Conclusion

            So here I am, finished with the reading of The Kite Runner and left to reflect. Amir’s journey was one of many emotional and character based changes. Amir in particular changed 180 degrees from the egocentric little boy that had inhabited his body at the beginning of the book. I thought it interesting that the major character changes that Amir experienced occurred once he returned to his childhood home.

            Hosseini uses the massive up stir of emotions conjured by Amir’s return home in order to prove his main idea; it is never to late to do the right thing. Amir recognizes, by returning home, that he must save Sohrab in order to make up for his lack of loyalty to his friend Hassan. Amir sees that even if it means facing a feared childhood bully turned Taliban leader, it is time to stand up and do the right thing. By returning home and facing his past, Amir realizes that redemption is always possible.

            I realized after some thought that many authors use this idea of a return to the past in order to change the future for a character. One example, outside of The Kite Runner, would be Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. In the end of Song of Solomon Milkman returns to his hometown of Detroit and finally recognizes how his immaturity and selfishness has affected those around him. This lesson is one that is developing through Milkman throughout the book, but it does not become clear to him until he returns to his home and sees his faults first hand. It seems that for characters such as Milkman and Amir they can’t progress without returning and reliving the past. A return to home brings a surge of memories, which provides a refreshed remembrance of the character’s past actions. Once they stop repressing those memories and decide instead to learn from them, they change drastically as a character.

            After reading, and contemplating The Kite Runner, I have decided that all journey stories have one common trait: In order for the main character to fully understand their past faults and change for the future they must return home and face the past.