Amir had won the competition and on Hassan's way back with the kite he was trapped in an alley by assef and his two friends. When it seemed as though assef ust was going to take the kite from Hassan. Then Assef said that he had “changed his mind”(Hosseini 73) Assef had decided that he was going to rape Hassan instead of just taking the kite away from him.amir watched as this happened to amir and didn't step in to help Hassan because he was more afraid of what would happen to him and not concerned about what was happening to Hassan at the moment.“I ran because i was a coward. I was afraid of assef and what he would do to me. That’s what i told myself as i turned my back to the alley, to Hassan.”(Hosseini 77) This is what Amir is trying to get redemption from, allowing this to happen to hassan and not protecting him or just being a good friend and attempting anything to help hassan. After knowing that the only reason this is happening to Hassan is because he stood up for amir when he was about to be beat up by Assef the day they were going to climb the tree.
Amir received a call from Rahim Khan telling him that a way to get redemption for the past is to get hassan’s son out from kabul and bring him back to america and take care of him. “There is a way to be good again, he’d said. A way to end the cycle. With a little boy. An orphan. Hassan,s son. Somewhere in kabul.”(Hosseini 227) This