Just Not Good Enough. Kite Runner

“A boy who can’t stand up for himself becomes a man who can’t stand up to anything”. (22). This quote from Amir’s father in “Kite Runner” begins to show the gradually developing difference between Amir and his father Baba. This quote is significant to the first chapters of “Kite Runner” because it shows that Amir may never live up to his fathers reputation of a big, strong, businessman. This passage symbolizes more then just the fact that Amir cannot defend himself against bullies. It also helps the reader further understand the separation between Amir and his father Baba. Amir describes another difference from him father and him by stating, “Baba sensed my lack of genuine interest and resigned himself to the bleak fact that his son was never going to either play or watch soccer.“ (20). This illustrates that even though Amir tries to please his father by acting interested in what his father is interested in it just seems to make the bond from father to son that much wider. Amir appears to try to gain his fathers approval by excelling in academics and general optimism to everything around him. Despite this Amir seems to have a speck of hatred towards his father because of the fact that Amir never feels fully accepted by Baba. These first two chapters in Kite Runner seems to have the effect to make a reader question to themselves what it would feel like to never be good enough to meet another persons standards.