Prompt

At the end of the first chapter, Rahim Khan tells Amir, “There is a way to be good again.” Why does this become so significant once we see what happens at the end of chapter 7? Then at the end of chapter 12, Soraya divulges the secret of her past, and Amir forgives her but is also envious of her courage. Why does he envy her? Why is this significant? How have your mistakes in the past haunted you? Have you ever wanted to tell someone your secrets and be forgiven so that you could be good again? How did that work out? Write a short essay of three paragraphs or less that demonstrates your understanding of The Kite Runner up to this point in the story.

Essay

Throughout the Kite Runner, there are a lot of interesting questions and recurring themes that continuously lures the readers to continue reading. At the start of the book, the author foreshadows the upcoming event by implementing the quote “There is a way to be good again.” Later on in the book, we find out that Amir struggles with the choices he made when he was young, as we witnessed his best friend getting raped and sacrificing him for his father’s attention. Amir was not able to handle the guilt, therefore attempting to unload it, and yet he gets away with it constantly, therefore this quote explained a way for Amir to redeem himself, and creates a mystery in the hearts of the reader. Ultimately, the book includes a hook that gradually grabs the attention of the readers slowly.

    In chapter 12, the soon to be wife of Amir, Soraya, opened up to Amir hoping for a promising marriage. She explained that she had eloped with another man without permission and was caught by her father later on. For Amir, this was huge as he had tried numerous ways of exposing his secrets indirectly, and yet he couldn’t, but for Soraya, she was able to do so. In the perspective of Amir, she could live on without the guilt, while Amir’s secret haunts him constantly. And this is significant as the theme or irony appears once again, going to America, was a way for Amir to forget his past life and start with a clean slate, however, the second Soraya opened up to Amir, Amir in some ways feels obliged to open up as well, which he couldn’t do, meaning Amir continue accumulating guilt from his little secret. It seems to us that no matter how hard Amir tries to escape his past, his secret always finds a way to follow up.

    Though the storyline of the book seemed to have nothing in common with my life, there are times when I could draw a parallel to Amir’s situation. Though this isn’t on the same scale as Amir’s secret, but often, I would do things (knowing it is wrong) and remain silent when questioned (or so to say, having my brother take the blame). Many of the times, when I saw my brother arguing with my parents, trying to clarify it was not his doing, there would be forces urging me to admit my faults, but then I would have a reality check and be reminded that there would be consequences. Therefore I would always hide behind my brother for certain acts, and usually got away with it.