Kite Runner final essay

Tony Tang 

Mr. Robert Nollan

College writing

June 4th 2020

Life is a collection of experiences in reality. When we successfully lie to someone, we replace a part of their reality with the reality that we want to convey, taking away their opportunity to live life to his or her true potential. For example, if you teach your child that he is allergic to ice cream when he is not, your child might have to stare at all his friends while they enjoy their ice cream on a sunny day. If he knew the truth, he would have been able to enjoy the reality of being able to eat as much ice cream as he wanted. A lie can also act like a leech. A person who lies usually gets something from it, while the recipient of the lie wouldn’t even notice. Sooner or later, the victim would see the leech and realize all the blood it took from him, reacting to the parasite by leaving it alone or getting back at it. In the book Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini explores the concept of truth and how our parasite Baba Aghar’s single lie changed the course of Amir and Hassan’s lives. 

The main conflict in Kite Runner was Amir’s guilt for not helping Hassan when he got raped, but the problem that started it came from Baba when he decided to hide from everyone the truth that Hassan was his son. Baba thus gave Amir the reality that Hassan was just a servant, a person Baba has no reason to care for, and someone that had to earn Amir’s respect and love. All of these things led to Amir’s harsh treatment of Hassan and ultimately his inability to save Hassan in the alley, causing the lifelong guilt that followed. This could’ve all been avoided if Amir knew the truth from the beginning. If the truth was revealed, Hassan would be more respected and “feared” by people around him, so he might’ve gotten away with harassment. One instance would be the alleyway rape scene. When Hassan went to get the kite, Assef and his rapist gang would have approached the situation way differently. Knowing that he was not just a servant from Baba’s household but Baba’s own son, they would’ve been more reluctant to beat him up and rape him. Even if they decide to do so, Amir would have had a bigger chance of helping Hassan. Adults and people nearby would’ve been eager to rescue Baba’s son. With this status concealed from everyone in the village, no one would’ve been willing since they believed he was just a Hazara boy.

In the book, we can also see how conflicted Baba feels for hiding the truth from Amir and Hassan. Baba knows that keeping this secret from Hassan would steal Hassan’s rightful place as Baba’s son and the chance of a closer relationship with Amir. He once said “ There is no act more wretched than stealing… , … And if I ever cross paths with him, God help him. Do you understand?” (Hosseini, 18) It is also because of this that Baba couldn’t tell Hassan or anyone else, for he was afraid of losing others’ trust and respect. To Baba, honor was everything that mattered in life and to lose everyone’s respect would have been as good as suicide. He knows that if the truth was revealed, everyone would view him as someone had an affair with a Hazara woman and had a child with her. He would lose all the respect he built up in this community and become a subject of humiliation and ridicule, something he couldn’t accept.  Through the reality Baba created from a lie, he was able to keep his status as an honorable and respected man, at the cost of Hassan’s life. Even though I value honor less than Baba, it would still be quite hard for me to lower my social status for my son’s sake, as I’m afraid of losing friends once they know my flaws. 

Telling the truth is of paramount importance in living life because the truth is the foundation to being able to see the world as it is. When we tell a lie, we make someone’s reality farther and farther from the truth. While it can be harmless at times, it can also bring about devastating destruction. This is why I think the truth is the key to a successful society and should be kept to the best of our abilities.

Draft:

Life is a collection of experiences in reality. When we successfully lie to someone, we replace a part of their reality with the reality that we want to convey, taking away their opportunity to live life to his / her full potential. For example, if you teach your child that he or she was allergic to ice cream when they are not, your child might have to stare at all his friends while they enjoy their ice cream on a sunny day. If he knew the truth, he would have been able to enjoy the reality of being able to eat as much ice cream as he wanted. A lie can also act like a leech. A person who lies usually get something from it, while the recipient of the lie wouldn’t even notice. Sooner or later, the victim would see the leech and realize all the blood it took from him, reacting to the parasite by leaving it alone or getting back at it. In the book Kite Runner, author Khaled Hosseini explores the concept of truth and our parasite Baba Aghar’s single lie changed the course of Amir and Hassan’s lives. 

The main conflict in Kite Runner was Amir’s guilt for not helping Hassan when he got raped, but the problem that started it came from Baba when he decided to hide from everyone the truth that Hassan was his son. Baba thus gave Amir the reality that Hassan was just a servant, a person Baba has no reason to care for, and someone that had to earn Amir’s respect and love. All of these things led to Amir’s harsh treatment on Hassan,  his inability to save Hassan in the alley and the lifelong guilt that follows, which could’ve all been avoided if Amir knew the truth from the beginning. If the truth was revealed, Hassan would be more respected and “feared” by people around him, so he might’ve gotten away with harassment. One instance would be the alleyway rape scene. When Hassan went to get the kite, Assef and his rapist gang would have approached the situation way differently. Knowing that he was not just a servant from Baba’s household but Baba’s own son, they would’ve been more reluctant to beat him up and rape him. Even if they decide to do so, Amir would have had a bigger chance of helping Hassan. Adults and people nearby would’ve been eager to rescue Baba’s son. With this status concealed from everyone in the village, no one would’ve been willing since they believed he was just a Hazara boy.

In the book we can also see how conflicted Baba feels for hiding the truth from Amir and Hassan. Baba knows that keeping this secret from Hasan, was just stealing Hassan’s rightful place as Baba’s son and a closer relationship with Amir. He once said “ There is no act more wretched than stealing… , … And if I ever cross paths with him, God help him. Do you understand?” (Hosseini, 18) It is also because of this that Baba couldn’t tell Hassan or anyone-else, for he was afraid of losing people’s trust and respect. To Baba, honor is everything that matters in life, to lose everyone’s respect would have been as good as killing Baba. He knows that if the truth was revealed, everyone would view him as someone had an affair with a Hazara woman and had a child with her. He would lose all the respect he built up in this community and become a subject of humiliation and ridicule, something he couldn’t accept.  Through the reality Baba created from a lie, he was able to keep his status as an honorable and respected man, at the cost of Hassan’s life. Even though I value honor less in my worldview than in Baba’s worldview, it would still be quite hard for me to lower my social status for my son’s sake, as I’m afraid of losing friends once they know about my flaws. 

Telling the truth is of paramount importance in living life because the truth is the foundation to being able to see the world as it is. When we tell a lie, we make someone’s reality farther and farther from the truth, while it can be harmless at times, sometimes it brings devastating destruction. This is why I think the truth is the key to a successful society and should be kept to the best of our abilities.