Though Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, there are many characters that are important to the story. The most important character, Amir, is the main character of the story as it chronicles his life from his childhood in Afghanistan to his adult life in America. The viewers get to follow Amir on a journey of a lifetime; they get to see him grow from a rude, defenseless child to a man that finally stands on his own two feet.
The journey begins in Afghanistan and follows the friendship of Amir and Hassan, both children at this time. Even as a child Amir subconsciously saw the societal roles of his people and Hassan's and treated him as a servant without fully realizing he was doing so. This makes the audience wary of Amir and his behaviors and leads them to be more sympathetic for Hassan as he endures Amir's actions.
To fully understand the character of Amir, one must first look at his personality and the traits he seems to have. From the beginning, Amir possesses jealousy and spite toward Hassan, simply because he is jealous of the relationship he has with Baba. This jealousy pushes Amir into some awkward situations; coupled with the guilt of witnessing what happened to Hassan, Amir makes a decision that changes everyone's lives forever. He decides to frame Hassan for stealing, which ultimately leads to his departure with his father.
I flinched, like I'd been slapped. My heart sank and I almost blurted out the truth. Then I understood: This was Hassan's final sacrifice for me. If he'd said no, Baba would have believed him because we all knew Hassan never lied. And if Baba believed him, then I'd be accused; I would have to explain and I would be revealed for what I really was. Baba would never, ever forgive me. And that led to another understanding: Hassan knew. He knew I'd seen everything in that alley, that I'd stood there and done nothing. He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time. I loved him in that moment, loved him more than I'd ever loved anyone, and I wanted to tell them all that I was the snake in the grass, the monster in the lake.
This is Amir's response to Hassan taking the fall for 'stealing', and it is extremely important because at this point the audience realizes that Amir actually does have a heart. He does feel pain and grief over what he has done. Maybe he isn't all that horrible after all.
Moving along, when Amir's father dies of cancer, a weaker side of Amir is revealed. Though he was weak throughout most of his life, he is nearly in shambles with Baba's passing and begins to lean on Soraya for support, something he isn't accustomed to. This is depicted in the funeral scene where Amir doesn't cry until he is embraced by Soraya.
Married life begins to take a toll on Amir, as well. What began as a fairy tale love story - despite Baba's death - soon became an empty void in his life. Sure things remained the same and a pattern was created, but Amir feels the emptiness more prominently upon the discovery that Soraya was unable to have children.
Sometimes, Soraya sleeping next to me, I lay in bed and listened to the screen door swinging open and shut with the breeze, to the crickets chirping in the yard. And I could almost feel the emptiness in Soraya's womb, like it was a living, breathing, thing. It had seeped into our marriage, that emptiness, into our laughs, and our lovemaking.
This highlights Amir's feelings at this point in his life; he had planned on being a happily married father but this dream was shattered by the realization that his wife could not bear children. And that emptiness became a void haunting both of them, weakening Amir even more.
Next comes the point of the book where Amir goes back to Afghanistan to redeem himself, or in the words of Rahim Khan, 'to be good again'. Upon arriving, Amir learns of the tragic passing of Hassan, his wife, and his father at the hands of a land mine and the Taliban. Guilt returns; if Amir had never sent them away, would things have turned out differently? It seems Amir is compassionate after all. But upon learning the news that Hassan was in fact his illegitimate brother, Amir is angered beyond words. He is angry at his late father for hiding it and angry at everyone else who knew. Baba had committed the worst crime; thievery was a sin, the worst of all, and Baba robbed him of having a brother.
Moving further along, Amir sets out to find the son of his brother, to make things okay and to be good again. He feels he owes this to Hassan, one final respect for his best friend. And at this point in the book, Amir's character seems to have finally come together. He is many things; weak, cowardly, strong, compassionate, guilty, forgiven ... and it's all coming together and he is learning who he is and how to be good again.
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