BETRAYAL! It's an intense word and isn't used very often today. "You betrayed me/your country/etc." It's mostly heard in movies and read in drama/crime novels. A person is more likely to say "you lied to me" or "I can't trust you anymore." There are no real levels of betrayal because everyone views their situation differently, and betrayal can mean different things to different people.
Something as small as forgetting to pick up the dry cleaning can be interpreted in different ways; the forgetful person will probably make a mountain out of a molehill because it was them who forgot. Likewise, the other person could feel lied to and cheated because they specifically asked said person, to do this particular errand and might have stressed to them how important it was.
You could say there are levels of deceit/betrayal if you are looking at the transgressions in a more political/lawful way. For example, one might classify "white lies" and forgetfulness as a first-degree betrayal; intentionally lying/ omitting certain truths would certainly be second-degree; third-degree would probably cover what that betrayal looks like, such as cheating, adultery, stealing, espionage, etc.
In The Kite Runner, there are many instances of betrayal; some "big" and some "small". The earliest incident of betrayal occurs between Amir and Hassan. It is a cold December day after the Kite Running contest. Hassan has left to "run" the last kite. Amir desperately wants it, for not only has he won, but this blue kite is a symbol of Baba's love. As the hours grow late, Amir begins to worry about Hassan. After racing through the bazaar and countless vendor stalls, he comes upon an alley. Hassan is there, but he is not alone. Assef is set on payback, for Hassan humiliated him in front of his peers.
At first, Assef seems "reasonable" enough; he asks Hassan for the blue kite, and when Hassan repeatedly refuses, he gets violent. Amir later recalls that in school he learned a word that described Assef: psychopath.By this point, Amir is at the alley wall, hiding from view. An inner debate begins: should he step in and defend, most likely losing the blue kite, and "the key [his] father's heart" Or, he could let the events unfold and live with the outcome.
Paralyzed with fear, Amir stands by while Assef sexually assaults Hassan brutally. "I had this last chance to make a decision. One final opportunity to decide who I was going to be. I could step into that alley, stand up for Hassan- the way he'd stood up for me all those times in the past- and accept whatever would happen to me. Or I could run. In the end, I ran.....Maybe Hassan was the price I had to pay, the lamb I had to slay, to win Baba. Was it a fair price? The answer floated to my conscience mind before I could thwart it: He was just a Hazara, wasn't he?"
Over the next several months, Amir is plagued with guilt; he hardly sleeps or eats and avoids Hassan at all costs. He buries himself in books in an effort to forget what he had done. Eventually, Amir cannot take it anymore. "Either way, this much was clear: one of us has to go" And so Amir sets a plan in motion: frame Hassan by putting money and the new watch under his mattress. Hassan does not deny the accusation; Amir realizes the sacrifice Hassan is making for him. "I loved him in that moment. loved him more than I'd ever loved anyone, and I wanted to tell them all that I was the snake in the grass, the monster in the lake. I wasn't worthy of this sacrifice; I was a liar, a cheat, and a thief. And I would have told, except that a part of me was glad. Glad that this would all be over soon."
Another instance of betrayal occurs late on in Amir's life when he returns to Iran to visit a dying Rahim Kahn. He learns that he and Hassan are half brothers. It seems that Baba had an affair with Sanaubar, Ali's wife. Everyone (Baba, Ali, Rahim Kahn) knew about this. When Amir learns of it after all of these years he is outraged. "I felt like a man sliding down a steep cliff, clutching at shrubs and tangles of brambles and coming up empty-handed. The room was swooping up and down, swaying side to side. 'Did Hassan know?' I said through lips that didn't feel like my own. Rahim Khan closed his eyes. Shook his head."
While taking a walk to clear his mind, Amir ponders about what life would've been like if he had know Hassan was his half-brother, and vice versa. Would he have betrayed him on that cold December evening? Would he have treated Hassan as an equal? Would Hassan and his wife have been killed at the hands of the Taliban? "Maybe Hassan would have had a home of his own now, a job, a family, a life in a country where no one cared that he was a Hazara, where most people didn't even know what a Hazara was. Maybe not. But maybe so."
The last significant moment of betrayal was caused by Amir going back on his promise to Sohrab. When Amir first learns of Sohrab, he's informed that he was living at an orphanage. That combined with his stay with the Talib and being assaulted by Assef on a regular basis, Sohrab is terrified of orphanages and anything/everything associated with them. Once they are safe, and Amir has had a chance to propose the idea of Sohrab coming home with him, he promises Sohrab that he will not be put in an orphanage ever again.
After battling with immigration officials and being close to losing hope, Amir is informed by his immigration lawyer that in order for Sohrab to come home with Amir, he will have to live in an orphanage for a certain period of time. When Amir tells this to Sohrab, and tries to reassure him that it will only be temporary and that he and his wife can visit Sohrab anytime, Sohrab is, understandably, very upset.
"'Please! Please, no!' he croaked. 'I'm scared of that place. They'll hurt me! I don't want to go!'.....'Yes, they will [hurt me]. They always say they won't, but they lie. They lie, Please, God!'"
As a result of this betrayal, Sohrab attempts to take his life by cutting his arms and lying in wait in a water-filled bathtub for the bliss of death. Thankfully, Amir finds him, and Sohrab is rushed to the nearest hospital. During the hours of anxiety, regret, and guilt, Amir makes a prayer rug and prays incessantly.
Finally, a doctor speaks to him; Sohrab is alive, but he lost a lot of blood. Sohrab remains in the hospital for some time. Eventually, he and Amir fly back to America to Soraya. He doesn't talk or really do anything except sleep and eat.
If Amir had not gone back on his promise, much pain, suffering, and grief could have been avoided. The book ends, in my opinion, on a hopeful note. Though the change in Sohrab is small, progress gives hope.
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