1. AMIR AS AN UNLIKELY HERO
By Melissa Kerr

2. AMIR’S CHILDHOOD
As a child Amir is a coward, making others fight his battles for him. Baba tells Rahim Khan that “A boy who won’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything.” This is where we learn that Baba is very reluctant to praise Amir because Amir lacks the courage to stand up for what is right.
Hosseini uses the characterisation of Baba to portray what Amir feels that he cannot become. When Amir describes Baba we see how obsessed he is with him. This is shown when he uses his fathers nickname, “Mr Hurricane”  just as a hurricane lets nothing stand in its way, so too Amir sees Baba as heroic man who is not afraid of anything. Amir also tells us of the time his father “wrestled a black bear” and how he has dreamt about the encounter many times, but each and every time “[he] could not tell Baba from the bear” this shows that Amir both admired and feared Baba because Amir knew that, no matter how much he tried to be like his father, he could never hold as much power as Baba did.
The self depreciation shown by Amir makes the readers expect little from him just like Baba did.

3. INTERNAL CONFLICT
After Amir betrays Hassan, we soon learn that he is battling his own demons.
Amir is struggling about how society expects him to treat Hazras like Hassan and how he truly wants to treat him.
As Amir reminisces about his and Hassan’s childhood, we are given the initial impression that they equals because they grew up in the same house and “took their first steps on the same yard.”
As they get older we soon see that although Hassan is morally stronger than Amir, Amir has a hold over Hassan and can manipulate him into doing anything. Hassan would have done anything for Amir as he says “for you a thousand times over.”
Amir takes advantage of Hassan’s loyalty and relies on him to stand up for Amir when faced with confrontation.

4. BETRAYAL
 Amir finds himself so desperate for his fathers acceptance that he betrays Hassan, his life long friend, to finally feel wanted by Baba.
"But he's not my friend! I almost blurted. He's my servant!"
Baba’s affection for Hassan leaves Amir feeling shut out and unwanted. Amir soon starts to lie to Baba so he can spend time with him without any ‘distractions’.
Readers are left feeling less than sympathetic towards Amir.

5. JOURNEY TO REDEMPTION
Turning Point, in the novel the Amir’s turning point is when Rahim Khan calls and tells him “There is a way to be good again.”
From that point Amir has to face his demons from the past, Assef. When Amir has to fight Assef r Sohrab he tells us “my body was broken…but I felt healed.”
When Amir felt physical pain, he felt emotionally healed.
Amir saves Sohrab, this is when we see that he has developed into a hero. This is because he sacrifices himself for Sohrab.