The Kite Runner Group

Question:

brookiecookiez
brookiecookiez
Student
High School - 11th Grade

Using specific examples from The Kite Runner, what are three significant ways that Amir and Baba are alike?

Rate question:

Posted by brookiecookiez on Tuesday October 27, 2009 at 3:21 PM and tagged with kite runner, literature.

Answers:


  1. scarletpimpernel Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    1.  Both betray their friends (servants).  In his grief and anger over his own wife's death, Baba sleeps with his friend Ali's wife. Amir betrays Hassan (Ali's alleged son and Amir's friend) when he witnesses him begin raped by Assef (Chapter 7) and does nothing to stop it because he wants the fallen kite.

    2. Rahim Khan serves as a sort of moral compass to both characters.  For Baba, Rahim Khan tries to gently encourage him to be more affectionate toward Amir.  He also subtly plays the father to Amir when Baba will not do so. For Amir, Rahim Khan summons Amir back to Pakistan, tells him the truth about Hassan, and then encourages him to do the right thing by rescusing Sohrab, Hassan's son.

    3. Most significantly, both men spend most of their lives trying to redeem themselves for the past.  Baba's guilt over his betrayal of Ali and fathering Hassan causes him to have a stilted relationship with Amir for most of Amir's life.  Baba tries to redeem himself by buying Hassan expensive gifts, taking him on trips, and by being involved in charitable activities such as building the orphanage. Amir feels so overwhelmed by his guilt that he thinks he cannot father a child with Soraya (he sees their infertility as a sign of judgment for his past actions) and almost does not go to Afghanistan to get Sohrab.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/kite-runner/characters

    Rate answer:

    Posted by scarletpimpernel on Tuesday October 27, 2009 at 5:22 PM