Betrayal And Redemption: Race And Family Relations In The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is one of the most popular and highly regarded novels in American literature. It is the first novel of Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan-born American writer. The story has won almost all the prizes for new stars in literary creation in the English-speaking countries in the short time after its publication and made a record of occupying the top position of nine major book-rankings for over ten weeks. Its symbolism, themes and structure have attracted millions of readers since its birth.The Kite Runner tells a story about an Afghan boy Amir who despicably betrays his half-brother and who gives up and redeems himself. Lots of praise and comments on this novel can be found in newspapers and magazines, while it has not attracted a great many critics in the United States. The existing study in China concerning this novel shows Chinese critics'interest in the themes of betrayal and redemption, but they have not tried to dig out the root causes of betrayal and redemption, especially not in terms of family and race relations.The present author, in his research, is impressed by Hosseini's moral concern and consciousness of redemption reflected in The Kite Runner. The present author, based on closing reading and detailed analyses, asserts the root causes of the protagonist of the novel. Amir's betrayal and redemption lie in his misunderstanding and readjustment in his understanding of family and race relations, and the Islamic spirit.This thesis consists of four chapters.Chapter One gives a brief introduction to Hosseini and The Kite Runner and makes a general survey of the study of this novel both at home and abroad. Then it explains the focus and structure of this thesis.Chapter Two exhibits the process of Amir's betrayal against Hassan and reveals the root causes of Amir's betrayal in three aspects. One cause of Amir's betrayal is sibling rivalry for parental love. Amir's lack of a sense of identity causes him to hunger for his father's love and to regard Hassan as a rival in competition for his father's love; accordingly, he takes action against Hassan. On the other hand, Hassan's inferior racial identity and Amir's firm belief in "Allah Almighty in Worship" cause Amir to see himself as absolutely and naturally superior to Hassan, so that he never cares about Hassan's feelingsChapter Three shows Amir's efforts for redemption and analyzes the root causes of his redemption. Amir's life after his relocation in the United States causes him to reflect over racial issues so that he comes to realize the equality among all races. His life of "resurrection", as he sees it, also causes him to discover the spirit of "forgiveness" in Christianity and rediscover it in the Islamic belief. This discovery helps him find a road to self redemption. He discards the differences in family and race relations and spares no effort to get Hassan's son out of the difficult situation in Afghan and provides the child with parental love, so that the child is cured of his psychological trauma and so that Amir himself in relieved of the guilty consciences of betrayal.Chapter Four is the conclusion. It summarizes the views and contents that have been discussed in this thesis and points out that this novel conveys to the reader through the story of Amir's betrayal and redemption a method of self redemption: if a person can face his past with a forgiving and unselfish heart and tries his best to render help to those people he has betrayed, he will finally achieve the redemption of his soul.