From the wealthiest neighborhood of Kabul to the poverty of San Francisco, Khaled Hosseini creates a story of redemption that transcends cultures and time in The Kite Runner. Hosseini uses the dynamics of father-son relationships to express a theme of atonement, using a web of tragedy to bring to his readers the certainty that there is always "a way to be good again" (92). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Hosseini begins the novel through an image that summarizes Amir's relationship with his father: sitting outside his father's study, solemnly immersed in second-hand affections like his own the father jokes and laughs with his business partners . Amir's desperate need for his father's approval is the driving force behind his actions as a child. He begins to resent both himself and his closest companion Hassan, a Hazara boy who works as a servant in Amir's house. Amir's father holds back love only to graciously grant it to Hassan. In response to his father's great act of charity towards Hassan, Amir admits his feelings of resentment. When Hassan is told that Amir's father is financing cosmetic surgery as a birthday present for Hassan, Amir admits: "I wish I had some kind of scar too that would arouse Baba's sympathy. It wasn't right. Hassan he had done nothing to earn Baba's affection; he had just been born with that stupid harelip" (41). Amir's angry confession foreshadows the depth that the father-son relationship takes on in Hosseini's story of redemption. Amir's need for approval from his father is so great that it is ultimately his undoing. Amir recalls triumphantly after winning a kite flying competition: "I saw Baba on our roof. He was standing on the edge, shaking both fists. He was shouting and clapping his hands. Right there was the greatest moment of my twelve years of life , seeing Baba on that roof, finally proud of me.". He believes he has finally earned the love of his father who kept him at arm's length, perhaps finding reparation for the death of his mother during childbirth that he felt blamed for. Amir gets what he's always wanted, but at a price that changes the lives of everyone around him. Simply by standing by as his most faithful companion sacrifices himself to preserve that fleeting affection, and through his attempts to assuage his guilt, Amir accumulates sins that for many years seem inexpiable. Amir selfishly admits to himself, "Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to kill, to win Baba." (77) . Amir doesn't know what a great price he paid for that affection. Baba's approval is short-lived and comes with an acute sense of guilt. As his father rejoices in Amir's victory, the blue kite he displays so proudly reminds Amir of his betrayal. Soon the allure of victory in kite racing fades and Amir is unable to face the weight of his sin. Like the blue kite, Amir's once great friend becomes a reminder of his failures, and in an attempt to purge himself of guilt, Amir lies, manipulating the people around him and sending both Hassan and his father far away. from their home and the country around them. begins to change along with their home. Faced with the Afghan revolution, Amir's father flees Afghanistan and the life he has built to ensure his son's safety. Baba stoops from a prominent businessman in the finest house in Kabul to living in fuel tanks and dark, rat-infested basements. While Amir believes that hisfather is indifferent to him, this sacrifice shows the care Baba has for Amir. When Amir and his father reach the safety of San Francisco, Hosseini's story of redemption takes big turns in the culture, as does the structure of Amir and his father's relationship. America serves as an escape for Amir where he follows his ambitions as a writer and momentarily escapes the guilt that overwhelmed him in Afghanistan. While Amir finds comfort in California, his father longs for his life in Kabul; Amir reflects on this transition when he shares that, "For me, America was a place to bury my memories. For Baba, a place to mourn his" (129). Through the trials of surviving in the lower crust of American society, the relationship between Amir and his father transforms. The tension that governed their interactions in Afghanistan transforms into respect as Amir grows into a man, shaped by the influences of both America and his home country. At Amir's graduation from American high school, Baba assures him that: "I am mofakhir, Amir...proud." (131). Amir's desire for his father's approval and affection was so vast that he sacrificed his most loyal friend to fleeting admiration. Then, when his father finally expresses his pride in Amir, but criticizes his choice in university studies, he cannot forget the unexpiated sins he attempted to leave behind in Kabul as he shares, "I no longer wanted to sacrifice myself for Baba. The L The last time I did it, I was damned." (135). Amir finds this place of contentment when his father's life comes to an end. In the absence of his father's affection, young Amir found a father figure in Baba's closest friend, Rahim Khan. A kind and inspiring man, Kahn supported Amir's writing as a child, but when he returns to Amir's life after Baba's death, his motivations are not so lighthearted. Kahn, in his final days, meets Amir and brings to light the sins that remained unatoned for in war-torn Afghanistan. Hosseini opens his novel with Amir's reflection on Khan's appeal, his assertion that "there is a way to be good again." " (2), and the sins he ran from for over a decade. What Amir could not have foreseen was the enormity of the sins he would be held responsible for. Khan faces Amir's betrayal of Hassan, but together with this furthers the story's theme of redemption through the father-son relationship. Throughout the novel Amir is reminded that "there was a brotherhood between people who had fed on the same breast, an affinity that not even time could break" (31) , Amir had betrayed that brotherhood and Rahim Khan shared with him the depth of that brotherhood. Khan tells Amir that "Your father, like you, was a tortured soul, Amir jan (301), both Amir and his father carried forward the expectation of unredeemed sins against their closest and most loyal comrades. Rahim Khan informs Amir that while he had betrayed and sacrificed Hassan for his own needs, his father also had sins that needed atonement Hassan was not the son of Baba's closest friend, but instead the product of Amir's father's infidelity towards Ali's wife. Hassan was Amir's brother. Khan then fulfills his promise of opportunities for redemption, not only for Amir's sins but also those of his father as he shares Hassan's fate and tasks Amir with redeeming himself. Rahim Kahn shares with Amir that Hassan has become a man, found a wife, and even had a son, a boy named Sohrab. Afghanistan's violence and corruption made victims of Amir's brother and his wife, publicly executed without reason, forcing Sohrab to find refuge in an orphanage. Through.