Race. The color of your skin; your predetermined background. Based off of this irrelevant detail that you have no control over, the world will treat you unjustly -- as though your life has less value. This absurd way of thinking is displayed in Khaled Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner. Hosseini centers the analysis of society around the life of a young boy, Amir, a privileged Pashtun; Hassan, a supposed disgraceful Hazara boy; and the relationship of the unknown half-brothers. Hosseini lays out a look of the internal workings of the social hierarchy of Afghanistan, allowing the readers to see how Pashtuns are the equivalent of white men during an era of slavery in the United States. Throughout The Kite Runner, Hosseini addresses the subject of discrimination heavily with the influential use of metaphors and vivid imagery. …show more content…
For example, the target of treacherous bullies such as Assef and his friends was the young Hazara, Hassan, who was cornered in an alley while chasing a kite for Amir on the day of the huge event, and was ultimately raped by Assef when he refused to give him and his friends what they wanted. He justifies his actions with the excuse that “...it’s just a Hazara.” (Hosseini 75) Hassan did not try to fight it; he just accepted his fate. Hassan “...didn’t even whimper,” and the look on his face, “was the look of the lamb.” (Hosseini 75-76) This direct comparison of Hassan to a lamb clearly depicts his tragic acceptance and innocence. Like a lamb that knows his fate, Hassan quietly suffers. The Kite Runner proves that discrimination is an issue in Afghanistan even before it hit the news through its use of metaphors portraying the tragic acceptance of life as a
In the narrative Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, discrimination pushes characters to do various things to gain acceptance from their peers and superiors. Amir feels he needs to be accepted by Baba as a son and by Hassan as a friend as well as Hassan wants to be accepted by Amir as a genuine friend. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, discrimination is a constant reminder of our flaws. The discrimination performed in Kite Runner is what creates the theme of the search for acceptance of those flaws.
Social and ethnic tensions: The Kite Runner allows us a look at Afghanistan before the Soviet invasion and then after. The peaceful Afghanistan that Amir was born into is no longer in existence; rival groups now fight amongst each other. “There are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood”. Throughout The Kite Runner, there is tension on account of religious, ethnic, and economic factors. Amir, a privileged Sunni, struggles to understand his relationship with his Shi’a servant, Hassan. The boys grew up together, but “in the end, [Amir] was a Pashtun and [Hassan] was a Hazara, [Amir] was a Sunni and [Hassan] was Shi’a, and nothing was ever going to change that. Nothing”(Hosseini 25). Hassan and his father, Ali, are discriminated against because of their religious beliefs and physical features. He is bullied because some believe “Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns…the pure Afghans, not this Flat-Nose here. His people pollute our homeland, our watan. They dirty our blood”(Hosseini 40). The relationship between Amir and Hassan is complicated because of the social pressures. The boys are as close as brot...
Throughout the thought provoking and eye opening narrative, The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini provides a vivid and in depth story told through the eyes of a privileged young narrator who is forced to come of age in the capital of Afghanistan. As a story told from a different cultural perspective,culture and morals in this society are different from foreign beliefs. A reader will not fully comprehend The Kite Runner without discerning the differences between social classes and understanding the importance of honor in the Afghanistan culture.
The Kite Runner, is the first novel written by Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner is set in Afghanistan before the war in the city of Kabul, and then eventually in America. The novel relays the struggles of Amir (A young Shi’ boy), Hassan (a young Hazera servant boy) and Baba (Amir’s father) as they are growing up in an ever-changing Afghanistan. The young boys face difficult challenges most adults will never have to experience. Amir, Hassan, and even Baba must overcome cruelty in every aspect of their lives.
Hosseini’s purpose of writing the Kite Runner was to teach the readers the different ethnic groups in Afghanistan. The main character, Amir, is a Pashtun and Pashtuns are Sunni Muslims, then there are Hazara’s that the Pashtuns do not get along with. Hazara’s are not welcomed by the Pashtuns because they are different social classes.
The way our friends treat us in the face of adversity and in social situations is more revealing of a person’s character than the way they treats us when alone. In Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, ethnic tensions, nationality, and betrayal become the catalyst that drives and fuels Amir, Assef, and other characters to embark on their particular acts of cruelty. Serving as a way to illustrate the loss of rectitude and humanity, cruelty reveals how easily people can lose their morals in critical circumstances. Through Amir, Assef, and the Taliban’s actions, cruelty displays the truth of a person’s character, uncovering the origin of their cruelty. Amir’s cruelty spurs from his external environment and need for love from his father, choosing
Throughout an individual's life, many of one’s moral decisions are made based on their experience in race, ethnicity and social class. In Afghanistan, many individuals are judged based on their cultural backgrounds and hierarchy, which has led to the diversity of their own kind. Throughout the novel The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini focus on two types of castes: Pashtuns and Hazaras. Pashtuns are considered as the majority race and ethnic group in Afghanistan, while the Hazaras are viewed as the weakest and poorest race in Afghanistan, so they are easily insulted by Pashtuns. In this world, race, ethnicity and social class influences us to make the decisions individuals make. This is evident in the novel The Kite Runner
It is difficult to face anything in the world when you cannot even face your own reality. In his book The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini uses kites to bring out the major themes of the novel in order to create a truly captivating story of a young boy’s quest to redeem his past mistakes. Amir is the narrator and protagonist of the story and throughout the entire novel, he faces enormous guilt following the horrible incident that happened to his closest friend, Hassan. This incident grows on Amir and fuels his quest for redemption, struggling to do whatever it takes to make up for his mistakes. In Hosseini’s novel, kites highlight aspects of Afghanistan’s ethnic caste system and emphasizes the story’s major themes of guilt, redemption and freedom.
