The Importance of Forgiveness

Forgiveness is essential to daily life. An important person does the unthinkable, and finally that person earns forgiveness. It is important to forgive oneself, so one can forgive others, too. In The Kite Runner, novelist Khaled Hosseini tells about the past of the Afghan refugee, Amir, and about the importance of forgiveness regarding to what happens in Afghanistan a long time before Amir arrives in America. Amir grows up in Kabul with his prosperous father, Baba, who has two servants, Ali, and his son, Hassan. Amir and Hassan are best friends until Hassan is raped, and Amir doesn’t help him. Amir can’t get over his guilt, so he takes it out on Hassan and treats him very badly. Thus, Hassan and Ali leave …show more content…

Hassan stands up for Amir many times, but Amir can’t stand up for Hassan when Hassan gets raped, and Amir can’t get over his guilt. When Amir goes back to Kabul, Rahim Kahn tells Amir to rescue Sorhab, Hassan’s son, from an orphanage in Kabul. Even though at first Amir doesn’t want to, he does finally go looking for Sorhab. Amir knows that this is his chance to make up for his past. He knows that he has to do this for Hassan. Therefore, Amir hits the road and finds Sorhab not in the orphanage, but held captive by Assef. Amir finally stands up for someone, for Hassan’s son, and gets brutally beaten up by Assef. Amir feels great. “I laughed … and the harder I laughed, the harder he kicked me … I’d even been looking forward to this … my body was broken… but I felt healed“ (289). Amir knows that this is his punishment, and he knows that he deserves it. Standing up for Hassan’s son and later taking care of him lets Amir finally get over his guilt and forgive himself. Overall, the novel shows that everybody deserves to be forgiven; it may take more time for some to forgive, but in the end all the characters forgive each other. Hassan gets brutally raped, and his best friend doesn’t stand up for him. As much as it hurts, Hassan forgives Amir right away. Baba is a hero to Amir, at least until Rahim Kahn tells him about Baba’s dishonesty. Baba lies about what his relationship to Hassan really