How does dwelling on past mistakes affect one’s life?

In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, protagonist Amir witnesses his best friend and Hazara servant raped in the streets of Afghanistan. This is a very unusual event, and it changes Amir’s life completely. This event affects him for the rest of his life and it makes it difficult for him to have proper relationships. Amir realizes that this event has made it difficult to be around Hassan, and ultimate frames him for theft (the worst sin) to get him kicked out of the house. This guilt, combined with a child-like perception of right and wrong, forces him to devise this plan to rid him of his friend. This event also weighs on Amir’s conscience for much of his adult life. When he first meets Soraya, he isn’t able to be completely ‘open-book’ because of the extreme guilt he has about the event. In all relationships, particularly marriages, it is important to be honest and open, for lack of this can cause tension and problems. When people keep information like this from their partner, it can often be hurtful for the other person to find out what has been kept from them. In chapter 14, Amir receives a call from an old friend Rahim Khan. Rahim Khan tells him that there is “a way to be good again,”.  Amir immediately knows that Rahim knew of everything that went on, including what happened in the street so long ago. This call compels Amir to return to the Afghanistan he no longer knows. The guilt that drives him to return is the same guilt that he felt when he framed Hassan for stealing his watch and money. This guilt, and the need to know he has righted what he wronged all those years ago, grips Amir his whole life. When he gets to Afghanistan he learns that Hassan and his wife, Farzana, have been brutally murdered by the Taliban. It is then he ultimately makes the decision to bring Sohrab home to California. Amir is so compelled by this guilt that it, combined with the threat of a child’s life, causes him to fight a Taliban authority. Althought this might have been out of hatred for him, Amir’s obsession with making things right and saving Sohrab finally drive him to fight Assef.

Guilt is a weight on ones chest, it is an emotion that chases one’s every thought. In The Kite Runner, Amir’s life is completely changed by the guilt he feels for what happened to Hassan and what he didn’t do to change it. This drawing represents the strong negative feelings felt when one is guilty. Often, it feels like people blaming you for what happened and not being able to stop that.