The moment of truth. A single pivotal moment is when someone chooses what type of person they want to be. The novel The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, is about a young boy named Amir in which his character changes in the course of his travels from Afghanistan to California and back again. Starting as a selfish, coldhearted, and prejudiced boy from a wealthy upper-class family, a single moment of decision changes Amir into a selfless, brave, and caring man. No matter what one’s past is, a pivotal moment can change one’s life.
At the start of the book, Amir has many negative traits such as insecurity, a superiority complex, and a devious, scheming character. When his servant Hassan corrects a mistake in Amir’s writing, Amir thinks, “I was stunned. That particular point so obvious… [it] hadn’t even occurred to me” (29). Amir is insecure about being corrected by someone of a lower class. Amir suppresses this insecurity with his superiority complex. After Hassan’s comment, Amir thinks to himself, “What does he know, that illiterate Hazara? He will never be anything but a cook. How dare he criticize you?” (29). In order for Amir to feel good about himself, he has to put down others. Instead of accepting his advice, he has to belittle Hassan in order to feel superior. Amir’s guilt finally piles up from his inactions towards his servant: he failed his servant by abandoning him when Hassan got attacked and raped. Amir thinks to himself that either he or Hassan must leave. For Amir to get rid of Hassan, he has to frame him: “Then I took a couple of envelopes of cash from the pile of gifts and my watch, and tiptoed out. I paused before Baba’s study and listened in. … I went downstairs, crossed the yard, and entered Ali and Hassan’s living quarters by the loquat tree. I lifted Hassan’s mattress and under, planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it” (91). This shows Amir’s true scheming abilities. Instead of trying to fix his own problems, he immorally frames someone else. Amir’s character at the start of the book has many bad traits, and those traits often make him pick the wrong choice.
Later on in the book, one sees Amir’s pivotal moment of truth. This is when he sacrifices himself for the benefit of Sohrab, Hassan’s son, in order for Amir to clear his overwhelming guilt. When Amir visits a close friend, the friend finds Amir depressed and unhappy: “There is a way to be good again, he’d said. A way to end the cycle. With a little boy. An orphan. Hassan’s son. Somewhere in Kabul” (198). The friend understands that the only way to fix Amir’s problem is to save Sohrab. It was too late to save Amir’s servant, so the only one left to save was the servant’s son. Sohrab lives in slave-like conditions under his Master’s rule in Kabul. Amir is afraid of traveling to Kabul: “‘I have a wife in America, a home, a career, and a family. Kabul is a dangerous place, you know that, and you’d have me risk everything for…’” (193-194). Amir is afraid of losing all of his treasures back in the U.S. because going to Afghanistan could be a death sentence. Despite his fears, Amir confronts the Master and asks for Sohrab’s release. The Master declines, but makes a counteroffer: “‘Go, take [Sohrab] him … Of course … I didn’t say you could take him for free. [if you survive] then he’s earned his freedom, and you let him pass’” (251). The terms of the offer are that Amir must fight an intimidating, brutal killer in order to gain Sohrab’s release. He chooses to save Hassan’s son over the fear of dying in Afghanistan.
At the end of the book, Amir becomes a better person by his selfless behavior when taking care of Sohrab. He tries his best to take Sohrab back to the U.S., caring for him ahead of himself: “I want to adopt this boy, take him back to the States with me” (286). Amir is trying to take back Sohrab to the U.S. to free him from danger. Amir knows that for a poor boy like Sohrab, the opportunities in Afghanistan will never compare to those in the U.S. Another moment of Amir’s selfless behavior is when he supports Sohrab after a failed suicide attempt: “Then I remember I haven’t prayed for over fifteen years. I have long forgotten the words. But it doesn’t matter, I will utter those few words I still remember …” (301). Formerly self-centered, Amir is now fully invested in the welfare of another person. Amir had not prayed for himself for 15 years, but he is now ready to do it for someone else. Finally, Amir takes a comment that the servant earlier made to him earlier in his life, and now Amir makes the same comment to the servant’s son: “For you, a thousand times over” (323). Amir tells Sohrab that he will be with him and support him forever and ever. One sees how Amir improves himself in the passage of his life by his willingness to sacrifice himself for others.
There are pivotal moments in people’s lives that can change them forever. For Amir, that moment was when he chose to save another instead of giving in to his fears. As the saying goes, “Character is destiny.” When Amir changes his character, he changes his destiny. No matter what one’s past is, a pivotal moment can change one’s life forever.
Work Cited
- Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd., 2018.
