Essay --

â€Å"There is a way to be good again† (2). This thought repeats through Amir's mind over and over throughout Khaled Hosseini's novel, The Kite Runner. This is the story of a boy who struggles to find redemption. The author illustrates the story of Amir and how it is not possible to make wrongs completely right again because it is too late to change the past. In this novel, Hosseini shows that redemption is obtainable. Hosseini shows that guilt is the primary motivation for someone who seeks redemption. In this novel, redemption is not when things are justified, but when the wrong has been done and cannot change to be right. As defined in a letter to Amir by an old family friend, Rahim Khan, redemption is when the guilt from something wrong leads to something good (302). Because of events that Amir is faced with, Hosseini illustrates a story where a big part of guilt plays in the desire for redemption. Guilt is a strong incentive in a quest for redemption. Rahim Khan says to Amir â€Å"there is a way to be good again† in the beginning of the novel, insinuating that there was hope and that there was a way for Amir to have peace with himself. This phrase was something that continuously repeated in Amir’s mind throughout the novel which was a reminder that there was a way to be rid of the guilt; a way to be good again. Amir begins his story by saying â€Å"I became what I am today at the age of 12† (1). It is noticed that he says â€Å"what I am today† rather than â€Å"who† and finishes the chapter leaving the reader with a slightly bitter feeling that the narrator has a dark past that he can not forget. He gives the idea that he is not happy with who he has become, and it was his wrongdoing that made it that way it was. Amir basis his guilt through his mem... ...his needs and his lack of standing up for himself. Another character who was searching for redemption in this novel was Amir's wife Soraya. Before they got married, she confesses to him about the time she ran away with someone as a teenager and clears up her past which had also haunted her (164). Even after she confessed to Amir, people still talked down about her because of her past (178). Amir, like Baba, Rahim Khan and Soraya, sinned by what he had done wrong, or rather what he didn’t do right. This caused guilt that he attempted to hide, but the memories and the past continued to haunt him, nag at him, and remind him of the person who had loved him so much. This guilt of betrayal weighs on Amir throughout the story, and pushes him to seek out redemption. He longs to â€Å"be good again† and get rid of the guilt that he has carried since he was just twelve years old.