Good people can do bad things. This statement is really true because all people can be good. Good is developed by influences generally outside their control. Our parents, or lack thereof, our financial situation, our friends, and our culture all influence the goodness that comes out of us. A person can start out good, then have their life turned around, causing them to make bad choices. Good can be brought out of us all. For Shaka Senghor, a divorce and lack of parental influence, in addition to an unstable financial situation, brings him to the streets despite being an honors student in high school. This leads him to deal drugs and eventually commit homicide. He is still truly good, but his environment is one of terrible conflict, leading him to do a bad thing. Everyone makes mistakes. But reflection and mentoring can bring the good out of us again; for Senghor, it was a letter from his son first, and support from his fellow inmates, his father, and the woman he met. Senghor realizes that the goodness is still there, and pulls it back out by forgiving himself. The goodness of a person is not always connected to the deeds they have done; rather, it is connected to and revealed by their response. Amir illustrates this idea as well, although his case is drastically different from Senghor's. Amir is not negatively impacted by his mistake in wealth or opportunity, whereas Senghor is. He therefore has less incentive to turn his life around, because it is more about helping others than helping himself. Amir realizes later that altruism also leads to one's happiness more so than oblivion, and therefore acts towards redemption.
Unintentionally bad acts are not evil. Evil is connected with the idea of a mindset of knowingly inflicting terrible, profoundly immoral harm upon others to make oneself more superior and powerful. People in the world that we categorize as evil, like Hitler, all acted with intention. We see his in his book,
Mein Kampf, that he had the ideas of an ethnically pure world in which all Jewish and other inferior peoples were disposed. Assef is an embodiment of evil in the
Kite Runner. Unintentionally bad acts, like Senghor's murder, was not evil. He had no deeper mindset or intention of being evil. There was little thought, just the rising of his temper and a gunshot. This is why I agree with him that the criminal justice system is far too harsh, and that instead we need to solve the root of the problem, which is exactly what Senghor is doing.
Nobody can be truly redeemed or atoned. It is impossible to truly lose anything that is connected to you; in this instance, the sin of which you are trying to absolve yourself. True redemption should not be the idea that you are saved from a sin, but the idea that the sin has transformed you into a better person than you were before. For both Amir and Senghor, their sins motivated them to transform into better people. This is why coaches and teachers always emphasize that mistakes are good; we learn from them, and improve our beings.
Amir was redeemed by the end of the novel. He was not fully atoned of his terrible mistakes, but he was able to turn guilt into good and be at peace with himself. He forgave himself, and became a faithful man, which is a testament to his belief in hope and happiness existing in world. Before his redemption, Amir was cynical and burdened. Amir changes into a more confident and altruistic being after pursuing redemption. He fights to repay Hassan through his pursuit of Sohrab's love. He feels no reason to fabricate, telling the truth to General Taheri, despite its bitterness. Amir is at one with himself, and with the world.
