In the novel The Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini focuses on many critical parts of life. The main character, Amir, struggles to find redemption throughout the story, and ultimately finds it when he saves Sohrab, the son of his half-brother Hassan, from the man who tormented Hassan during childhood. That man, Assef, is the main external antagonist of the novel. At the beginning of the novel, he rapes Hassan because Hassan is a Hazara and refuses to betray Amir by giving Assef the kite that Amir won. When Amir returns to Afghanistan after years spent in America, to save Sohrab, he discovers that Assef has joined the Taliban. Amir also finds out that Assef is the man who took Sohrab and abused him. Unlike Amir, who constantly strives for a redemption he believes is unattainable, Assef never feels the need to be redeemed. With everything Assef has done in the novel, how can he not feel guilty and actively seek redemption? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Merriam-Webster defines a sociopath as "someone who behaves dangerously or violently toward other people and does not feel guilty about that behavior." Throughout the novel we, the readers, are given plenty of evidence of the fact that Assef is clearly a sociopath. It could be argued that because he believes he does the cruel things he does in the name of his religion, he should not be considered a sociopath. However, for most of what he does, he simply uses religion as a cover, so only to his twisted mind does it appear that he is right. The first time we see Assef do something truly cruel is when he rapes Hassan for not giving him the kite. One of his friends, Wali, says: "'I don't know...my father says it's a shame'" (Hosseini). His religion clearly does not condone this action, so this is not a valid explanation for his actions or lack of guilt. Later, when Amir returns to Afghanistan, his first reintroduction to Assef is the sight of Assef stoning a man and a woman who have committed adultery. The majority crowd was shocked, but could do nothing to stop him if they wanted to remain unharmed. This scene clearly has a religious tone, with the cleric quoting the Koran and explaining to the masses why the couple needed to be punished. Interestingly, however, instead of listening to the cleric speak and treating the event as a religious ceremony, Assef remains in the truck until the cleric finishes speaking. He exits the truck only to actually be the one who gets to throw the rocks, and clearly enjoys the act of killing the couple. As Westerners who grew up in the war on terror, we have almost been trained to associate Assef's cruelty and lack of empathy solely with the fact that Assef is a terrorist. We were raised with the concept that “terrorists must be crazy, or suicidal, or psychopaths with no moral feelings or feelings for others” (McCauley). Many studies, however, have found that this is actually not the case. In fact, “thirty years of research has found that psychopathology and personality disorders are no more likely among terrorists than among non-terrorists” (McCauley). This is not to say that Assef does not have psychological disorders, but rather that these are not directly linked to him being a Taliban. Even if Assef being a Taliban is not directly related to why he is a sociopath, this factor can still help us evaluate how he became one. In his article “Understanding the Sociopath: Cause, Motivation, Relationship,” Seth Meyers seeks to understand ed.