To what degree did Amir atone for his sins and gain redemption? “There is a way to be good again,” is a quote from Rahim Khan that comes up repeatedly throughout The Kite Runner. This story revolves around Amir, the protagonist, who tries to seek forgiveness and redemption after living twenty six years with unatoned sins. When Amir was twelve, he witnessed his loyal servant and friend, Hassan, get raped in an alley. Amir was too coward to intervene and stand up for his dear friend. Later, Amir betrayed Hassan by framing him and forced him to leave their house. These events shaped the rest of the novel as Amir tried to be good again by returning back to Afghanistan and saving Hassan’s son, Sohrab from danger. One of the major …show more content…

Amir realized that Rahim Khan not only wanted Amir to save Sohrab and bring him back; he also wanted Amir to adopt Sohrab and take him back to the United States where Sohrab could have a good life. Therefore, Amir asked Sohrab to come with him and he was willing to adopt him even though Sohrab was a hazara boy. On page 320, when Sohrab was crying, Amir asked him,“Would you like to come live in america with me and my wife?” Amir’s persistent effort to adopt Sohrab continued throughout the rest of the story as he did almost everything he could to take him back to the U.S. This shows Amir’s will to adopt him and redeem himself. While this is true, some people might argue that Amir wasn’t able to gain redemption because he was willing to leave Sohrab in an orphanage for a year in Pakistan, which led to Sohrab attempting suicide. However, Sohrab was able to recover and they went back to the United States by the end of the book.

By the end of the novel, Amir, driven by his guilt, was able to earn forgiveness and atone for his sins, which have been haunting him for many years. He was finally able to move on and start living by gaining redemption. However, the common themes such as: forgiveness, atonement and redemption go beyond this novel. We all will have to deal with atonement and redemption at some point in our