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Alexandra Carroll

Mrs. Normile
English 12
4/11/14

The Impact of Parental Relationships

Father and son relationships as well as mother and daughter relationships can
impact ones life. It's always good to have a good relationship with your father or mother.
It affects how one may look back at their childhood. In the novel, The Kite Runner, father
and son relationships are present throughout the book and affect how the characters lived
their lives. Amir and his father, Baba, have a relationship that affects the way Amir thinks
of himself. Baba has an indirect father son relationship with Hassan, not knowing that
Baba was his father. Hassan also has a father son relationship with his son, Sohrab.
Amir always spent his childhood wanting to impress his father. Nothing he did
really seemed to impress him. He rarely felt that Baba fully loved him back. Amirs
desire to win Babas affection leads him to some very bad things such as not helping
Hassan when he was being raped. Baba has trouble connecting with Amir because he
feels guilty treating Amir well when he cant acknowledge Hassan as his son. Because of
this, he is hard on Amir, and he can only show his love for Hassan indirectly.
It is very hard for Baba to show his love for Hassan because he was an
illegitimate son who was also a servant. Even though that was the case, Baba indirectly
shows his love for Hassan by bringing him along when he takes Amir out. He also pays
for Hassans lip surgery.
In contrast with this, the most loving relationship between father and son is that
of Hassan and Sohrab. Sohrab becomes the son figure towards the end of the novel.
Although Sohrab and Hassan are never shown together, it is explained that Hassan was a
good father before his death. The father and son relationship then becomes a main part of
Amirs redemption and growth, as he tries to become a father to Sohrab by rescuing him
from Assef and adopting him.
Amir being the main character of the book acts the way he does because of his
relationship with his father. He becomes a great father to Sohrab because his father
wasnt as great to him. Baba spoke about his views on life saying There is only one sin,
only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft When you kill a man,
you steal a life, Baba said. You steal his wifes right to her husband, his childrens right
to a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someones right to the truth. When you cheat,
you steal the right to fairness There is no act more wretched than stealing! Baba holds
this rule above all; however, its ironic because he himself is a thief. He stole away
Amirs right to having a father by neglecting to be the father that Amir needed.
These father son relationships prove that they really do affect lives as a whole
and can changes the way people act and grow up to be. Without a good relationship with
a mother or father we cant really say weve truly lived our lives to the fullest.










Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead, 2003. Print.

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