creative writing: The Kite Runner

Friendship and betrayal

Friends are very important because we tell them our secrets, feelings and we can always rely on them. They play a primary role in our lives as we share most of our time with them. Although we trust friends and they can give us very happy moments, they can also fail to do so and betray us.In the novel The Kite Runner friendship and betrayal are two of the most important themes developed in the story. Even though Amir and Hassan cared for each other, they shared a strange friendship.
Hassan was loyal, he always stood up for Amir when other kids bothered him. Something very different happened with Amir as he was a coward. The day of the kite tournament, Assef and his friends caught Hassan because they wanted the kite Amir had cut off. As he didn`t want to give them the kite, they hurt him, but the worst thing was that Assef raped him. This episode was the begining of a big trouble in Amir`s life as he becomes the responsable of a big lie. He was watching the scene, he could have stood up for Hassan, but instead, he ran away, which expresses when he says “I had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley,stand up for Hassan the way he`d stood up for me all those times in the past and accept whatever it would happen to me: Or I could ran. In the end I ran”. Here, Amir made a choice he would regret forever. In this part of the story their friendship changes.
Hassan felt worse than ever as he knew his best friend, hadn`t help him in that horrible moment of his life. After the rape, Hassan had to go away from Amir`s house in awful circumstances. As Amir felt so guilty, he wanted Hassan to go so he set a trap on him. Amir hid a wristwatch from his birthday presents, under Hassan`s bed and he claimed it had disappeared. After that, Amir`s dad asked Hassan if he had stolen Amir`s watch.” Hassan`s reply was a single word, delivered in a raspy voice: Yes”. This attitude shows Amir`s selfishness, cowardice and also here another betrayal is comited towards Hassan who was obviously innocent.
After Hassan left, years passed and Amir felt even more guilty, this feeling inside him wihch didn`t let him sleep. It`s interesting that everything turned round for him when he recieved a phone call from Rahim Khan in which he tells him something very important: “There`s a way to be good again”. With those words Amir prepared himself to deal with the most difficult burden in his life, his guilt. But also this phrase, let us know the other part of the story as here starts Amir`s real journey.
As Rahim Khan knows all his past sins, he asked Amir to save Hassan`s son Sohrab, who was an orphan and was lost somewhere in Kabul. Amir travelled miles and miles to find the boy, and when he finally gets to him he had a terrible fight against the man that had the child,and had almost killed him, Assef.
This is when Amir finally feels relieved with himself. While Assef was kicking and hurting him, he started laughing “I hadn`t been happy and I hadn`t felt better, not at all. But I did now. My body was broken but I felt healed. Healed at last”. It is here when Amir changes his attitude, he promised himself to take care of Sohrab and in this way also he felt better as he could finally get rid of that feeing of guilt that had tortured him since he was a child.
At the end of the book while Amir was flying kites with Sohrab, he said a few words that have a very strong meaning “ For you a thouthand times over”. Hassan used to say that to Amir everytime he asked or needed something. As now everything has changed for Amir, this phrase is very strong. He became a different person, the guilt was gone, and he was ready to live his life without it.
This story mentions friendship and betrayal as the main topics of it and they are perfectly reflected in the way each of the characters act. Every step, evey situation, was crucial to see how betrayal changes everything. Sohrab entered into Amir`s life and saved him as he was unhappy and sad. With him Amir`s selfishness and inmaturity were gone as he finally understood the real meaning of friendship. Even though he betrayed his best friend, Amir could overcome the situation but all the same, betrayal made their friendship change forever.
( 794 words)