Kite Runner - 1

The Kite Runner
Journal #2

The reason why I believe that the author Khaled Hosseini uses rape as the crisis that is faced by Hassan is because it gives more than a mental impact as opposed to the physical impact it could cause. Rape is considered to be in my case, one of the most traumatizing events that could happen in one’s life. While a punch or fight; a couple of bruises will only last to at most a couple of weeks, but in the case of a rape, those memories and those damages are permanent to one’s body and mind. Not only does it hurt Hassan, it shocks and triggers Amir’s guilty conscience.
Amir clearly knows about what happened to Hassan but is reluctant to tell and help him and thus makes him feel guilty. I know that if someone would cross me if they were technically my best friend I would feel really disgusted to know that; even more disgusted than I would feel if I had been raped.   As we know later on in the book The Kite Runner, Hassan and even his father, Ali, know about how all Amir did was stand and watch while his best friend was being rapped. This bring on more guilt to Amir as it was technically all his fault. All Hassan wanted to do was to please Amir, while Amir knew that, he feels as though it is his entire fault and that it should have been him who was rapped as opposed to Hassan. I believe that guilt is a powerful feeling, even if you don’t think it’s there it is. It can come out from honest feelings of bad doings, and that guilt the moral and superior side of believing that one should have done something different. In this case, Amir wishes desperately to first have done something other than run, and secondly to tell someone about it; or even just to confront Hassan about it. This guilt will be with Amir forever even if he does not know it or even if he shuts Hassan and the memories out of his mind and life.
The difference is that a punch, a kick or a slap, is that it will only harm someone for the most parts on the outside. That hurt...