Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Amir's Redemption Metaphor
The tree represents Amir’s path to redemption through his relationship with Sohrab. The rings in the tree and its vertical climb represent the many years of guilt and hardship that Amir went through before he would have the opportunity to redeem himself from his actions of the past. Also, the tree is standing tall in the sunlight. The light represents truth, the very truth that needed to come to light and become accepted in order for Amir to be truly redeemed. When Rahim Khan admits that he knew Amir’s secret all along it was freeing because then Amir was able to make up for his sins because someone was holding him accountable. Without the light, which is the truth, no one would have been able to see Amir’s sins and Amir would never have had the opportunity to redeem himself. As he progresses through his growth, near the top of the tree it develops from an arduous climb into a sprouting and blooming growth of flowers and leaves. These flowers and leaves represent the fruition of Amir’s work: his redemption. After his long journey filled with self-degradation and loathing his shortcomings, Amir is finally able to change and become good as well as make something good of it in helping to save Sohrab. Also, the image ties into Rahim Khan’s definition of what atonement is, in his letter he tells Amir that redemption is, “guilt leads to good” (302). The trunk would represent his years of pent-up guilt and the flowers represent the blooming of his actions that lead to a redeeming relationship with Sohrab.
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I really like how you talked about light as part of your metaphor so that your metaphor isn't just about the tree. You could also say that the different branches are the different ways he tried to gain redemption and that it was a barren, fruitless road until he matured - then his efforts 'flowered'.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you analysed something that was not apparent from the picture itself, just like how Amir's guilt was hidden deep within him and how he was never able to tell people about it. I think that another connection that you could make is that the flowers on the tree represent Amir's development of his personal identity, through passions like writing and later redemption.
ReplyDeleteI like how you used the flowers as a future goal for Amir and something that he is working towards.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate how your metaphor doesn't feel like a stretch; each part of the tree or the surrounding environment that you analyzed felt reasonable and understandable, and you incorporated almost every part of the image into your explanation.
ReplyDeleteI think that the interpretation of the tree are very rooted in the novel and I like how you incorperated many aspects of the image into the description. I think that the rocks leading up to the tree could represent the hard path that Amir had to go through to reach his growth.
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