Amir learns through experience that life is, as playwright Thornton Wilder once wrote, "a terrible, wonderful thing." For instance, Amir suffers as he watches his father die of cancer, but his life is deeply enriched by his marriage and Soraya's abiding love for him. Throughout his life, Amir has observed human behavior, including his own. He has witnessed courage and cowardice, as well as selfishness and sacrifice. In returning to Afghanistan, he experienced the tyranny of corrupt power as exercised by the Taliban and the desperation of the powerless under their rule.
Amir's most profound insight, however, concerns the basic nature of human beings, including himself. Amir learns that people are flawed creatures--even Baba, whom Amir had always viewed as being beyond reproach. In discovering that Hassan, too, was Baba's son, Amir gains an understanding of his father as a man, not an icon. This knowledge makes it easier for Amir to accept himself, including his own flaws.
The most affirming truth that Amir realizes, the one that enables him to achieve self-respect, is that human beings can be redeemed through courage, integrity, endurance, sacrifice, and wisdom. In returning to Afghanistan to save Sohrab, Amir saves himself.
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