Guilt Essay

ENG4U

Ms. Corry

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

The Effects of Guilt

Guilt is a strong feeling that is difficult to conquer. It tends to hold people back from achieving their goals in life. Guilt is the fact or state of having committed an offence, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law (dictionary.com). In Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, Amir finds it difficult to overcome his immense amount of guilt that had been building for many years. From a young age, Amir had always been carrying the feeling of guilt around with him. This was due to the belief that he had taken his mother away from his father, Baba, by killing her while she was giving birth to him. Following into his life, he commits a great offence that goes against his morals, Amir betrays his best friend, Hassan, by allowing him to be raped by the town bully. This causes him to hold many secrets and find it difficult to share these secrets with others. This results in conflict in his relationship with Soraya. It is only by making amends that Amir is able to overcome his guilt and achieve freedom and serenity.

Amir is constantly being held back because of the feeling of guilt. The “crimes” he had committed went against his morals and he finds it hard to overcome. He had done wrong by his father Baba, his best friend Hassan, and his wife Soraya. Amir was always led to believe by Baba that he had killed his own mother, who had died whilst giving birth to him. Baba holds him responsible for taking away his wife. This results in a weak relationship between Baba and Amir. There is difficulty in finding a common ground between the two of them. Amir can never meet the standards of Baba in what he expects of a child, Amir tries very hard to please Baba and be what he expects of him.

Vicknarajah 2

Hassan has been Amir’s best friend from a young age, they bonded greatly together. But at times Amir felt ashamed of Hassan because of the differences of their social...