The Kite Runner: Blinded by Guilt A person's childhood is the foundation that paves the way for the rest of his or her life. Memorable events can trigger certain emotions in a child and, as a result, change that person's nature as an adult. Set in 1970s California, Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner is told in flashback as the reader follows the main character through his solutions to lifelong conflicts. The novel traces Amir's conflicting feelings of love and jealousy towards his best friend Hassan. Although they each came from different economic and social classes, they grew up in the same family facing hardship, resentment, and deception together. The two boys reach a turning point when the neighborhood bully attacks Hassan while Amir watches and does nothing. The guilt over that betrayal will rule his life for the next 20 years. Through the use of metaphors, irony, and foreshadowing, Amir's childhood experiences will haunt him into his adulthood. Khaled Hosseini's use of irony is predictable but unlikely. The inability or refusal to follow up on some request, however, translates into a sense of guilt and memories linked to episodes that resurface several times in Amir's life. For example, when the Russian soldier asks about a woman on the bus, Amir's father tells the translator, "Tell him I will take a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place" (Hosseini 116). After hearing this, Amir feels ashamed that while his father would give his life to save someone because Amir did nothing to save his best friend. “I could walk into that alley, defend Hassan and accept whatever happens to me. Alternatively, I could run away. In the end, I ran away” (77). It's ironic that Amir runs away from Assef in the alley and... middle of paper... forever. “Thinking about it now, I realize that I have been peeking into that deserted alley for twenty-six years” (1). The past cannot be forgotten and will always influence Amir's present actions and thoughts. Amir realizes that his past is dictating his present. His experiences as a child sculpted him into who he is today. Amir goes through the guilt and after committing to do something special for a person who needed help in the first place, he redeems himself. Furthermore, Amir indulges in guilt at an early age and frees himself from it after a long period. In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini conveys a very beautiful message that if something bad happens; guilt should not be repressed. However, we should remember the event that causes it; if we don't remember this, we tend to commit the same act repeatedly.