to redeem him; hence, the guilt endures and that is the reason Amir still cowers each time there is th mention of Hassan’s name. When Amir discovers about the betrayal of Ali by Baba, he comes to realize that each thing he believed he knew regarding his father was not true; ultimately, he feels betrayed. However, for fifteen years, Baba has been dead and there is nothing Amir can do. Apparently, neither feelings of punishment nor betrayal are sufficient to redeem him. Notably, only when he makes a decision to take Sohrab to America and offer his nephew an opportunity to prosper and be happy does Amir take the required steps towards redemption and reparation.
The notions regarding forgiveness permeate the novel. For instance, Hassan’s actions indicate that he has forgiven the betrayal of Amir, even though Amir is supposed to spend the whole novel to learn regarding the forgiveness nature. The way Baba treats Hassan shows his effort to gain public forgiveness for everything he has not even accepted publicly to have committed.
However, the individual who speaks most heartrendingly about the forgiveness nature is found to be Rahim Khan. In this sense, in the letter he wrote to Amir, he asks him to forgive him for hiding Baba’s secret but he also adds, “God will forgive.” (Hosseini 263). In this case, Rahim has confidence that God the Almighty will forgive all wrongdoings, and he gives Amir full encouragement to do the same.
Rahim is aware that it is only God who willingly forgives every person asking to be forgiven, but it is human beings who find hard to forgive others. Therefore, the only way to have full forgiveness is when a person forgives him or herself, and that is only realized when a person has truly made an effort to atone for the wrongdoings that he or she has committed.
To conclude, it is clear that the major themes in The Kite Runner are betrayal and forgiveness. Through the novel’s characters and setting, the reader can find out that there is widespread betrayal. On the same note, one can realize that the best cure to betrayal and any other wrongdoing is forgiveness.
Work Cited
Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. A&C Black, 5 Sep 2011.