KITE RUNNER

SIN AND REDEMPTION

        Sin and redemption are the two main topics in The Kite Runner novel written by Khaled Hosseini. This can be seen by the plot of novel that revolves around the struggle to seek for redemption of the sins made by the protagonist character throughout the novel.

   It was all started when the protagonist character in this novel –Amir, witnessed his own friend called Hassan being raped by an antagonist character named Assef after they win the kite running competition. Amir chose to be coward and didn’t help Hassan eventhough he had choice to help him. But, a few days after Hassan was being raped, Amir already feels guilt and sinful and think “I [Amir] watched Hassan get raped,’ I said to no one…A part of me was hoping someone would wake up and hear, so I wouldn’t have to live with this lie anymore…I understood the nature of my new curse:  I was going to get away with it.” (page 86).  from Matthew 6:14-15 "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 
But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

It didn’t stop there because Amir’s guilt is so great that he cannot bear to live together in the same house with Hassan, so he commits another sin. He lies to his father and accuses Hassan of stealing. He was be able to get away from the guilt he committed when Hassan was away, but the guilt from the sin he made was never really gone because the guilt haunts him throughout the novel.

A while later, he and Baba move to America because of the war in Afghanistan. It was years later, when Rahim Khan – his father’s partner–  who always supports him calls him and gives him a chance of redemption or “There is a way to be good again” (page 198) as what Rahim Khan said. Amir discovers that Hassan’s son – Sohrab is in danger and he needs to rescue him. This time, Amir is finally able to make a good decision and decided to go home to redeem his sins. On the way home, he does a lot of things that show how he can truly redeem himself such as planting money under his driver’s mattress named Farid he also saves Sohrab from being a sex slave to Assef and adopts him. At some point when Assef beats him Amir thimks ”…for the first time since the winter of 1975, I felt at peace.” (page 253)

In the end of the story, Amir found out a shocking truth that his own father is actually a person who steals the truth from he and Hassan because he lied and hid the truth that Hassan is Amir's half brother. This means he also betrayed Ali by sleeping with his wife. But he also tries to redeem his sins by building the orphanage, treating Hassan well and fixing his defected lips and helping others. Finally, both of them can successfully find their true redemption.

We can see that Amir’s sins and the redemption he finds later on is an interesting and very important topic in this novel. Because, it contributes to the development of the main events and all the way through the story. The reader learns about the power of guilt, and how it can take over one’s life if one does not seek for redemption. The reader also can learn of redemption, and how free someone feels after finally finding ways to redeem from the sins they committed so many years ago. Readers can also appreciate what Amir did to find redemption, but also realizes that simply having the courage to stand up for Hassan earlier would have changed everything. Despite his lack of action in the beginning, Amir finally makes a decision that changes his life, as well as the life of Sohrab, and he finally feels he is the son his father always wanted him to be.

CHRISTIAN WORLD VIEW

  After we have read and found the sins of them. We also found the moral values from Christian world view. 

    First of all , the pierce value is on t this Novel which has been re-created to the movie that the tagline is " There's a way to be good again " . As we can see from the sins of Amir as the main character. He can always start to be a good person again without any interruption because as written in Zechariah 8:15-16 in the bible  ( “so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts;). Because Amir spends his childhood with his regrets when the chance come , Amir is ready to redeem his Faults. We think from this story , the author want to convey that we have to be ready to redeem for our mistakes.

 Secondly, The basic moral we were taught, that we can't run away from our mistakes, and no matter what we will one day face the consequences and will have to accept them. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ( 1 John 1:9 ).  From that also we knew that , every single mistakes Amir has made , he regrets and try to be a better one. 

  Thirdly, Kite runner also have sub-value that people never recognise from the Christian Point of View it's forgiveness . The forgiveness is specialised when Hassan's actions demonstrate that he forgives Amir's betrayal, even though Amir needs to spend practically the entire novel to learn about the nature of forgiveness. In his Rahim Khan letters, he asks Amir to forgive him for keeping Baba's secret but also writes explicitly "God will forgive." Rahim Khan is confident that God will forgive all transgressions, and he encourages Amir to do so, too. Rahim Khan understands that it is God who readily forgives those who ask for forgiveness, but it is people who have a hard time forgiving. Like there's in bible about forgiveness from Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

BENEFIT FOR INDONESIAN READERS

The Kite Runner can be beneficial for Indonesian readers by giving the message of race equality, friendship and redemption. Talking about race equality, we can see in the story of The Kite Runner, Hazara which is the minority race is being suppressed by the Pashtun which is a dominant race in Kabul, Pashtuns think that Hazara is not a real Afghan so that they don’t deserve to live in Afghan. Although facing that condition, Amir and Hassan are close friends and even Hassan who is a Hazara boy is willing to do anything for Amir who is a Pashtun boy. Similar to the story, Indonesia which has a wide range of races often discriminate the minority race a certain area. For example, when Ahok who has a Chinese race was elected to be Jakarta’s governor, some people disagree with the decision not because of his work and experience but because of his race which is a minority in Jakarta. By reading this book, hopefully Indonesian reader can open their mind to difference, and they can really appreciate the beauty in diversity. The second thing that Indonesian reader can learn from this book is about friendship. From the relationship of Amir and Hassan we can clearly see that true friendship requires sacrifice. Hassan is the perfect example of true friendship, when Amir and Hassan win the Kite battle, Hassan voluntarily run to retain the kite for Amir. On the way home, Hassan was forced by Assef to give the kite to him but Hassan decline and because of that, he got raped. 

In here we can see that true friendship is about giving not receiving. Nowadays, some people misunderstand the meaning of friendship. They think that somebody become their true friend when they can receive benefits from them. But actually is the other way around, when somebody become our true friend, we know that we will not hesitate to sacrifice our time or even our life for them. The last thing that we can learn from The Kite Runner is about redemption. Following the story, we know that Baba and Amir actually betray their friend. Baba slept with Ali’s wife and Amir accused Hassan for stealing his watch. To redeem their sin, Baba gives his money to charity and Amir later save Sohrab from the Taliban. In life, we can make some mistakes and sins, but the important thing is that we can learn from our mistake and not to do it again. But sometimes, it’s not enough, we need to redeem our sin by doing good things for others and share our experience so that other people will not fall in the same mistake like us.


By :         Steven Kurnia
       Stefani
       Veronica Angelia Djuarsa