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It's one thing if your father is a principled man. That's all well and good. We mean, morality is kind of important, right? But what if your father isn't just any man? What if he's a legend, a myth, someone with such force of personality you cower at his very approach? His principles will probably seem like divine mandates, or something. We know we've asked you to imagine a lot. But now imagine that you disregard one of your father's most valued principles. You're crazy with regret. Such an action leads to guilt. It leads to a crash in the Stock Market of Self-Worth. This is pretty much what happens in The Kite Runner.
Questions About Principles
- Describe Amir at the end of the novel. Does Amir believe in all of his father's principles? Has he abandoned a few? Which ones does he hold sacred? Does Amir develop his own set of principles?
- Does someone like Assef have principles, too?
- At times, Baba expresses some fairly strong views about honor and pride. But he also seems dismissive of the conservative Mullah at Amir's school. Is Baba a freethinking liberal or a conservative moralist? Does place matter in this question? Meaning, is Baba a freethinking liberal in Afghanistan but a conservative moralist in California?
- Does someone as pure-hearted as Hassan even need principles? Are principles much more useful to flawed men like Baba and Amir?