Amir as a
Hero
By Rosie Wilson
Amir is not initially a hero....
he is a coward,
up until the eighteenth chapter.
Reasons for Amir’s cowardly nature:
• Longing for a father that feels detached from his son.
• Having a Hazara servant, Hassan, who longs for Amir's acceptance – therefore
doing anything Amir asks of him, including taking blames for things Amir made
him do.
• Feeling of worthlessness as he thinks that he did not grow to be like his
father.
•Burdened with guilt – his mother died while giving birth to him and
witnessed Hassan get raped then not telling anybody.
The turning point.
The 17th -18th chapters mark the turning point in Amir's attitude towards atonement,
after been told that Hassan was infact his half-brother, Rahim Khan explains that he
also had a recently orphaned son – Sohrab.
“there is a way to be good
again”
Amir and his father were a lot more alike
than Amir ever thought, ironically his
father had a secret too – Hassan.
After hearing this news, Amir feels he can now
break away the ‘chains’ that have been holding
him back in his past and begin to right his wrongs.
Since Hassan is dead, the only way he can right his
wrongs with Hassan is with his son, Sohrab.
Small acts of heroism.
These build up to the main and
most important and challenging act.
The fact Amir agreed to do this, is a big step for him – usually he would
have backed out of any sort of conflict but he has allowed himself to take
this chance.
On his journey to find Sohrab, the driver – Farid – lets him stay at his house
over-night. Amir thought that his children were eyeing up his watch – so he
gave them his watch, showing generosity, later realising that they were actually
looking at his food.
The family is poor and they shared what little food
they had with Amir, Amir took it in his own hands to
give them what they needed and so he hid money
underneath a mattress for them to find.
Main heroic act in The Kite Runner.
Saving Sohrab:
Amir has to fight his childhood bully in order to save Sohrab as
Assef is now a Talib and took Sohrab from the orphanage.
Assef batters and breaks Amir’s body – but though his body
broken Amir
“felt healed at last”
This is the ultimate heroic act because he had to fight his own battles for the
first time in his life – but this was not only to benefit himself, this gave an
orphan, who was also his nephew, a second chance.
Because Amir felt the pain he had given to others, especially Hassan,
from Assef his journey is almost complete, it finishes when he finally can
take Sohrab to America with him and give him another chance with
family.
Amir is now a hero.
His change in confidence after succeeding in saving his nephew means
that he now knows that he needs to be a role model for Sohrab, he
would do anything for him – like how Hassan was with Amir – he wants
to be a hero in Sohrab’s eyes.
He stands up for Sohrab when General Taheri asks about him, calling
Sohrab a “Hazara boy”, Amir corrects him by stating that Sohrab has a
name and then goes on to tell General Taheri the story that a Hazara is his
half-brother – this shows real confidence since reputation is very
important to Afghans and Amir just clouded his.
The change in Amir through this atonement is very significant, he has
went from being a cowardly man, tied down by his past to a matured
adult - finally free from the burden of his past, and willing to stand up to
anyone that gets in the way of his life, he broke various bones and got
beaten to a pulp not just for his nephew, but so that a bully learns a
lesson he can never forget
- that is a hero.