Theme of Redemption in The Kite Runner Essay Example

“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” Isaiah 44:22. The concept of redemption is to negate one’s actions through reversing or making amends for said actions. There are countless ways to categorize redemption but according to Catholicism, only God can truly decide if you’ve been fully redeemed. The Golden Rule is something from beliefs of Catholicism that could be agreed with.  In Khaled Hosseini’s book, The Kite Runner, Amir attempts but fails redemption. Based on the Bible, God can decide if you have redeemed yourself, you and others may have an opinion, but overall only God can truly decide. 

Amir had grown up living his life based on the Quran. Religion was important to him as well as his father. “Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay in order to win over Baba.”(Hossini 77) Amir had said. Jealousness is looked down upon in many religions. Amir was jealous of how close Baba was to Hassan, he had let Hassan be assaulted in exchange for Baba’s pride in Amir. While Amir watched Hassan be assaulted, he tried to justify the situation by inferencing that Hassan was the price he had to pay to win over Baba. By Amir standing there not doing anything, according to the Christian beliefs and the Bible, he had committed the Sin of Omission; he could have done something but instead walked away and pretended as if he never saw what had just happened in that Alley in Kabul. From the beliefs of the Bible, Amir will only know if he’s been redeemed by God. 

Redemption can mean different things to different people. Amir believes he’s redeemed himself from what had happened to Hassan by the meaning of these quotes, “What was so funny was that, for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace.”, “Are you satisfied now? He’d hissed. Do you feel better? I hadn’t been happy and I hadn’t felt better, not at all. But I did now.”(Hossini 289) Amir believed he was taking a beating for Hassan, he felt it was better because he let the person, Assef, who assaulted Hassan beat him up until he was almost dead. This is more of an eye to an eye view that Amir believes; he let Hassan be assaulted by Assef, so Amir took a beating to near death by Assef, for Hassan in order to redeem himself. For this beating, was the release of Hassan’s son, Sohrab. It had made Amir feel better as well as redeemed. Although he may feel like he has redeemed himself as well as believe it, from Christian beliefs, he has not redeemed himself.

Before Sohrab was in the hands of the Taliban, he was at an orphanage. “I don’t want to go to another orphanage,”(Hossini 324) Sohrab had said to Amir. “I won’t ever let that happen. I can promise you that.”(Hossini 324) Amir replied with. He had made a promise to Sohrab to never have him go back to an orphanage, but with it being difficult to bring Sohrab back to America, it was possible then that Sohrab would have to go back to an orphanage. Amir had told Sohrab of the promise being broken and Sohrab tried to end his life. “Stepped into the bathroom. Suddenly I was on my knees, screaming. Screaming through my clenched teeth.”(Hossini 343) Sohrab had begged and cried to Amir to have him not be sent back into an orphanage, but he had lied, a sin committed. In the Quaran, lying is one of the greatest sins, “...the curse of Allah be on him if he is one of the liars.” (Surah an-Nūr 24:8) states the Quaran.

Although Amir had lied to Sobrab, he ended up having great news, but that was not before it was too late; Sohrab was on the bathroom floor, losing more and more blood by the second. “For you, a thousand times over,”(Hossini 371) Amir had yelled to Sorab. Amir brought Sohrab back to the US in August of 2001. This is very significant because that is what Hassan had yelled to Amir right before he was assaulted. By Amir saying this and bringing Hassan’s son back home (to California) with him, he feels as if he’s done a good deed and has redeemed himself from letting Hassan be assaulted. Amir believes he’s this great person, yes he has done some good deeds, but that does not make up for the things he did in Afghanistan when he was young. 

Day of Judgment in the Catholic religion is the day where God judges you when you die based on how you lived your life.  The theory of living a good life and making good decisions according to God will allow one to be judged favorably including any redemption. Amir did not receive redemption because he has not yet been judged by God. The decision to not take action in the alley, cannot be undone. Morals are the difference between right and wrong, what Amir did in the alley on the day of the kite tournament was wrong. You chose between making choices that are religiously right and wrong. This decision to decide whether Amir has been redeemed is bigger than himself, he cannot decide overall. The Kite Runner has been portrayed to a reader by making the book a very consistent style of writing. A drastic event happens, then redemption is attempted to be received; the pattern continues. From growing up based on morals from the Bible, the value of taking action and not committing a sin to be worried about becoming redeemed, Amir has is not earned his redemption.