Identity In The Kite Runner

What Influences The Identity Of The Main Characters?

“Who am I?” This question has been asked by every sane person that has ever lived. What makes a person who he/she is and what effect does that have on their choices? In the two great novels “The Kite Runner” by Khalid Hussani and “Mister Pip” by Lloyd James, this is precisely the question that the main characters are trying to figure out. Identity is shaped by the situations that a person is put through (awkward phrasing). It is shaped by the culture and place where a person is living and it is heavily shaped by the choices a person makes. Amir, from the “Kite Runner,” and Matilda from “Mister Pip,” have this much in common; that their identities are shaped by these factors.

Situations. …show more content…
The choices that Amir decided to make is what made him into the man that he became. Amir chose to watch on as Assef raped Hussein. This decision that he made hunted him for the rest of his life and made his identity that of someone who is guilty and always afraid. Amir describes that he "had one last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan, and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. I ran." (Hossaini, p. 77). He chose to be a coward, and he lived with this for the good half of his life. If him letting Hassan get raped was not bad enough, he also accused him of theft, "I lifted Hassan's mattress an planted my new watch and a handful of Afghani bills under it. I waited another thirty minutes, Then I knocked on Baba's door and told what I hoped to be the last in a long line of shameful lies." (Hossaini, p. 116). Amir despised himself because of these choices that he made. He thought himself to be a coward because of these choices. But, once he made a different choice, a choice to be good again, he thought himself to be very different. Amir had been longing to redeem himself his entire life after the incident. Once he made a choice to go back to Afghanistan to save Surab, he did not feel guilty any more. He no longer thought himself to be a coward. In fact, he had a …show more content…
One of the most important choices that she had made was writing “Pip” on the shore. This had untold consequences. Her entire village was burned down, Mr. Watts had been killed and her mother was raped and cut into pieces right in from of her eyes. She did not make this decision on purpose but the results that this decision had brought about had an impact on how Matilda saw herself. The love of writing would also help her recover from her traumatic events. She states that, “I do not know what you are supposed to do with memories likes these. It feels wrong to want to forget. Perhaps this is why we write these things down, so we can move on.” (Jones, p. 201). She found peace in writing so that is what she enjoyed and did best;

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