The Taliban would kill people over a wrong glance which makes it super risky and there was no guarantee that Amir would make it home alive. Amir also showed bravery (288) when he fought Assef. He could have been a coward and left, allowing for Sohrab to take the beating like Hassan had done for Amir in the past, but instead he fought. This was brave because Assef was extremely violent with no moral which makes him a vicious fighter. There was a good chance Assef was going to kill Amir during the fight, but Amir did it anyways because he wanted to save Sohrab. The final example of Amir being brave was when he stood up for Sohrab to the General: “And one more thing, General Sahib,” I said. “ You will never again refer to him as ‘Hazara boy’ in my presence. He has a name and it’s Sohrab.”’ (pg. 361). The General and Amir had always had a shaky relationship and Amir had always been a bit timid towards the General. However, Amir didn’t stand for Sohrab being called a ‘Hazara boy’, a racist term that was offensive. Instead he stood up for Sohrab and made sure that Sohrab was not going to be called names like that which was brave of Amir. Amir's bravery shows that he has put in the effort to be worthy of forgiveness.
Even when Amir was nasty and cruel to him, he had always been a faithful, kind soul. He never doubted that Amir was his friend and that he held a special place in his heart. When Hassan got raped, Amir did not help Hassan. There were ultimately two options: step up to the bullies and rescue Hassan, or run away. Even after hearing Assef say how Amir would never do the same for him, about how he would never stand up for him, he still chose to run away and pretend like he did not just witnessed what had happend. There is also scene where Amir is feeling guilty and both the boys are around a pomegranate tree. Amir just starts pelting Hassan with pomegranates and threatens to him to throw one back. He exclaims, “You’re a coward,” (...). And what does Hassan do? He picks up a pomegranate, but instead of hurling it in Amir’s direction, he smashes it on himself and says, “are you satisfied?” (....). There is this constant pressure on Hassan and Amir’s relationship. The Afghan society would not approve of such “friendship.” Both of the boys were good, but Amir was so young when he made the mistakes that it made the reader question whether there was a way for Amir to be morally good again.
Kite Runner depicts the story of Amir, a boy living in Afghanistan, and his journey throughout life. He experiences periods of happiness, sorrow, and confusion as he matures. Amir is shocked by atrocities and blessed by beneficial relationships both in his homeland and the United States. Reviewers have chosen sides and waged a war of words against one another over the notoriety of the book. Many critics of Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, argue that the novel would not have reached a lofty level of success if the U.S. had not had recent dealings with the Middle East, yet other critics accurately relate the novel’s success to its internal aspects.
Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, grew up in prejudiced Afghanistan during the 1960’s as a middle-class Pashtun living with Hazaras working for his family. His move to America after the Communist Coup proved difficult for his family, especially his father. In his novel, Hosseini writes through a young boy, Amir, very similar to himself, who grows up with his father and two Hazara servants in Afghanistan at the time of the Taliban attacks. Both Amir and his father, Baba, treat their servants, Hassan and Ali, like family. Society, however, does not approve of such relationships between Pashtuns and Hazaras. As Amir hides and watches horrified, another Pashtun boy rapes Hassan. This leads to the continuation of Amir’s internal conflict about the treatment of Hazaras by the public, and also makes him feel guilty and self-conscious throughout his entire life. In addition, Amir strives for affection and attention from his rather indifferent father. Amir’s outward conformity to societal values in his relationships with both Hassan and Baba, as a result of his inner struggle and guilt, contribute greatly to the significance of The Kite Runner.
In the literature, The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, the idea and representation of justice, and its relationship to that of the treatment of women in Afghan society, the ever-changing politics of Afghanistan, and the desired results of redemption and forgiveness, become illustrated through the novel’s characters and motives. Justice can be defined as the quality of being guided by truth, reason, and fairness. The Kite Runner illustrates the power of influence from an outside power and its effects on society, and the minds and lifestyles of the people. In relationship to the Cheverus High School Grad-at-Grad profile the actions and wrongdoings that take place in the The Kite Runner and in Afghanistan prove to be injustice.
In both of his novels, Hosseini has both protagonists and antagonists originating from Afghanistan. He depicts the flaws of the broad generalizations many people believe due to a lack of information or insight into the concerning situations occurring in Afghanistan. As awareness about the indecencies taking place in Afghanistan increases, hopefully more individuals will take action to aide those being oppressed and help solve the turmoil occurring due to the presence of the Taliban. Works Cited Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a novel based in Afghanistan that shows the betrayal between two boys with two different social backgrounds. Four years later “The Kite Runner” was filmed by David Benioff, which shows the meaningful message that the book delivers in a movie. Throughout the book and movie, Amir the protagonist must live the rest of his life with guilt from his childhood. Although the movie gave the same meaningful message that the book delivered, the book was further developed, which had more detail and kept the readers wanting more. Ultimately these details that were present in the novel gave the readers a better understanding of the characters, which led to the relationships