The Kite Runner is one of the best novels which have the story of friendship between two boys, Emir and Hosannas. In this novel we, as a reader will be able to see the love and loyalty that Hosannas shows toward Emir, but their friendship and trust broken because of Emir’s betrayal. The major character in the novel The Kite Runner is Emir Gaga. He is the main character and also the narrator in the story. He was born in Kabul, in 1963 and he only lives with his father who he called Baby because his mother died giving birth to him. Since he was baby he already bonded with
Hosannas, the son of a servant in his house. The novel mentions that Emir’s first word is Baby, while Hessian’s first word is Emir. It shows that the bond between the two is very strong. Emir and Hosannas always doing everything together, but Emir never wants to be Hosannas true friend because he knew that they come from different social status. In this story Emir is describes as a coward boy, he never fight back when the other kids bully him and Hosannas was always the one who defend him. Even though Emir constantly tests Hessian’s loyalty, Hosannas still shows his loyalty toward Emir.
Until one day, when he defends Emir’s kite from the big boys he was raped by them and when this terrible scene happen, Emir who saw it but he chooses to run away and betray Hosannas who always stood up for him. At that time, their friendship no longer like what it used to be. One of the memorable times that Emir and Hosannas share together was when they spent their time together underneath the pomegranate tree. In that tree Emir read many stories for Hosannas who was unable to read because he was uneducated. That pomegranate tree is one of the memories that Emir found back when he came back to Afghanistan.
Emir carves Hosannas and his names in the tree. The metaphorical significance of the pomegranate tree is that their names that carve together in that tree will always be together forever in the future and their childhood story in this tree was permanent and will never left this tree. Emir’s relationship with Baby is not close, Emir always felt that Baby never love him and he never get attention that he needs from his father. He almost never has his time to be Just alone with Baby because every time Baby always invites Hosannas to join them.
To get Abs’s attention, Emir try very hard to win the kite runner ornament. After he won the tournament, Baby was very proud of him but that was not last long. The significance of the passage where Emir laments: “We’d actually deceived ourselves into thinking that a toy made of tissue paper, glue and bamboo could somehow close the chasm between us”(page 81) is Emir refers this to the kite competition, he realizes that by won the kite competition didn’t guarantee that his relationship with Baby will be better.
When Emir saw the eyes of the dying sheep as they being sacrificed there’s connection to the scene when he saw Hosannas raped in the alleyway. In all of this scene, all the victims were helpless and also Emir who witnessed both of this event is helpless to prevent it and he didn’t do anything to stand up for the sheep and the worst is that he didn’t do anything to help Hosannas. Emir realized that the look in Hessian’s eyes is similar to the dying sheep, where he homes that made Abs’s house in Hazier Kafka Khan look like a servant’s hut is very ironic because Baby always well known as a man with the most beautiful house in Kabul.
They are use to lived in a big and beautiful house with a servant but when they moved to America, their life is completely different. In Afghanistan, Baby is very wealthy and respected by other people, but in America all of those glamour is gone for them. Hosannas was actually the first person who inspired Emir to choose his future career. One day Emir read a story to Hosannas, but he made up the ending of the story. Hosannas loved the story that Emir made up and he said, “That was the best story you’ve read me in a long time” (page 28). And that night is the first time Emir wrote his first story.
Toward the end of the story, we will notice that Hosannas was actually named his son after the story that he heard from Emir. In chapter eleven, Emir said that he will no longer want to sacrifice for Baby because he claimed that he has damned himself. In my opinion what Emir merman about this is that he finally realized that all the things that he did was Just to get Abs’s attention and unconsciously he always attempted to earned Abs’s loved and appreciation. He also feels that all the things that he did to get his Abs’s attention were ended up damning himself.
I also think that in this chapter he is not blaming his Baby, but he knew that he is the only one who responsible for all that happened to him, he legalized that he have to take the responsibility for all the actions that he did or he suppose to do but he didn’t. On Emir’s trip back to Afghanistan, he stays at the home of his driver, Afraid. Upon leaving he remarks: “Earlier that morning, when I was certain no one was looking, I did something I had done twenty-six years earlier: I planted a fistful of crumpled money under the mattress” (page 223).
This is important in Emir’s spiritual life lesson Journey because he remembered that he did the same thing to Hosannas but it for opposite purpose. He remembered what he did to Hosannas went-six years ago, when he put money under Hessian’s bed so that Baby will accuse him as a theft. But for Farad’s children it is for different purpose, he planted money under their mattress because he knew that even if they are hungry but they did their best to serve Emir as a guest. Afraid and his wife don’t even have anything to feed their children for the next day, but they feed Emir with their best food and show him their warm welcome for Emir.
When Emir went back to Afghanistan to find Hessian’s son, he met with Safes in Hazier Kafka Khan. To save Hessian’s son, Sahara, he got into fight with Safes. This confrontation became an important turning point for Emir. He start laughing while he get beaten up because he think that that is the way of redeeming himself from his past guilt to Hosannas. Those past years, Emir always felt bad for betrayed his best friend and by getting beaten up he want to get something back to him so he would felt better.
Even though his body is all in pain, but deep inside his soul he felt so much better and relieved. “l hadn’t been happy and I hadn’t felt better, not at all. But I did now. My body was broken but I felt healed” (page 265). From this confrontation, he also able to saved Sahara and take him together to America to live together with him and his wife. While Emir was hospitalized, he had strange dream where he sees Baby wrestling a black bear which in the end it turn out to be him is the one who wrestling the bear.
This dream is important part of the story because at that moment Emir realized that he is not much different with Baby. that his Baby is very similar with him. From Ihram Khan’s letter, Emir learns that Baby lied to him about Hosannas. Hosannas was actual Abs’s son, his real brother. From Ihram Khan’s explanation, he also knew that Baby, like him, was a tortured soul. Baby Ovid both Hosannas and Emir, but he could not love Hosannas they way he longed to, openly as a father (page 276). They also alike in term that they betrayed Hosannas because they want to run away from their guilt.
From this novel, I learn more about forgiveness where in this book, Emir has to take a long road to forgive himself from his guilt. The lesson that I get is that it is actually not easy to forgive our self. Start from Baby dishonesty, it make all three of them; Emir, Baby, and Hosannas, life in unfortunate situation and the worst is that Baby and Emir have to life their life with a guilty pressure toward what they have done to Hosannas. The Kite Runner novel which written by Exhaled Hussein has a very deep philosophy and lesson which is hidden behind the story.
I find quotations that left deep meaning for me and there is one quotation which get my attention on the first time I read it. From these quotations I learn a new point of few of one’s life. “There is a way to be good again” (page 2). This very first quotation in the book is the one that I really like. It’s a simple sentence but has deep meaning and the one which I think have a power for the whole novel. In my opinion this sentence is the main ideas of the whole story in The Kite Runner. The Tory is about the willingness of a man to fix his mistake and guilt of his past.
Before I read this novel, I already believe that if we want to, there is always a way and chance to fix our mistake as long as we willing to do it. So, when I read this sentence I really agree with it and this sentence is the one which get my attention to read the whole novel. There are a lot of interesting philosophy that hide inside of the story, beside the interesting story the reader also get a few life lesson in this novel. We also get a new knowledge about Afghanistan; about their culture and also their suffering due to the war.
