One of the main themes of the novel The Kite Runner Is redemption. Throughout the novel, the main character, Amir, seeks redemption for his sins. Amir states in the first chapter of the novel that he has a past of “unatoned sins.” Throughout the novel, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses the following symbols to express the theme of redemption: The scar above Amirs lip, the lamb and the blue kite.
The scar above Amirs lip represents the redemption Amir attained by rescuing Sohrab. Amir travels to Afghanistan to rescue Sohrab, who is being exploited by a Taliban leader. The Taliban leader turns out to be an old enemy from Amirs childhood, Assef. Amir must fight Assef in order to leave with Sohrab. During the fight Amir is beaten brutally until Sohrab shoots Assef with his slingshot. Amir is left with a scar above his right lip, strikingly similar to the one Hassan had after having surgery for his cleft lip.At the beginning of the novel, Amir watches Hassan get raped, but he did not intervene. The guilt from that day haunts him throughout the novel. At one point, Amir even tries to force Hassan to beat him up, as though the only thing that could redeem Amir was being beaten, but Hassan does not and Amir is even more ridden with guilt. When Rakim Khan calls amir, he says, "Come, This is a chance for you to be good again." It is clear Rakim Khan understood the guilt that Amir was feeling, and realized that Amir had been searching for redemption all his life. Khan new that rescuing Sohrab was the only way Amir could truly find redemption. The rescue of Sohrab, was the rescue of an innocent, the rescue of a lamb.
Throughout the novel, a reoccurring image of a sacrificial lamb represents a path to redemption. Amir tells the reader how during the Muslim holiday of Eid-Al-Ahda, the Mullah sacrifices a lamb. The look on the lamb’s face during the sacrifice stays with Amir for the rest of his life. When Amir witnesses Asseff rape Hassan,...