Guilt and Redemption - Paper

Guilt and Redemption
Guilt occurs when someone knows they did something wrong, chooses to run away and tell nobody. To not take action when you see an injustice happening can rip you apart with remorse or regret as you get older in life. In the novel, The Kite Runner written by Khaled Hosseini the protagonist, Amir is plagued by guilt. The feeling of guilt appears when he knows he is going to get away when he witnesses his best friend getting raped. To redeem himself, Amir constantly thinks about his actions and is trapped with guilt, tries to seek redemption and finally finds redemption.
Guilt does not let someone’s life continue normally. The novel The Kite Runner begins with a story of Amir, a boy who cannot make his guilt disappear when he betrays his best friend, Hassan and how his life continues after that. “I remember the precise moment, crutching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek     …     Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.” (Hosseini 1) Amir is looking back at what he has once witnessed long ago, and his failure to act to prevent Hassan from
being raped leaves him stained with guilt. “I watched Hassan get raped     …     A part of me was hoping someone would wake up and hear, so I wouldn’t have to live with this lie anymore.” (Hosseini 91) Amir feels guilty about witnessing Hassan’s rape and realizes that he is cursed.
The necessity to make the guilt of what someone did disappear, is a complicated consequence when trying to redeem. In the novel The Kite Runner, after encountering the horrible event that takes place in the alley, and feeling guilty and very uncomfortable about it, Amir tries to seek redemption when he pleads Hassan to hit him with a pomegranate, “Hit me back! I spat. Hit me back, goddamn you! I wished he would. I wished he’d give me the punishment I craved, so maybe I’d finally sleep at night. Maybe then things could return to...