Between The Lines of The Kite Runner

As promised, we will now go more in-depth, read between the lines and tackle the themes of this masterpiece to apply relevant lessons in our lives. 

Themes of the book

Friendship 

The most present and strongest theme in The Kite Runner is that of friendship, the very same relationship that gathers Amir & Hassan, Rahim Khan & Baba, and Baba & Ali. 

However, in the novel, friendship comes in different shapes, highlighting contrasting feelings that seem to contradict but at the core are the same. 

The dishonesty and respect of Baba, the pureness and fidelity of Hassan, the disloyalty and entitlement of Amir, and the love and connection of Rahim Khan are all parts of the friendship spectrum. 

Family

The Kite Runner is marked by family notions, taking us to the Afghan beliefs and cultural habits related to family, which means a lot if not everything to them.

Father-son relationships are what's dominant in the novel. First, that of Amir and Baba is characterized by complexity where little Amir loves Baba but is not sure of being loved back; their relationship eventually improves dramatically when they move to the U.S.  

Hassan too shares the same family bond with Baba but on a different level, a level where he doesn’t even know Baba was his father. The alliance got even stranger when Baba was trying to be a “good dad” to Hassan but the veils of years and what they hide in them are too heavy for him to express a normal father's affection. 

However, Baba had deeply rooted family values where family and honor were at the top of his priorities. Amir also shared the same principles when he became an adult, formed a family, and made Sohrab his own son. 

The Past

“The past can never be buried” is the expression stated on the first page of the book. 

Amir’s childhood past was the most burdensome affecting his life in all areas. The guilt around what he committed haunted his days until he adopted Sohrab, compensating for his “sins”.

Baba also had a dark past that not only affected his life but that of others around him as well. He tries to hide his past but the truth eventually finds its way to light. 

Baba, as opposed to Amir, never made peace with his past, he paradoxically believed that Theft is the worst of sins: stealing from someone the right to know the truth… yes, exactly what he did. I will elaborate more on that idea in the next part of the lesson. 

The past was of big influence on Sohrab's life too, a past that he wasn’t even part of turned his faith upside down. He seemed like a little version of his father Hassan who got saved by a late-felt loyalty to Amir but didn’t recover from his past traumas and deceptions.

 However, the slight smile on Sohrab’s face by the end of the novel indicates a promised future. 

Redemption

The protagonist Amir experienced the need for redemption in many ways. Guilt moved him to seek to save himself from his sins.

First, as a child believing that he “killed” his mother at birth, Amir was desperately trying to redeem himself in Baba’s eyes. 
Then, he sacrifices his loyal friend Hassan to present Baba with the honor of taking the last kite home. 

The novel plot is moved by redemption; Amir took the whole adventure risking everything to save Sohrab is in itself a strive to redeem himself by having the courage to do what is right and live in peace of mind at last. 

Lessons

Extracting lessons after reading the book is of huge utility because that’s the step where we get to adopt and apply morals into our lives. The Kite Runner is full of rich lessons touching on different life areas and relevant experiences.

Here are the lessons I find very insightful, read them carefully and practice them moment by moment:

Understanding and embracing your emotions is key:
Emotions not dealt with made of Baba and Amir puppets of guilt, shame, and lies. If they embraced those feelings and imperfections, those same flaws would transform into strengths and gifts, just like what happened with Amir by the end of the novel.

Speak up for yourself and defend your boundaries:
This is represented in the example of Hassan and Sohrab. They had this belief that they were less than Amir, Baba, and Rahim Khan… which came from society: “Hazaras racism”. 

Therefore, through two consecutive generations, boundaries have been violated: Ali knew Baba slept with his wife and acted as if nothing happened, and Hassan let Amir accuse him of theft and humiliate him. The third generation represented in Sohrab started with the same curse; He got ripped and humiliated but Amir stopped that and gave Sohrab back his dignity and respect boundaries.

Act out of love, not guilt:
Certainly, Amir accomplished his mission of saving Sohrab because guilt and seeking redemption pushed him to do so, that is a good way to turn a negative into an act of value. However, it would have been easier for him to do so by acting out of love for his loyal friend and the soul of his fallen father. But then, less drama will be involved in the story and thus the novel won’t be as good as it is right? haha

Have truth as a virtue :
“Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide time.” Gandhi
Truth always wins, and when we live by truth, we allow our authentic selves to express.
Baba’s lies and his trying to hide the truth affected everyone and messed with Hassan, Amir, Sohrab, and even Baba’s lives. 

Amir arrived at this conclusion at the end when he faced his father in law by the absolute truth about his family and what his father did. 

Acts of courage are the new norms when truth becomes a virtue.

Make your actions aligned with your values/words: 
Baba, while believing that theft is the worst of sins, stole the truth from his family and lived in pain, chasing redemption just because his actions weren’t aligned with what he believed in the most.

Be loyal to those who love you:
Amir is the one giving us this lesson he learned the hard way.

Hassan loved Amir in an extremely deep, pure, and honest way. On the other hand, Amir betrayed Hassan in many ways and even got him out of the house he grew up in, far from his real father.

This is teaching us that, no matter what, we have to be loyal to the people who love us. Show them kindness, compassion, and respect.

Children are not the coloring books that you fill up with your favorite colors:
Baba wanted Amir to be tough, and strong, study medicine, law, or engineering and mostly to grow to be an Afghan man everyone looks up to. Nonetheless, Amir was soft, physically weak, couldn’t stand up for himself, and grew up to be a writer, those were very different colors Baba wanted… As a result, a paradoxical relationship arose between Amir and Baba (its nature was already mentioned previously).  

What other themes, lessons, and ideas from the book have you noticed and want to share?