In Khaled Hosseini’s novel, the Kite Runner, Amir demonstrates the dynamic change in the relationship he has with his father before and after death. In the beginning of the novel, their relationship is very static. Baba is a very distant father who seems disappointed that Amir is even alive. Amir tries his best to try and be the son Baba wants, but to no avail can he accomplish this task. Amir and Baba’s relationship is so disappointing that Amir becomes jealous of Hassan and Baba’s affections towards the Hazara. All Amir strives for is time alone with Baba to prove himself worthy of his father’s love. It is only when Amir wins a kite fight tournament that Baba finally believes he has something to be proud of. However, this is just a little bump in their relationship, which quickly flatlines again due to the heavy guilt that befalls Amir after the kite fight tournament. Their relationship only improves with their evacuation to the United States, where Amir can run away from all the demons that caused his relationship with Baba to even quiver.
Once in the United States, Baba’s relationship with Amir seems to take off quite well. With it just being he and his father, Amir finally can prove himself. In the United States, Amir graduates high school, becomes an author, and even gets married. All of these titanic events bond Amir and Baba together, even persuading Baba to say, “I am moftakkhir, Amir. Proud.” (Pg 131) This is the peak of their relationship. In this time, Amir cannot believe that his life could falter any more. However, there is a new change in the relationship that waver some; Baba’s cancer. Through Baba’s last days, he does what he can to make it up to his son. Baba performs his duty as a father and lives long enough to see Amir and his bride, Soraya, marry. Baba, the stubborn, prideful Pashtun, does what he can to pay for his sins, even though the bill still lies on Amir. When Baba dies, Amir thinks highly of his stubborn father, but his trip to Afghanistan at the request of Rahim Khan changes that. While in Afghanistan, Amir learns of the sin he executed to preserve his education, leading to Amir’s relationship with his father to drop so far. Amir had been robbed of a brother and a guileless future, and his father was the thief. How could he respect a man who did all that to him? Some would argue that their relationship was static, that Baba never respected his son enough to tell him the truth. They would argue that Amir’s real father figure was Rahim Khan. However, Baba was still a father to Amir, and eventually Baba did get the son he wanted from the son he legally had to claim. Amir was his guide in the new, strange, life they lived in America. When Baba died, he was proud of Amir, but the same could never be said of Amir about his pride and respect for his father when he dies. Their relationship was ever changing, even after one of them died.
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